Democrats to Go it Alone on Healthcare

[Nbadan]

Damn.

John Stewart was right.

You're a ing Jedi Knight ten steps ahead of everybody ing else.

You KNEW what was going to happen at those town hall meetings during the slow news month of August.

You KNEW the Republicans would start feeling confident that they could knock you out while they had you on the ropes.

You KNEW whacked out Birthers and Deathers and Teabaggers were going to project their ignorant assed bull on eveyrbody.

And I'll even bet you KNEW Charles "I Tweet Dumb " Grassley would ing BRAG about how he wasn't negotiating in good faith.

Well, August is now more than half over.

You have the chief Republican negotiator for bipartisanship in health care reform saying he wasn't negotiating in good faith, AND THEN ADMITTING THERE WAS NO WAY HE'D VOTE FOR ANY BILL!

Your ducks are all in a row.

You now have every right to say, "we negotiated in good faith with the Republicans to develop health care reform legislation. You now have the chief negotiator bragging about how he wasn't negotiating in good faith but was rather using some sort of stalling tactic to slow down the legislation and even admitting there is no bill we could come up with that he'd vote for. Health care reform is simply too important for this kind of gamesmanship, so the Democratic Caucus in the Congress now has no choice but to go it alone. We'll now develop the legislation that Democrats can vote for and pass that however we have to."

BOOM GOES THE DYNAMITE!

Masterful.

Given hardening Republican opposition to Congressional health care proposals, Democrats now say they see little chance of the minority’s cooperation in approving any overhaul, and are increasingly focused on drawing support for a final plan from within their own ranks.

Top Democrats said Tuesday that their go-it-alone view was being shaped by what they saw as Republicans’ purposely strident tone against health care legislation during this month’s Congressional recess, as well as remarks by leading Republicans that current proposals were flawed beyond repair.

The White House spokesman, Robert Gibbs, said of Republican lawmakers, “Only a handful seem interested in the type of comprehensive reform that so many people believe is necessary to ensure the principles and the goals that the president has laid out.”

The Democratic shift may not make producing a final bill much easier. The party must still reconcile the views of moderate and conservative Democrats worried about the cost and scope of the legislation with those of more progressive lawmakers determined to win a government-run insurance option to compete with private insurers.

NY Times

[Marcus Bryant]

Master stroke? The country has become increasingly skeptical of whatever "reform" the administration is offering and it is increasing the unpopularity of the administration. If anything, it looks like the Democrats are ignoring a majority of the public that is skeptical of this initiative and are forgoing any legit attempt at bipartisanship to force an extreme ideological driven agenda on the country. I guess the upshot is that the prospect for divided government after 2010 will increase. Of course, the downside is that this lunatic idea will actually be passed.

[Marcus Bryant]

Hey, the deficit's $1.5 trillion or whatever. Let's create a new middle class en lement program! ing brilliant.

And yes, I know the prior administration had a heavy hand in creating that deficit.

This is ing stupid. Just like everyone got a rise out of the last asset bubble and ignored what just happened prior, the same is happening again, save for the fact that the politicians are starting to act as though the economy isn't still in the ter.

The Fed's printing presses are not going to bail us out of this mess. I'm not sure what exactly is being celebrated here. This nonsense will merely accelerate the final fiscal meltdown of this country.

[angrydude]

Go it alone? Democrats (and politicians in general in the US) are only popular when they act like moderates.

This isn't moderate. This is over-reaching.

All the moderate democrats who just got elected know this. Good luck getting them to go along.

And even if this does pass this is great news for the Republicans party who only care only about getting elected. Imagine the ads they could run. "Change" indeed.

Good for Republicans future prospects but bad for the nation's finances. The country simply can't afford this.

[SnakeBoy]

That would be one fine OP except for the fact that the democrats were already trying to go it alone and they couldn't get enough democrat votes to get it done.

[boutons_deux]

A huge failure of Dems and Magic Negro was assuming that any of their good will and bipartisanship would be returned by the Repugs, the party of no, of know-nothings, All Destruction, All The Time. The Repugs will over the country to win at politics, after which they use their political power to keep ing over the country.

[fyatuk]

A huge failure of Dems and Magic Negro was assuming thatany of their good will and bipartisanship would be returned by the Repugs, the party of no, of know-nothings, All Destruction, All The Time. The Repugs will over the country to win at politics, after which they use their political power to keep ing over the country.

The vast majority of politicians only care about their own power, Democrat, Republican, third party, or Independent.

Don't act like the Dems are looking out for the people while the Reps look out only for themselves.

[antimvp]

it feel like the democrats had to "act" like they are doing something for heatlcare, but where really in the tank all along with ins. companies.


where were the loud ing mouths when GOPers where voting for TARP1.


I hope the democrats grow some nads and just vote this thing in......if no one likes it then vote these guys out.....simple as that.

[DarrinS]

Bankrupt our kids and make hospital visits like a trip to the DMV?

Yes, it's within the Dems power to do that.

