For Republicans, No Means No
If nothing else, Barack Obama is a glutton for punishment. Apparently confident in his ability to manhandle the Republican leadership in the wake of his televised beat-down of the House GOP caucus two weeks ago, Obama has invited McConnell, Boehner and company to the White House for a health care summit. But instead of applying a full-court press on recalcitrant members of his own party to finally pass a Democratic bill the country so badly needs, Obama will waste yet more time in his futile quest for bipartisanship.
After a year of unprecedented obstructionism by the Republican Party, it begs the question:
Mr. President, what part of "no" don't you understand?
Within days of Obama taking the oath of office, Clinton health care assassin Bill Kristol counseled his Republican colleagues to repeat their obstructionism at all costs. (Not, of course, because Democratic health reform plans might fail, as Orrin Hatch later admitted, but precisely because they might succeed.) Despite facing almost total GOP opposition to his economic stimulus plan, on health care President Obama reached out to mythical moderates like Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Olympia Snowe (R-ME) and Susan Collins (R-ME). All voted against the Senate bill, including Snowe (who supported it in the Finance Committee) and Grassley (who was among those regurgitating the "pull the plug on grandma" fraud).
And the 220-215 margin in the House and the complete 60-39 Republican rejection in the Senate came despite, as the Washington Post's Ezra Klein reported, "The six Republican ideas already in the health-care reform bill":
At this point, I don't think it's well understood how many of the GOP's central health-care policy ideas have already been included as compromises in the health-care bill. But one good way is to look at the GOP's "Solutions for America" homepage, which lays out its health-care plan in some detail. It has four planks. All of them -- yes, you read that right -- are in the Senate health-care bill.
On July 20, 2009, weeks before the August town hall disruptions and a full seven months before President Obama's proposed bipartisan health care conclave is to meet, Bill Kristol penned a memo telling Republicans to "Kill It, and Start Over." And for months, Mitch McConnell, John McCain, John Kyl, John Cornyn, John Boehner, Eric Cantor and myriad other Republican leaders have faithfully coughed up that same talking point. As Boehner reproduced it in September:
"It's really about the president pushing the reset button. There's a way to start this process over, and I think that's really what the American people want. Let's start over."
And as Eric Cantor and John Boehner made clear today in the responses to the President's invitation, that rejectionist position is still operative.
In a letter to Obama chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, Minority Leader Boehner wrote, "If the starting point for this meeting is the job-killing bills the American people have already soundly rejected, Republicans would rightly be reluctant to participate." For Cantor, nothing short of unconditional surrender is acceptable:
After going it alone on health care reform for nearly a year, President Obama has decided he wants to bring Republicans into the conversation. Here's the problem: unless the President and Speaker Pelosi are willing to scrap their government take over and hit the reset button, there's not much to talk about.
Republicans believe the status quo is unacceptable, but so is any health reform package that spends money we don't have or raises taxes on small businesses and working families in a recession. To that point, House Republicans have offered the only plan, that will lower health care costs, which is what the President said was the goal at the start of this debate.
There are some who remain optimistic about the prospects for the February 25th gathering. Recalling Obama's on-air skewering of the House GOP on January 29th (one which Republicans called a "mistake" and a repeat of which NSRC chairman John Cornyn want to avoid at all costs), some of the President allies are confident of a repeat. The Washington Monthly's shrewd Steve Benen believes that the President will use the session to "give Democrats cover and put Republican intransigence on full display":
If the summit is really about striking a new compromise, this would seemingly be pointless. But if the summit is about delving into these plans, exploring what is and isn't in the proposal, and making it clear for all to see that Republican ideas have been considered -- and in several instances, embraced -- the gathering has the potential to change public attitudes and score a key public-relations victory.
Hopefully, Steve's right. But for President Obama to succeed in that task will take a combination of crystal clear messaging and a firm commitment on his part to policy specifics. Tragically, Obama has failed on both counts since the health care reform debate began.
