Harry Reid Kept The Medicare Buy-In Secret, Didn't Give Supporters Time To Mobilize.
Can we please have new Senate leadership now? The White House and Harry Reid have made one bad decision after another. We can't do anything about Obama, but why do we have to put up with an incompetent Senate Majority Leader?
Four days before the Senate jettisoned the idea of expanding Medicare to younger Americans, a dozen Senate Democrats, including some of the chamber's most liberal members, dispatched a stern letter warning that the proposal would make it harder for elderly patients in parts of the country to find care.
The letter, sent to Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.), attests to the effectiveness of a ferocious campaign by influential hospital and physician lobbyists to defeat the idea. And it underscores the difficulty of forging policy and political deals in the warp-speed, supercharged environment in which Congress is trying to reshape the nation's health-care system.
The proposal to allow people ages 55 to 64 to buy insurance through Medicare -- one of the most significant ideas to emerge from the Senate's side of the debate -- appeared and vanished in a mere six days.
Sources on and off Capitol Hill say the quick life and death of the Medicare buy-in reflects the complex politics and a brutal reality at this stage of the Senate's deliberations, in which there is little time to refine proposals that do not immediately attract the 60 votes needed for health-care legislation to pass.
The broad contours of the proposal emerged early last week from 10 liberal and moderate senators whom Reid had assigned to negotiate a bill. The group reached for the Medicare buy-in as a compromise between members who favored a new government-sponsored insurance alternative for Americans of all ages, and those who were wary of more public coverage. The buy-in, they reasoned, would create access to public insurance for people in late middle age -- a group for whom medical problems become more common and insurance is particularly expensive.
But in the following days, the proposal met resistance among Senate moderates as well as some liberals. Meanwhile, Reid made a strategic decision, ordering the negotiators to keep the details of their proposal secret until congressional budget analysts examined the impact it might have on consumers and the federal budget. That strategy, however, meant that the proposal did not attract much support from outside constituencies that have, in the past, favored letting younger people buy into Medicare.
"We were immobilized due to lack of information," said John Rother, executive vice president for policy and strategy at AARP, a lobbying group for people age 50 and older, which has endorsed buy-in proposals in the past. "We couldn't support something that we didn't know what it was."
is on his way out. He's going to lose the next election. Good riddance to him.
Besides, why would the Republican majority want to replace such an effective leader? Most Dems are realy Repubs you know. And Harry caves in and can turn on a dime. Two very important qulities for him when dealing with the stealthy Repuke majority.
C+L will learn that there is no difference between D and R, just a matter of taste and style, never substance.
Until then, my name is Big John and I will continue to say I told you so.
that's there's no difference between Russ Feingold and Rick Santorum? Or Dick Armey and John Podesta? Al Franken and Michelle Bachmann? Dennis Kucinich and John Boehner?
I will grant you that the leadership in Congress and the White House are a bunch of mealy-mouthed, spineless, gonad-free, pathetic boneheads, but there IS a difference between Democrats and Republicans and to say otherwise is too cynical to be taken seriously.
always point to extreme examples.
I think the point is that nothing is done for The People by either party.
Just a bunch of blathering and self aggrandizing that keeps pumping the government teat to the rich and powerful.
You know, that stuff we shot Redcoats over a few hundred years ago.
Regardless of the extremes betwteen Feingold/Santorum, etal., the net result is ZERO for the people. I'm so done. From now on I'm voting Third Party Candidates or under-voting should the Third Party contenders be unacceptable to me. I'm not getting anything as a supportive lifelong Democrat, so why bother at this point?
"By words the mind is winged." - Aristophanes
to Independent
I am seeing the same thing. We need a real grassroots movement to vote out both Dems and Reps. I like Franken and Kucinich, but if they had any stones, they would see this too.
"Same here; changing my registration to Independent"
I am a registered Democrat here in Colorado, and I will be keeping that registration. Here in Colorado, you can't vote in a party's primary unless you are registered as a member of that party. I will vote in the primary, and if my person doesn't win, then I will vote for whomever I wish in the General Election. If anyone lives in a state with a closed primary, that is the way, I think, to handle this election business.
"C+L will learn that there is no difference between D and R, just a matter of taste and style, never substance."