Yay!

[antimvp]

Bankrupt our kids and make hospital visits like a trip to the DMV?

Yes, it's within the Dems power to do that.

Yay!

let insurance companies/hospitals and phamaceutical companies keep charging you out the ass....yay!

vote them out if you don't like it. DARRIN DUMBASS.

[DarrinS]

let insurance companies/hospitals and phamaceutical companies keep charging you out the ass....yay!

vote them out if you don't like it. DARRIN DUMBASS.

Good thing Obama just make that deal with "big" pharma, right?

[BacktoBasics]

They spent all their efforts fighting this instead of spending their efforts to work with them and find a solution that would be beneficial across the board. As far as I'm concerned our country is at a stand still because of party affiliation. I don't see much getting accomplished if these two groups can't put their guns down and work together instead of blowing all their energy fighting to keep the other from accomplishing something. This country is a complete and utter failure.

[DarrinS]

They spent all their efforts fighting this instead of spending their efforts to work with them and find a solution that would be beneficial across the board. As far as I'm concerned our country is at a stand still because of party affiliation. I don't see much getting accomplished if these two groups can't put their guns down and work together instead of blowing all their energy fighting to keep the other from accomplishing something. This country is a complete and utter failure.

Based on numbers, the Republicans can't stop the Dems from doing anything.

[LnGrrrR]

Based on numbers, the Republicans can't stop the Dems from doing anything.

Ha! If all Dems were of the same mind, that would be true. But Dems are pretty much two parties.. progressives and blue dogs, who banded together to go against Republicans (who are made up of most likely three parties... the neocons, the christians, and the libertarian/old school conservatives)

[DarrinS]

Ha! If all Dems were of the same mind, that would be true. But Dems are pretty much two parties.. progressives and blue dogs, who banded together to go against Republicans (who are made up of most likely three parties... the neocons, the christians, and the libertarian/old school conservatives)

The fact that they aren't unified has nothing to do with the Republicans.

[fyatuk]

Ha! If all Dems were of the same mind, that would be true. But Dems are pretty much two parties.. progressives and blue dogs, who banded together to go against Republicans (who are made up of most likely three parties... the neocons, the christians, and the libertarian/old school conservatives)

I'm with you there. I keep saying the parties need to split apart, but the American TWO-party mindset keeps these weird partnerships in play even when it's obvious they aren't capable of compromising on some very important issues.

[BacktoBasics]

Based on numbers, the Republicans can't stop the Dems from doing anything.

That's actually not my point. My point is that nothing gets accomplished when you have crips vs. bloods playing it out in our government. Nothing changes until they can put their gang colors to the side and find a way to work together, individually, to craft bills that benefit the people.

This two party system no longer represents the people in a manor that's indicative of success for the entire whole. They're seemingly only concerned with stopping each other (regardless of what it is) from accomplishing something vs. representing the people for our needs.

[florige]

That's actually not my point. My point is that nothing gets accomplished when you have crips vs. bloods playing it out in our government. Nothing changes until they can put their gang colors to the side and find a way to work together, individually, to craft bills that benefit the people.

This two party system no longer represents the people in a manor that's indicative of success for the entire whole. They're seemingly only concerned with stopping each other (regardless of what it is) from accomplishing something vs. representing the people for our needs.

No matter if either party has an ideal plan the other party is going to do whatever it can to drag that party down by bringing out all the negatives it can find and capitalize on. It is a broken system no doubt.

[BacktoBasics]

No matter if either party has an ideal plan the other party is going to do whatever it can to drag that party down by bringing out all the negatives it can find and capitalize on. It is a broken system no doubt.

You did a good job of making my point with less words.

[florige]

You did a good job of making my point with less words.

Nah just agreeing with what you said pretty much and piggybacked. Thats why alot of people I know could give two 's about politics because it is all about personal gain. It stopped being about the people a long time ago.

[coyotes_geek]

No matter if either party has an ideal plan the other party is going to do whatever it can to drag that party down by bringing out all the negatives it can find and capitalize on. It is a broken system no doubt.

Pretty much the reason behind my belief that more often than not we're going to be better off with less government in our lives.

[LnGrrrR]

The fact that they aren't unified has nothing to do with the Republicans.

Just saying that the actual reality of Dems banding together is much weaker than the D by their names would suggest.

[LnGrrrR]

No matter if either party has an ideal plan the other party is going to do whatever it can to drag that party down by bringing out all the negatives it can find and capitalize on. It is a broken system no doubt.

Actually, that's how the founders designed it... so only the proposals accepted by a majority of the people will get through, and the rest of the ideas will be deadlocked.

[rjv]

Pretty much the reason behind my belief that more often than not we're going to be better off with less government in our lives.

it may be we are just between a rock and a hard place. choosing to trust the corporate infrastructure or government. of course, nowadays, the line between the two has become increasingly blurred.

[SonOfAGun]

It is wise for the republicans to get out of this mess before those involved are held accountable for their actions.

This is not about health care.