Over a year ago in January 2009, New York Times columnist and Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman warned President Obama about all-out Republican opposition to his economic recovery program. "Look, Republicans are not going to come on board," Krugman said, adding, "Make 40% of the package tax cuts, they'll demand 100%." Which is exactly what transpired. And Obama, like Clinton before him, got zero GOP votes in the House.
Absolutely nothing's changed, except that the ranks of the 50 million uninsured, 25 million underinsured and those bankrupted by medical expenses continue to swell.
Mr. President, for Republicans, no means no. It's long past time you just said no, too.
(This piece also appears at Perrspectives.)
Obama doesn't understand that they are not rational human beings. The only thing that will get their attention is a good swift kick in the a$$.
he fully understands what Republicans are. Obama has turned out to be so conservative he may as well be a Republican. A lightweight, bumbling ideologue.
I think you're both wrong. I think this is an effort to demonstrate to the sign-waving people what the rethugs are all about. They'll be seen as cowardly and obstructionist to refuse this invitation, and bumbling, mean-spirited jerks if they do.
It's an election year, after all.
After eight years of a swaggering dumbfuck named George W. Bush?
but you can't make him think.
Much of these people have degrees, fair jobs, and the capacity for thought. Willful ignorance is much more powerful, because smart people are better able to (internally) rationalize otherwise irrational beliefs.
It's why you'll find educated people of any political persuasion getting scammed, joining charismatic cults (scientology, moonies, televangelists, etc.)
bill? In regards to the bill, Obama's biggest passion has been has been to get a very corporate-friendly bill passed that doesn't have any sort of government-run component, i.e., anything that could actually reduce costs and impinge on the medical industry's desire to maximize profits.
So far, so good. But then along comes Scott Brown, ending the Dems supermajority and blowing his cover for nixing the public option and expanded Medicare. Now, if he really wants healthcare reform, he must either go the reconciliation route or somehow get those pesky House progressives to agree to the very corporatist Senate bill. Over 100 House members have signed onto tacking that pesky public option back on via reconciliation. Who does the WH hate more than the public option? THe House progressives!
So, invite the Republicans to a "summit". This will provide convenient cover for them to introduce a demand to kill reconciliation, and in the name of bipartisanship and moving things forward, voila! No reconciliation. If the House protests, they will be made to look like the obstructionists - on live TV, no less. Or else the WH will keep stretching the "negotiations" until the deadline for reconciliation passes in April. So what we will end up with is either the unmodified Senate bill, a bill even more conservative than the Senate bill, or no bill. But Obama will keep his corporate benefactors happy and will, at least he thinks, looks like the reasonable one who tried his hardest to get things to happen but was blocked by Republican and progressive obstructionists.
He may or may not be interested in passing the HC bill. But he sure as hell wants everyone to know why it didn't pass, if it doesn't! And he wants Democratic landslides in November.
reconciliation with much better cost controls (e.g., a public option), expect a Republican landslide in November, no matter how much the Republicans obstruct. People won't be thinking about some debate held back in Feb. If no healthcare bill passes, the blame will be placed at the feet of the Democratic Party that cut backroom deals and fumbled and couldn't get its act together even though it had a supermajority.
I think, however, he's looking for cover for passing a shitty bill, his mo all along. And remember his many "present" votes while in Congress. He's not shown himself to be a man of strong convictions who will fight for what he believes. He has shown, however, that he likes to be "president".
Give me obstructionism or give me death!
Vote GOP and move forward to the 18th Century.
2 cheers for obstructionism!
that Obama is using the "summit" with Republicans as a cover to kill reconciliation and all hopes for the public option or any govt-run plan -
Nelson calls on Republican to help him avoid reconciliation on health care
Published: Thursday, January 28, 2010 2:29 PM CST
Obama uses 'bipartisan' as a cover to enact a Republican agenda.