I wonder if they WILL learn that or are EVEN CAPABLE of learning that. It is one thing to buy into all the loud-mouthed bilge that Obama was spewing in the campaign, but a quite different thing to hold him accountable. I was shocked at the number of people who gave Obama D's and F's in the recent Open Thread. In today's digest of the Huffington Post, which I get by e-mail, there was an article pleading with us to cut Obama some slack. Sorry, but no. When I was working, I was always accountable to my boss, and I could be sure that I would be canned if he wasn't happy with the job I was doing. Well, in this country, those of us who graded Obama ARE his boss, and we are well within our rights -- and doing our duty as conscientious citizens as well -- to hold BO accountable. And I certainly hope that d'Amato, the BO supporters, and C&L as a whole can learn to differentiate between Republicans and Democrats, especially when you can't tell the difference between them even with a program.
"Can we please have new Senate leadership now?" We may have to wait a year before we get new Senate leadership, but I can guarantee one way to get it -- vote Republican! And that is exactly what I will do next year if I have to!
Obama did at least one thing that a republican wouldn't do and that is he lifted the federal funding ban on stem cell research. He understands evolution and the importance of science also. That's something.
It's just not accurate to claim that the parties are the same. That they are both bought and paid for by corporations there is no doubt. They are both fascist entities in that respect. But the democrats are moderate fascists, the republicans are bat shit fascists, there is a difference.
He has shown his incompetence in running the Senate. Anyone with a majority can change Senate rules to suit them and get their legislation passed. The Republicans threatened rules changes til the Dems caved and let them pass whatever they wanted. Also, what is this term democratic moderates? These senators are far from moderate. They are DINO's that obstruct everything the democrats try to do. They need to be kicked out of the party and replaced.
Republicans are liars and simply cannot be trusted.
the senate is nothing less than a
good 'ole boys ego club and reid
is one tired old bastard.
besides the entire gop blocking everything,
reid withholds important health care reform
and essentially has aided in the death
of progressive reform. fuck him and the
entire senate.
Why can't we? The guy has broken every freaking promise he boldly made during his campaign just like Bush did.
How much sh*t do the American people need to take?
Silly question.
News at Eleven!
Bookmark this site:
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/
"Trust no one, Mr. Mulder." - Well-Manicured Man
in 2012. Don't vote for him. I'm hoping for a Dem primary challenger. Or else I'll vote for a 3rd party candidate.
"By words the mind is winged." - Aristophanes
I'm voting third party. Barack made an ass out of all who voted for him. Including myself.
NOBODY 2012
Can we please have new Senate leadership now?
Gee....I remember a time when I got scolded for "mistreating" our honorable representatives, Pelosi and Reid.
Game, set, match. All over. Don't worry...you'll get your new leadership in a few months.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
"Anyone that makes less than $150K in this country, has no business voting Republican."
..
Mickey: "It was an epiphany. Do you know what an epipany is?"
Keoni: "NOT NOW MICKEY!"
Is a piece of shit. God help us.
"By words the mind is winged." - Aristophanes
Zero faith. This country is going down because of this hubris.
..write an amendment that screws every American sideways and seven days from Sunday on health care all the while raising taxes. Guaranteed a winner with this senate.
Mickey: "It was an epiphany. Do you know what an epipany is?"
Keoni: "NOT NOW MICKEY!"
misfeasance and nonfeasance. He's not fulfilling his duties, which includes representing the people that elected him. He's barely showing up, but at this point, he'd do less harm to the people in his state, and by extension, the rest of the country if he just stayed home.
He had no right to withhold that info.
me-oww!
He's not fulfilling his duties?
Of course he has. He got exactly the deal the insurance lobby wanted.
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!
"Anyone that makes less than $150K in this country, has no business voting Republican."
Ohhh...he kept a secret from us! Waaaah. They don't play fair...Waaaaaaaah!
"Anyone that makes less than $150K in this country, has no business voting Republican."
Can we be for real please?
Supporters didn't have time to mobilize? We've had all the time in the world to watch this bill that was supposed to ensure Americans have healthcare get pissed away into a bonus for insurance companies.
Having supporters and having time hasn't done one bit of good.
Next time...maybe progressives should leave the pillows and fuzzy slippers home and remember that this is hardball politics...with big money at stake...not some junior high school slumber party.
