Roy is dead. So now you know what Scribe thinks of those who prefer adding triggers to health care legislation.
Imagine if we had triggers in the real world. Imagine if your husband has been cheating on you for the last twenty years, and when you ask him about it he requests that you apply a trigger and wait five more years before you do anything about it. And if he’s still cheating on you through all of those five years, then you can trigger a divorce. Who would agree to that nonsense? It’s an obvious trick, right? So why would we agree to it when it’s our lives and well-being on the line in this health care fight?
Here is my two and an half cents on this…
I hope the whole thing falls apart. From the looks of it, The Conservative Democrats in the Senate will either make a “public option” a meaningless piece of crap, or they will scuttle it altogether.
Meanwhile, in the House, where there does appear to be some kind of backbone with a few slipped disks, there are those who will not back any legislation that doesn’t include a “robust” public option. (of course “robust” is nothing more than a weasel-word) I hope they stick to their guns and vote down legislation that doesn’t meet that kind of test.
As I said, I want it to fail, and I want it to fail just to expose those democrats who failed us.
Once exposed, then all support and all campaign moneys they would expect to keep their sorry asses in office will dry up, and we will run REAL progressive candidates in their place.
I have said from the beginning that once we took control of everything, our FIRST order of business should have been term limits and public campaign financing. I don’t want influence peddling in Washington. In fact, if I had my way, K Street would be emptied of all lobbyists. There would be no more need for such a thing. If congress needs to hear from someone of a particular industry, company or special interest, then they can be subpoenaed and questioned in open session in a committee. I want to know that the clown I voted for to represent me in that clown college known as Congress is working for ME and my NEIGHBORS, not a paid lackey of a particular industry.
When this health care thing fails — and it will — I want people to know why. Forget the minutia here, point out what is happening and WHY it is happening this way.
And can we finally send Joe Lieberman back to the Republican caucus where he belongs? Strip him of any perks he currently “enjoys” from the Dems, kick him out of the lunchroom, and lower his status to that of a common garden slug.
Thank you! You often write very interesting articles. You improved my mood.
Not much there I can disagree with, David. The only thing I fear is if it totally falls apart as you want we won’t get progressives; we’ll get some form of Bush or worse back. But, honestly, if it succeeds as much as they’ve either stripped out or didn’t even bother seriously considering, it will fail and… once again… the batshit crazed Right will howl with laughter and claim, “See, it doesn’t work. We told you!” And then we may also get them back.
So what’s the diff?
The Dems may be lousy — as Bartcop has said, all they have to do is list the facts and they’d win every time but, instead, they engage in annoying political doublespeak most of the time, with some notable exceptions like Grayson and Weiner — but the GOP has become ridiculous, and it’s the type of political party that can’t survive if, like Jack Woltz in The Godfather, it looks ridiculous. I heard even Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) has admitted the GOP is now just a regional party. Watch this vote in NY’s 23rd next Tuesday — I think the Dem will pull it out in a traditional solid Red district and you’re hear the recriminations between the DC GOP and the Teabaggers echoing until 2012. IMO, that’s when the Teabag GOP will nominate Palin and the disgusted Classic Conservatives will vote Libertarian, or maybe nominate Colin Powell in a separate convention. When Palin loses in the most massive landslide in history, taking most Repubs in Congress with her, that will be it — the end of the Republican Party as we know it.
BTW, I was in a place recently where they had Fox News on both TVs, but not even one person was paying attention. I’m taking this as a portent of things to come.
DJ, I’m not quite as pessimistic as you are about a health care bill with a public option — the Blue Dogs are hearing from their constituents and last night on Rachel Maddow, Jane Hamsher dared Blanche Lincoln to vote against a public option at her political peril. (Jane is the one who helped organize the campaign to wrest the Dem nomination from Elmer Fudd — uh, Joe Lieberman. That campaign was successful, but they didn’t count on so many Republicans supporting Lieberman in CT. That won’t occur again, though.) After what happened to Lieberman, senators like Lincoln and Nelson might pause before they cast their lot with the GOP.
Also, recall that just a couple of weeks ago all of the Beltway CW said there would absolutely be no public option in the final HC bill — now that’s changed. Who knows, we may be in for a pleasant surprise. We could use one.
One dynamic I have discovered over and over since the Clinton vs. the Right days: just about the time I think the public can’t accept “this much batshit crazy,” I find, once again, I need to widen my concept of how much they will accept.
the public eats it all the time. they dont care they are all crazy. why dont they move to someplace else? iceland?