"Obama uses 'bipartisan' as a cover to enact a Republican agenda."
Isn't that the definition of "bipartisan"? :)
viagra today --woke up on the wrong side of intelligent.
You invite them to a televised summit to get them to bring ideas they have yet to put to paper...Or continue to do nothing and bring nothing!
are male and need testosterone in order to think? That is sexist and beyond stupid.
What makes you think the usual "undecided independents" want pragmatic, rational thought?
Have you ever heard them speak? They are not even fairweather friends, they're just looking to have their heartstrings tugged, and "yes we can" doesn't appeal to them. Negativity is cheaper than positivity and constructive work. They don't necessarily want the government to work.
In fact, these ignorant independents are the ones who hope that everything is one battle where every side can't get anything done, haven't you ever heard of people praying for "gridlock"?
But they are selfish. And they know that if they focus the American people on "faith", "greed" and "machismo", and say they represent those qualities, then they will get the votes. The media helps because it sells. They aren't in this to keep people informed, they are in it to make money.
"Hey Joe Blow, you're a smart guy living in the wonderfulest country ever, and you're gonna be rich, do you want to give your money to lazy welfare people when you are?"
"Hail No! Wanna keep it all!"
"All those stupid things you think? Give us money and we'll say those same things so you think you're not stupid!"
"OKAY!"
out at the Whitehouse...these simian repubs are disgraceful! Lying - obstructionist and despicable! Check the picture they appear to be exactly as they are--simian fools!
. . We're being screwed by the Obama administration they just do it in a "slicker" and more polished way then Bush Juniors crew.
and tell 'em to come back after the entire walkway to the curb is snow-free. THEN we'll talk...
"Parachutes are allowed in checked or carry-on baggage, but may not be worn in flight."
---Southwest Airlines
Obama knows darn well what the GOPhers are all about. What he isn't doing is giving the GOP obstructionists the narrative THEY want.
Or do some people really believe he has to read some blog to fully understand the GOP? If that was true he would never have been elected.
What he is doing is political jujitsu.
Just watch - so far Obama has been outfoxing them right and left.
"I know that there are people who do not love their fellow
man, and I hate people like that! " ~ Tom Lehrer (1928 - )
More like he's in political survival mode now.
So in over his head it's ludicrous, and our country is now entering Wiemar republic status while they play their little political games.
We Obamapologists are supposed to use chess. Martial arts implies
cojones, and REAL progressives won't give our President that.
“Why would anyone with a functioning brain believe this guy?”
Some guy with an eating disorder
What we need from Obama is chess boxing.
That one tickled the funny bone.
"Better." It's what we should ask of ourselves and of our leaders.
Can I have some of what you are smoking? What world are living in buddy? Obama is not an 11 dimension chess player. He's getting his ass kicked at every turn by the republicans. What his response? Can I have an another sir? The more he concedes to the republicans, the more they smell blood in the water. I'm sick to death of Obama and his kumbaya crap. Obama needs to start twisting the arms of members of his own party. Pass HCR by reconciliation. We don't need republican support. Do it without them. Should of been the strategy from the start of this crap.
as the only option, and let the greedy weasel corporatists rail against that.
he is setting the stage for reconciliation by repeatedly exposing the fact that the Republicans have nothing to offer on the subject of health care. This isn't about persuading the unpersuadable. The people who need to see the obvious are the middle-of- the-road crowd. Repeatedly and publicly inviting the Republicans to contribute something when you know they have nothing to contribute is a very genteel but relentless way of doing this. As Ezra Klein said yesterday on Countdown, the Republicans are painting themselves into a corner.
Hasa Diga Eebowai
setting the stage for over a year now and we've seen where that's gotten us.
or at least well past the third circle.
“Why would anyone with a functioning brain believe this guy?”