"Anyone that makes less than $150K in this country, has no business voting Republican."
I think we need to move on.
Let's ask the President and the Congress...reallllly nicely...would they please end the war.
We must be polite...and respectful though. Or we won't be paid attention to.
"Anyone that makes less than $150K in this country, has no business voting Republican."
Just a few teabaggers announcing they are showing up to a townhall and the Dems cancel their appearance, or run when the going gets tough.
Carrying firearms does seem to get the attention of the politicians, doesn't it.
"Anyone that makes less than $150K in this country, has no business voting Republican."
apparently is revolting to them.
Well, I mean not when they result in a Democratic majority. Now we need 60 votes to do anything in the Senate? I seem to recall whining and crying from Republicans about not needing to have a super majority to do anything, obstructionist Dems, etc, back when they were in power. What exactly is the point of voting in a Dem majority when they simply act like they are the minority party? I really see no reason to vote anymore, it makes no difference. Screw them, and Obama. I'm not interested in deluding myself anymore that there's a difference between D and R.
"...I seem to recall whining and crying from Republicans about not needing to have a super majority to do anything..."
Reps want something passed, it gets passed. Dems want something passed, well now wait a minute there! You just can't go all willy-nilly!
The game is fixed.
NOBODY 2012
Senate Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson ? His big hit was called "These Boots Are Made For Kickin'"
"Trust no one, Mr. Mulder." - Well-Manicured Man
"We were immobilized due to lack of information," said John Rother, executive vice president for policy and strategy at AARP, a lobbying group for people age 50 and older, which has endorsed buy-in proposals in the past. "We couldn't support something that we didn't know what it was."
That is called...being REACTIVE.
You want change...you MAKE IT. YOU DRIVE IT. YOU ARE PROACTIVE.
You tell them....this...is...what...we...want....and...if...we...don't...get...it...You're...gonna...have...a...problem.
See how easy!!
"Anyone that makes less than $150K in this country, has no business voting Republican."
That is what the teabaggers did, get out early and loud. The big difference is that the progressive movement would have actual FACTS on their side.
You are absolutely correct, who can afford to sit and wait for change to come to them. Get up and get it for yourself.
Didn't our mom's told us that all our lives?
I am amazed at the absolute naivety being displayed in these last few threads.
Utterly amazing. No wonder the opposition and our supposed representatives run circles around us.
"Anyone that makes less than $150K in this country, has no business voting Republican."
there is no hope at this point. The country has been totally consumed by the Corporate machine and it's lackeys in D.C.
Accept whatever bones they toss our way, and be prepared to pay big for the right to live here on whatever terms they decide is best for them.
But Evet...that's what we're doin'. It's called compromise and bipartisanship!
We are such good little progressives. We send in our $5 donations and vote and blog and stuff.
But, we don't get what we want. It's so unfair! What up with that, bro.
"Anyone that makes less than $150K in this country, has no business voting Republican."
your power as a voter.
Riiiiiight.
Let me tell you something, progressives will go right back out and vote Democrat.
Wanna know why? Cause they are afraid of being accused of enabling the GOP.
Don't get me wrong. I agree with you, but it's not gonna happen.
"Anyone that makes less than $150K in this country, has no business voting Republican."
..of the Progressives in America wouldn't you say?
Mickey: "It was an epiphany. Do you know what an epipany is?"
Keoni: "NOT NOW MICKEY!"
Because Progressives are the ones that go to the knife fight unarmed.
REAL Progressives broke heads to get worker rights and unions, REAL Progressives got hung and shot fighting for equal rights. REAL Progressives got beaten up to end the Viet Nam War.
Everything that we take granted was gained through perspiration and spilled blood.
We are allowing it ALL to be taken away without a fight. We capitulate and then cry like two year olds when we are double crossed and made fools of.
"Anyone that makes less than $150K in this country, has no business voting Republican."
..but the people we elect need to be those people who go in armed and ready for that fight and except for a select few, where are those people to be found? They're in the streets fightin', writing blogs, not stumpin' for office.
Mickey: "It was an epiphany. Do you know what an epipany is?"
Keoni: "NOT NOW MICKEY!"
In the streets? Yeah...shopping.