Some guy with an eating disorder
he should have wielded his magic wand earlier on and used his imaginary constitutional powers to order the necessary changes. The truth is there is something to be said for letting two warring factions tire themselves out before stepping in to claim the prize. It worked for Fortinbras.
Hasa Diga Eebowai
We got them right where we want them.
Unbelievable fantasyland BS.
"I can't keep doing this on my own with these...people."
It's chess!
"Like a castle in his corner,
In a mid-evil game
I foresee terrible trouble
but I stay here just the same."
Dirty Work by Steely Dan
when assailing Democrats for non existent male bodies parts is not enough, when implying they prefer intellectual games to real manly challenges is insufficient, there are always song lyrics.
“Why would anyone with a functioning brain believe this guy?”
Some guy with an eating disorder
"Nobody's on nobody's side!
Everybody's playing the game
But nobody's rules are the same
Nobody's on nobody's side!
Never take a stranger's advice
Never let a friend fool you twice
Nobody's on nobody's side!
-- Florence's Lament, CHESS
and giving the final death knell to the public option and expanded Medicare (see my comment above).
who have no conscience. Obama knows that. He's just using them for the cover they provide him, to disguise the fact that he's fully onboard with them. If good will were a currency, Mr. Obama has squandered the entire piggy bank.
The plan is working perfectly. There will be no healthcare reform.
Vote GOP and move forward to the 18th Century.
It takes two parties to crush reform that effectively.
They cooperated the same way on the reform of the financial system.
Good, better nothing (for now) than that sack of dog crap labeled "reform" that was headed our way.
... add water, and it makes its own gravy. Tasty Reform! Come and get it! Hyahhhhh!
Tell the home audience what cutilingus has won!
The bitching and complaining should not stop, though. Single payer. Demand it.
We needed FDR or LBJ and ended up with TWW.
Can you say FUBAR?
"I can't keep doing this on my own with these...people."
Instead...we chanted USA, voted GOP and wound up DOA.
Vote GOP and move forward to the 18th Century.
and BOHICA
Wilson was a first class prick and did more to undermine the constitution than just about any president (including Bush 2.0).
Hasa Diga Eebowai
There is the concept of giving one's opponent enough rope to hang themselves with. In this case, Obama has given them too much.
It is past time to hit the reset button. Make a final showing of how the republicans (and blue dogs) are impossible to work with, chuck out the current bills, get everyone else into a room, pound out a clean, simple medicare expansion bill that will get a majority, and send it through reconciliation.
If his fear is that voters just having gotten a deal on health insurance reform will care when the republicans whine about being cut out, then Obama is truly lost.
Own it, pal. At least you'll deserve respect for that.
And if you give the opposition too much rope, their feet never leave the ground. Makes the rope giver look stupid. We're almost there, right?
if they did that. all that time spent last year talking and voting and debating, just to start over. Boehner, you can shove it.
Like I said above, start over with just single payer on the table. No substitutions and no compromises. Then we'll see who the greedy crooks are, from both parties.
transparent bipartisanship?.........the republicans and the so-called independents won't have it. why? in my opinion they believe it would further reduce their (r) party strength/members. many of us understand "too big to fail" is/has destroying/destroyed our economy and consequently our democracy/culture. we have seen this over the last 30 yrs. especially the last 10-15 yrs. when talking "too big to fail" i'm also talking the corporation strategy of monopoly. anyways with stagnant wages, higher premiums/living costs and reduced entitlements/benefits.......people take on a protectionism posture and potentially become a "collective" force. the (r) have no intentions in bringing this about but will continue to allow people to become weakened and fragmented. EVERY person for themselves.if obama was to become successful with bipartisanship ie. health care ins. reform.......he would get re-elected. capitalism doesn't like rules,small business,taxation,benefits or labor. the neoCONs worked hard to get us to this point we are on the ropes and they know it. bipartisanship will not happen not yet.
Is it peak oil yet?
I'm sure it happened between Weimar and the Comet Blixen.
“Why would anyone with a functioning brain believe this guy?”
Some guy with an eating disorder
President Obama's secretary of health and human services fired off a sharply worded letter to a California insurer Monday, demanding to know why it is raising rates for individual policyholders by as much as 39 percent.
Anthem Blue Cross of California sent out notices earlier this month to many of its roughly 800,000 holders of individual policies, informing them that the costs of their plans would sharply increase to cover rising health-care costs. The increases do not affect employer-provided plans in the state.
Sebelius also noted that Anthem's corporate parent, WellPoint, has seen its profits "soar," rising to $2.9 billion in the fourth quarter of 2009.
"These extraordinary [rate] increases are up to 15 times faster than inflation..."
Here's my favorite part of the article:
Costs have increased in the individual market, Anthem responded Monday afternoon, because the recession has led many policyholders to drop their coverage, spreading expenses among a smaller pool of customers.
http://www.americablog.com/2010/02/hhs-invest...
the system is broken and becoming more broken everyday. but the (r) minority deny it's broken.
Yes! We must continue to use the Harry "don't blame me, I just clean the toilets" Reid method of hardball politics.
Vote GOP and move forward to the 18th Century.
last year they were raised SIXTY-FOUR PERCENT! And their CEO made: $9 Million in 2007; $9.5 Million in 2008; and $10 Million in 2009. Looks like she's on track to get $11 Million in 2010. Poor woman---a million just ain't what it used to be, dontchaknow--Michael Steele said so!
“The greatest evildoers are those who don’t remember because they have never given thought to the matter, and, without remembrance, nothing can hold them back,”
i personally don't believe the financial elites/lawmakers give a damn about small business "the engine of the economy". this is another blow to small business owners who are struggling to provide health care insurance and compete with big corporation/big business. our freedoms are being taken away by capitalistic/economic (monopoly) strategies. global shareholders/bond holders are the only voicers that are heard now.
a sharply worded letter.
That will have them shaking for sure.
This is capitalism at its best. It's how the game works, and a clear example of why unfettered capitalism does not work, and why government intervention with social policy that cares for all humans in a society is how civil societies work.
Life-giving resources should not be for sale.
It does not afford opportunity for all socio-economic classes to partake equally in the use of said resources.
Health care is a life-giving resource. As are energy, food, water and to a certain extent, shelter.
How's that capitalism thingy workin' for ya?
I say, "OK you've got it! We're going to start over. This time, from single-payer."
That's the ticket!
“The greatest evildoers are those who don’t remember because they have never given thought to the matter, and, without remembrance, nothing can hold them back,”
Good god(s) has C&L been taken over by trolls or has the left really lost all faith?
Where has that gotten us???
HERE!! Right here!!
Closer then we have ever been!!
You idiots can't see the chess game this guy is playing? The same chess game he was playing during the election when everyone was armchair quarterbacking about what he should or should not be doing and what measures he was or was not taking and how wrong that was.
Oh, then what happened?
Oh yeah, he was elected in a landslide.
Game. Set. Match.
Remember, the Repukes were good at politics, but when the Obama team so chooses to engage them in their game they swiftly hand their asses to them.
This is exactly what it looks like ... a chance for the American peoples to get a good look at exactly what it is that the Republicans are holding in their hands so that we can all see what garbage it is and clearly see that while they talk about him not accepting any of their ideas, he has in fact, accepted all the ones that make sense.
It wont be as smack downish as the first meeting was because they will be more prepared but if all goes to plan I'm sure the plan would be to get us all to see that they have nothing that will REALLY help the people ... just words. Tort reform, Buying across state lines etc ... always the same crap that wont help anyone.
The problem with that idea is that the "American people" who need to be convinced aren't aware Obama is doing that - they're either watching Fox or simply tuning out. The only way they're going to notice is when a bill actually happens.