"Anyone that makes less than $150K in this country, has no business voting Republican."
its happened before
..they have been as useless and as obstructionist as rush limpbaugh caught in a narrow doorway. Not one of them voting for the American people who want this reform but not this bill. Yes, reid is weak, pelosi took impeachment off the table, but the damn republican'ts have chosen to vote in a bloc and there's not one of them willing to do the bidding of their constituents.
Mickey: "It was an epiphany. Do you know what an epipany is?"
Keoni: "NOT NOW MICKEY!"
designed to crush any and all competition against big Corporations. People can't gain ground, they can't get ahead.
They get left holding the bag completely when the Execs decide they want to go somewhere else for cheaper labor. Look at Detroit that should be the shining example of how much loyalty Corporate America has to the American people.
And how many shovel ready jobs ended up in Detroit?
"We couldn't support something that we didn't know what it was."
Since when?
I seem to recall a minor piece of legislation called "The Patriot Act" that nobody had time to read but got voted in regardless.
Everybody's suddenly becoming principled?
Susie,
Yesterday, Glenn Greenwald made a powerful, fact-based case about what Obama wanted the HCR bill to be.
And he is getting it! So, this is not about bad leadership; it is about crass political calculus over bold leadership.
As for Harry Reid, consider the extreme environment he is in now:
Harry Reid's colossal mistake is to refuse to break his mental blinders and take a step back into reality. First off, he need to accept the fact that he will not get re-elected...period! That would free him to do the right thing instead of trying to do things "right". He would then realize that he needs to reinsert everything hated by the sold out senators and force them to commit political seppuku. It goes without saying that he must be prepared to tell the White House to go to hell if they have a problem with that.
The results of such a course of action could be quite surprising.
Fear is the mind killer.
So, you're saying Harry Reid was AFRAID.
WHAT A LEADER!!
Aaah...let's be fair to Harry. I mean...he had a reson to be afraid.
Lieberman wouldn't give him his nutsack back.
"Anyone that makes less than $150K in this country, has no business voting Republican."
another free ride on the taxpayer dollar. He actually could be that stupid but I suspect he has enough loot parked in safe havens to insure a comfortable retirement.
Don't worry. I'm sure Harry is working diligently as we speak writing a harshly worded letter.
"Anyone that makes less than $150K in this country, has no business voting Republican."
that they will live forever as douchebags alongside the bush admin?
how much money does one corrupt politician need for goodness sake?
The winners write the history.
"Anyone that makes less than $150K in this country, has no business voting Republican."
such as this lame ass story. personalities, dem v reb, blah blah blah. a fucking joke and a canard one cannot possibly expect any rational adult to buy. those days are gone and more substantive stories are needed on this issue, instead of meaningless fluff and gibberish like this.
The sad reality is that this has always been about increased and mandated insurance company profits, as Lieberman, Obama, Landreau and many other are nothing more than uncle toms and insurance industry house slaves. The cram down of the insurance bill is on and passage will fly without debate and time is wasted on the crap above.
The champagne is on ice in the insurance company boardrooms and bankruptcy attorneys buckle down for more clients.
Enforcement will be a real problem. First of all how can the feds require someone buy something from a private company? Constitutional problems? I think so, as i do not remember that power enumerated in any article or amendment. Someone please help me, with the caveat for Amy types that the auto insurance example is a fucking failed argument for many reasons, chief among them is the fact that this requirement is one imposed by states, states that are not as limited in power by the US Constitution as is the federal government. Commerce clause? if so where does this power end? Could the fed mandate one use at least 108 sheets of charmin ultra with aloe and e each day? Those saying yes will need more than 108 sheets.
Plus i predict millions of Americans (this one included), because of free will and/or because of no money, will simply tell the government to fuck off and refuse to pay the mandated premiums. What then?
because fuck off is probably what I'm going write on my first mandatory check to some for profit Health Insurance company instead of a number amount.
And I'm going to pack it in a cement block stamped "payment within". Hammer and chisel not included. And send it cash on delivery.
awesome.
probably right now! Pack a check with FUCK OFF written in the amount column, pack it in a cement block, label it For Profit Health Insurance payment enclosed within. Send it COD.
At minimum they could use 300 million cement blocks to entomb themselves behind a wall in D.C.
Build a big pyramid for their final resting place or something.