Enough gamesmanship already! Pass a damn bill with a public option through reconciliation. Bush and the repukes had no problem doing it when they were in power.
and what else by reconciliation?
“Why would anyone with a functioning brain believe this guy?”
Some guy with an eating disorder
used reconciliation a number of times to pass major Bush initiatives.
That, plus the Republican obstructionism, provides enough reason for Obama to go the reconciliation route. Why won't he? Because it opens up possibilities for a government-run plan and truly meaningful reform again, the thing Obama has worked hardest against.
tax and spending cuts.
“Why would anyone with a functioning brain believe this guy?”
Some guy with an eating disorder
Yes, and when they brought it up to him ... this "accross the board tax cuts" he took their point and beat them about the head and face with it.
Give Warren Buffett a tax cut?? What the?? These Repubs are crazy I tells ya! See their crazy ideas and how they dont hold water? See that they are not interested in the millions of uninsured? See that they have no plan at all?? See??
They do need another beating though ... you know they are back to the ol' "He can only speak with a tele-prompter" meme?
I sure hope they went back to drinking their own kool-aid though ... thinking that as well as saying it.
Don't forget, in in chess you win by making your oponent move where you want them to. Did you happen to notice what they had to cheer for and had to sit for during the SOTU?
Did you see the room eating out of his hand while he tore them apart?
I'm no blind supporter by any means but you can clearly see whats happening here. Chess is a long game!
And shoot if thats not it this guy is the best politition that ever lived.
"Closer than we have ever been!!"
To what, I ask? There's nothing just around the corner that's going to solve the healthcare crisis. Some of us realize that. It really is that simple.
No?
We arent closer to that then ever?
When were we closer?
There is nothing in it that benefits real people? Maybe we need to define the terms.
why didn't somebody just say that Obama is playing a masters match of omni-dimensional chess? Nevermind, then. It's all just a big misunderstanding.
Boy, do I feel like a clone....
You win by making your opponent move where you want them to.
Is checkers a better analogy?
I believe that really is what is going on here.
You don’t think these masters of politics aren’t just as on the ball as team Bush was?
That's what I use as the stick ... how on the political ball the guys before these guys were before they got whipped at politics.
Sorry, I just think he's complicit as hell and is using the appearance of working with these guys as cover. I think he's deomstrated his pragmatism to being nothing better than being unprincpled. He's made too many repetitive and crucia lerros and failures of leadership for me to believe that he is a master politician or a master chess player. He's involved in too many self-defeating behaviors that mitigate against success.
He may get some empty shell of a thing that he will tout as health"care" "reform". But in the end, it's going to be substantially meaningless and will largely benefit nobody but the corporate and insurance world. Odds are, it's only going to end up being another privatization scam that solves no problems and only makes things worse. If we're hoping that something passes only to be fixed in reconciliation, that seems like a pipe dream, because all of the principal players in the reconciliations are a dirty and compromised as they can be.
At this point, I'm hoping the entire effort dies, so that we can try again immediately after the elections, only going after single payer.
JMO's
I love reading my name in it's numerical form :)
"crucia lerros" I looked that up and couldnt find a translation. Could you let me know what that was supposed to be?
I agree with your last point and the same point made above ... yes, that would be a great start over point.
But as we all know so painfully well is that ANY victory that the gee-o-pee can claim will be trumpeted and replayed over and over and over.
Obama will be weak, unable to get anything done, a lame duck take your pick because they will use them all and more to shame shame shame this president and it will certainly give them all the incentive they need to make sure he NEVER gets ANYTHING done!!
This is without debate a FACT! Just imagine! Imagine him starting over like they want … what would they say??
Good? Good now we can finally work together to help the American people??
FEH ...
I appreciate your point, really. But he cannot lose this … cannot succumb to their terms.
You may think he already is but he hasn’t given up anything officially as of now … it’s still all up in the air.
Starting over is what THEY want. The only thing I see him giving them in this so far is some minor points that make sense.
The rest is just a rouse to get them to show their hand and reveal the bluff to the American people.
Though I’ll admit my fingers are getting sore from having them crossed so much.
I’ll try to have hope until hope is truly lost.
We still got a ways to go here and he’s got enough enemies that will never give an inch no matter what.
nyuk, nyuk, nyuk....couldn't resist.
"Crucia Lerros" I think those are stigmata... sorry..crucial errors.
I'll concede your points. the starting over is tricky, but I am looking at that, because if the travesty that is currently planned becomes law, it will be a generation or longer straightening that mess out. It is only going to further consolidate the grip that some of the worst and most sociopathic parasites have on our society. I'm not meaning to be exclusionist by saying that; if any other segment of the economy besides insurance or banking were run on such a level, it would be RICO charges and long prison terms for every one involved. To codify that criminal and antisocial behavior into the law of the land is, to my mind, a grave crime committed against the People. The undoing of such a thing is always a lot harder than the doing of it, and the harms that are committed in the interim can never be undone. All for the sake of profit.
I want to hope, and I hope that my hopes are not being cynically played upon by the cunning and amoral. I tend to think that people act on what they believe. That being said, there is this huge disconnect with Obama's words and his deeds, and he is running out of time to bring them into congruence. I want to believe and to expect the best from the guy, but he seems to be working with a single-minded will to disappoint that hope.
One thing I am certain about, he is setting himself up to be a one term president, if he keeps doing what he is doing. And because he is becoming as insular as was Bush, he's going to end up wondering why.
Agreed. I think it's amazing political flexability to push for huge givaways to insurance companies making it illigal to not buy their products then tell people that THAT is Obama care.
I dont think making people buy insurance is what Obama has in mind here though ... good lard I hope it isnt!
As far as the one term thing goes ...
I'm thinking thats only if he chooses to not run.
You know how hard it is to - oh lets say "switch horses during the race" (Americans are dumb like that)
And there is NO ONE that could run, never mind win against Obama in three years time. Nobuddy!
He's just way too much better then anyone else on the field.
Let's start over." Yeah, Boner....you know this just like when you said you had never heard of ANYONE who thought the health system needed fixing! We know you have your compassionate finger on the pulse of the American public.....NOT! STFU.
“The greatest evildoers are those who don’t remember because they have never given thought to the matter, and, without remembrance, nothing can hold them back,”
That is so simple yet I L-OL every time I read it.
I read it the way they said it on Growing pains.
fired off a sharply worded letter to a California insurer Monday, demanding to know why it is raising rates for individual policyholders by as much as 39 percent."
Rather, she needs to fire off a warrant for their arrest for GRAND THEFT POLICYHOLDER. It's like Willie Sutton said in the 30s when asked why he robbed banks: Because that's where all the money is.
“The greatest evildoers are those who don’t remember because they have never given thought to the matter, and, without remembrance, nothing can hold them back,”
Arresting your large donators is bad for your reelection prospects.
Vote GOP and move forward to the 18th Century.
seems to be a common REAL progressive recommendation. Shows balls.
“Why would anyone with a functioning brain believe this guy?”
Some guy with an eating disorder
I'm more in favor of back alley pummelings but that's just me.
Giving them, not taking them.
Vote GOP and move forward to the 18th Century.
messy Miranda readings.
“Why would anyone with a functioning brain believe this guy?”
Some guy with an eating disorder
I'm just being bipartisan.
Vote GOP and move forward to the 18th Century.
I'm just bipedal. Or bipetty.
“Why would anyone with a functioning brain believe this guy?”
Some guy with an eating disorder
But I got arrested for indecent exposure.
It's the free market at work.
Please read the following article. I think it is spot on and addresses Obama's leadership problem..........
http://blogs.hbr.org/haque/2009/08/obamas_10_...
Good article! Thanks.
Jon,
You miss the point.