Keith told you yesterday what to do.
Refuse to pay. Let em put us alll in jail.
This is now a civil rights issue.
"Anyone that makes less than $150K in this country, has no business voting Republican."
put 310 Million Americans in jail?
Good luck with that.
Get real.
How many unemployed are there?
How many underemployed?
Let em try and jail 20 million people.
Fuck...let em try and jail 2 million people.
"Anyone that makes less than $150K in this country, has no business voting Republican."
are the most heavily armed populace of any country in the world.
deductions?
We are talking about people unemployed for the most part...who will only be SUBSIDIZED...they are still gonna have to pony up "something".
"Anyone that makes less than $150K in this country, has no business voting Republican."
you a "not necessarily." It will likely be on a sliding scale where some low income people/families will be completely subsidized by the middle class. This thing will not cost the very wealthy a single cent. What this actually is, in addition to a huge gift to the insurance companies and BigPharma, is a new tax on those who can least afford it. See what is really trickling down? The tax burden for everyone who isn't wealthy. I'll bet the wealthy see it this way: Those who cannot support themselves are your people, so you pay for them. Not our problem. We don't ask you to support us, do we? Trouble is, they do expect us to support them. This is short-sightedness and blindness. They take advantage of everything that allows them to become wealthy, and leave nothing but burdens for the rest of us. Pigs and parasites.
and jail 2 million WHITE people."
FIFY
me-oww!
But any income that one receives that isn't off the books will be subject to collection by the IRS. This is what really pisses me off. They will not give anyone a chance to withhold the premiums.
at this rate Corporate America will be more then happy to "let you go".
won't be working, anyway. But that places the entire burden on the middle class, because if you cannot afford to pay the mandated premiums, those middle class people who still have jobs must subsidize your costs. Doesn't that work out good? For the insurance companies, I mean.
Wage garnishment and jail.
What else?
"You say you want a revolution....well, you know...we're all doin' what we can"
auto. Right? There is a constitutional problem, but certain WaPo writers/attorneys think there isn't one. That is what makes a horse race. And a good court case. Of course, SCOTUS is corrupt, so we won't win that one. We will probably prevail in the lower courts, but the Supremes get the final say. Commerce clause? Another good fight there. Antitrust laws are the immediate and best answer for now. They need to apply to insurance companies, but anything that interferes with corporate control of this country will not happen. There is nothing to stop them now other than civil disobedience. And finally, the IRS is going to take the premiums out of your pay checks the same way they collect SS and Medicare. We're screwed.
The politicians in D.C. all know every American earns $57,000 a year, has their house and cars and credit cards all paid off. We're the richest country on earth!
do a term swap with that Irish Congressman who told his colleague, "Fuck You!" in the middle of session.
You know, like foreign student exchange.
The problem is with the ridiculous Senate rule requiring that a bill have 60 votes in order to be even considered in the Senate. Fix that, and the Progressive agenda will have at least a fear shake and the bills it proposes will rise and fall on their own merits.
Harry Reid is a PUSSY.
He CONTROLS the rules.
Tip O'Neil would have wiped up the floor with EVERYONE in this present House and Senate...while he was half in the bag to boot!!
"Anyone that makes less than $150K in this country, has no business voting Republican."
Harry looks like a burnt piece of toast. I'm hoping he is defeated next year so the Majority can select a leader with a backbone and begin legislating with the mandate given them in the last election. I'll change my mind if Reid moves to reconciliation for health care reform and personally rips up Lieberman's caucus card.
The Republicans can relax , the Dems will see to it that nothing meaningful gets done or make things worse , self defeat / self destruct as usual . The special interests , the cartels and corrupt politicians are just as powerful and secure under Obama as they were under Bush . The lobbyists continue to have easy pickens , "just show me the money and it's a done deal" . To get pissed off and deny it is just keeping the blinders and nose plugs on . We can declare jihad on the rats in the party come election time but other than that we are powerless and even worse the way things are going Obama and the Dems are going to blow it so bad that the Repugs will regain power , the nightmare that began nine years ago just continues . Change we can believe in ? Man , were we ever had .
So how do we get rid of queen nancy?
Put her in a round room and tell her to pee in the corner?
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
Well, she'll really be confused, cause she'll take peeing off the table.
"Anyone that makes less than $150K in this country, has no business voting Republican."
At least whilst I am eating...
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
Fight with what ? Dude , obviously we have little to no power at all right now , they are not afraid of us . To fight is all well and good and I am in , but this is not the Vietnam generation when we were all one , mounting what amounts to a one man protest in front of the White House isn't going to influence anyone or change a thing .
Harry and the DLC / DSCC / DCCC are part of the corporatist plan. they simply pretend to have the common good or public interest in mind.
________________
common sense matters as much as truth
It's time to stop hoping that Reid and Pelosi are going to help us.
It's time to start laying the groundwork to get real leaders like Dean and Grayson to lead our party and if the party doesn't like it...then it's time to move on without them.
Lower the retirement age.
If there were 10 people really on our side in DC, we would be lucky. How are those 10 people, if they even existed, going to stand up to the corporatists? Please tell me how you see that happening? I need something positive.
The 60 vote BS is what I don't understand. A bunch of spineless twits that need to be removed from office ASAP, goes on and on about 60 fricking votes. Let Liberman and the rest of the incompetent Republicans fillabuster if that's what they want to do. Then pass the goddamn thing WITH reform. If not then forget about it and move on.
I hope the Real Progressives remember the Blue Dogs and the Republicans have screwed them at every turn. There will come a day when they will need YOUR vote for some crap they're trying to ram through and I hope you say "fuck you assholes" or "remember Health Care? Fuck off". I know I will.
I hope progressives have realized that much at this point.
That Obama took em for a ride and they now look like complete fools and idiots for ever having supported this guy.
He sure gave some wonderful speeches didn't he ? Man , he was good . We were desperate for change and ripe for the picking too . I think we " fools and idiots " can be excused , what is the saying ? Fool me once ...
Somebody is concerned about how to fight?
I know I'm just a broken record here but.....
CANCEL YOUR POLICIES TODAY!
Stop buying the product. Capitalism works? Let's prove it!
Stand the fuck up and take their money away.
Time to grow a pair, folks.
Let's face it. This little guy would sell out the FBI to the mafia and for the last forty years the mafia has bought up the sickling, little, politicians to the point the mafia owns America. And we get the crybaby, whimpy, loudmouthed, sell outs we hated in college. The yuppies, the sell outs. The yuppies sold the street drugs then turned in the hippie for extra cash. Thank God we took care of a few of them. The rest is Americas problems. America, you're sell outs. Smell the money? Sold! Folks...we're in the kind of trouble that only a cleansing will fix. You gonna kiss the ring? I'll bet you are. Lobbyist are members of the mafia.
When are you folks going to figure out that what you're seeing from the Dems -- the uncanny knack of turning any advantage into a disadvantage -- is not "weakness" and it's not "incompetence"? How many time do you have to watch them do this to you before realize and admit to yourselves that they are fully complicit in your defeats? They don't win on these issues for you because they don't want to. It's not what they're paid to do in this formalized system of legal bribery we have the nerve to call a "Democracy".
They're paid to protect the status quo and insure the wealth of the existing elite. Period. They lose because it's their job to lose. They don't win for you because they exist to make sure you never win. If they weren't there usurping your movements and redirecting them into corporate-friendly dead-ends you might go out and find someone who might actually advocate effectively for you. We can't have that so this, instead, is what you get. It's their reason for being.
They're the proverbial good cop. They pretend to be protecting you from the bad cop but when they leave the interview room they're discussing with the bad cop ways to get you to to give them both more.
They're the Washington Generals. It looks like they're really trying guard Curly Neal and Globetrotters but at the end of the game they're all on the same bus counting the cash you left for them.
It's all a sham.
-ep
take all your stocks and other "securities" (what a stupid name) and withdraw them.
Time to stop feeding the beast.
If you don't, stop bitching about how big and scary it is.
You can kill it. You just don't have the nads to pull the trigger.
We can't do anything about Obama?
We should let him know that the base, the grass roots would worked so hard to get him elected is not going to be there in 2010, or 2012, if his policies don't change back from his being a corporate puppet to his working for the people.
The next fund raising letters or emails I get from him or any Dem organizations will be responded to with, "I'd love to contribute, but I need the money to pay my insurance premiums, because you guys sabotaged health care reform."