Two issues:
1) outside of reconcilliation and just passing the senate bill, Obama still needs 60 votes to pass the senate. So maybe he can still pick off a couple of Republican votes.
2) even if they are going to use reconcilliation or just pass the senate bill, it makes huge political sense to continue to invite the Republicans to the healthcare discussion. It just reenforces the belief that the Republicans are the party of "no". If they get this done, it will make the Republicans look like idiots and they can no longer say it was not bipartisan and they were not invited to contribute.
By the way how do you know Obama is not trying very hard to get all Dems on board, as it sure seems like he is. Just because he optically invites the Repugs into the discussion does not mean that it takes away from Obama's own efforts with dems.
Gotta disagree. No matter what happens, the repugs are going to say, "Obama wasn't bipartisan!" and their loyal idiot followers will believe them.
Pass a bill NOW without any of those repug assholes!
Sierra,
You also miss the point. This political move is not target at the "loyal idiot followers", but at independents.
It is completely rational for Obama to ask the Repugs to participate fully knowing that they will say "no". That is the point, to show them as the party of "no".
It also sets Obama up much better to go the reconcilliation route, as they can now say the Repugs were not will to help, so they had no choice but to go with reconcilliation. Makes total sense and is a smart political move.
Seems to me they've all disappeared....like cowering. I figure they didn't realize that the "Democrats" won .....
Wonderful photo of three fucking assholes. It bears repeating that when McConnell had his open heart surgery he didn't go back to a private, HMO run shit hole in Kentucky for it. No, he went to Bethesda Naval Hospital. Who runs that facility? Oh yeah, the government. Those clowns are such a bunch of fucking hypocrites.
..the man isn't stupid.
He's complicit.
He's using the excuses that his stance affords him because it provides him with limitless cover. He is owned and operated by the corporations and banks. He is a Council of Foreign Relations true believer. He is sympathetic to the trilateralists, and will undoubdtedly be rewarded with membership in that organization, once his official public service is over. Look at the membership of his appointees, to a person, they are CFR'ers, Trilateralists and Bildebergers. These are organizations whose philosophy is deeply anti-democracy, is neo-fuedal, places people last and proposes globalization based upon predation by the haves upon the have nots. There isn't going to be any meaningful reform of health insurance while he's in office. Only talk of it. It wouldn't serve their larger interests. If trying to make nice with a group of malignant sociopaths is the excuse he's going after...screw it...one excuse is as good as the next.
I expect nothing from this guy except more attempts at blowing smoke up our butts.
You have explained it perfectly. Obama = Bush = Clinton = Bush = Reagan.
Baaaaa means "no"
In another infamous record-setting GOP reversal, MediaMatters in now reporting that Cantor says the GOP WILL attend, and that they've "ALWAYS been willing to work with this President."
* There are two types of Republicans: millionaires and suckers.
"Mugsy's Rap Sheet": Recording history for those who seek to rewrite it.
.....sorta like Bush's "I was never about 'stay the course.'"
wouldn't they?
Hasa Diga Eebowai
If Cantor is going to attend then that signals that Obama has made a smart move, as they are likely scared not to attend, because they do not want to re-enforce the party of "no" moneker. It is a win-win for Obama, as if they do not attend they are the party of "no" and if they do attend Obama can say see we did work with the Repugs and it was bipartisan.
The Republican farce is over. They do not represent democracy in the slightest anymore.
"Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob"
-= Franklin Delano Roosevelt =-
Period. He is a Republican. And not even a moderate Republican. If the health bill is assed with wording requiring all uninsureds to buy worthless 'catastrophic' coverage they will never be able to use, then you will see. It will be a massive flow of cash out of the poor up to the very, very rich.
I see John Boehner is serving up his infamous sandwiches on the 18th hole this afternoon.
"Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob"
-= Franklin Delano Roosevelt =-
The Christo-fascist party can't argue with that!
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