Most importantly, the Dems will lose my reliable vote forever if health care reform is a toothless concession to the corporate scum, if the wars don't end soon, and if Wall Street and the banksters continue to get special favorable treatment. And I don't mean all three, continued failure at any one of these critically important issues guarantees lose of my vote. Forever.
The problem ain't Joe Lieberman. He's just a convenient boogieman, like bin Laden was for Emperor Chimpy.
The problem is Harry Reid. You know, our brave, squeaky clean ex-boxer from Nevada, home of squeaky clean casinos and whore houses.
Could it be that Harry Reid isn't quite the shining example of personal integrity and outstanding political leadership that the Democratic party needs at this time? Oh, perish the thought. Oh, be still my beating snark!
Harry Reid has got to go. In a time of national crisis, America cannot afford leaders that won't lead. The only question in my mind about Harry Reid is who he most resembles, Count Dracula's boot-licking servant Renfield, or Lincoln's overly cautious general, George McClellan.
How much campaign money does Harry Reid get from corporate sponsors?
Only two parties (or one party) to vote against.
Who would have thought that winning both houses and the presidency would have cost the Dems a majority? Or were they always willing to be the dark side of this equation?
Liberty, Liberty, wherefor art thou?
Who needs republicans when you have leadership like Harry the Wimp a Joe the Snake taking care of business for them. Both have been sheltered in their cozy senatorial lifestyles too long to any longer know the true state of affairs in this country. For that matter any senator serving more than one term in in the same condition.
As far as Obama goes, the Bush Co. plan to bring the country to near ruin in order to prevent any progress from the new administration seems to be working. And all the individual groups that supported his campaign are now jumping off the bandwagon because he hasnt made the change they voted for fast enough. WTF did they expect instant satisfaction? Impossible goals after the past eight years. And this dissatisfaction will be fanned and encouraged and used by Repube ops to regain power. how? by keeping the progressive votes home and by faking a third party "independant" candiate to gain independant votes.
let us resolve to be pissed off by one issue at a time and to also reserve the right to be pissed off when the attempt to correct our individual issues is thwarted by Harry the Wimp and Joe the Snake in the next few years.
Rollover Harry "The Meek" Reid personifies exactly what is wrong with the Dems. I have been posting for 2 years that he is really a closet Republican. How else can one explain the damage he has done to the party. Remember, the definition of "bi-partisinship" 1is ruining a good idea. The meek has ruined a lot of good ideas.
I'm 60 and I think Reid and a lot of them are too old. They're on their way out and they could give a good shit about Gen X or younger. I'm sick of all them, dems, Obama and every last fucking republican. Except for Franken. We need more like him, boomer or not.
not 'Demented, Selfish, Short-Sighted, Unethical, Greedy, Power-Mad, Past It Fuckers'
It's all in the language.
me-oww!
to go around, but I notice Obama gets a pass on lots of it.
Obama is the single biggest reason for the current mess and he shouldn't be allowed to get away it.
But I smell a con plant.
What would you do differently? Here's an idea, why don't you run for office and change things all by yourself since you know so damn much!
a damn thing, Conservatism LOST! Problem is 'con' ain't exclusive Republican
These DINOS have made careers of being the 'whining' minority and they never envisioned having to LEAD. They whined about not having 60 votes, never imagining but whoops, Grandma Harry looks foolish!
Cons are afraid of the upcoming Alan Graysons and that's who we should looking for to replace these jellyfish.
Progressives DISTINGUISH yourselves! History is on our side and the Progressive influences in all walks of American life SHOULD be pointed out rather than letting cons use 'protecting' medicare as THEIR argument for anything. THAT progranm is there because of PROGRESSIVES.......PERIOD!
Google
child labor laws
40 hour workweek
paid vacations
a living wage
SEC
FDIC
EPA
OSHA
Progressive tax code
ALL Progressive contributions to American life, oh, and one more thing Progressives are responsible for
THE AMERICAN MIDDLE CLASS
Can we please have new Senate leadership now? The White House and Harry Reid have made one bad decision after another. We can't do anything about Obama, but why do we have to put up with an incompetent Senate Majority Leader?
In a few years you dumb fucks can voter Sarah in. Quit bitching and get busy.
Comments are closed on this entry