POLITICAL INACTION

Merry Christmas Thought of Night...

2009-12-24T16:48:00.004-05:00

Christmas is upon us, and we should all be looking around us to recognize how much we have to be thankful for. Expanding on this theme, and thinking about the running argument I've made over the last few weeks since liberals started attacking the president, got me wondering: what if the Democrats didn't have 60 votes? What would the legislation look like then in the Senate? What could have Obama got through the Senate? Remember, his dear friend Olympia Snowe voted yesterday to declare the healthcare bill unconstitutional because of the mandate. I think she has a point as the mandate should probably come from the states, but even if Obama only needed 1 Republican vote, how much different would the Senate bill look? My point in all of this is just be thankful for what Obama did get passed in the awful environment set up by Republicans, as but for a few hundred votes in Minnesota, a surprise switch in Pennsylvania, and Joe Lieberman staying in the caucus to keep his chairmanships, there might not be any healthcare bill at all, or at least one that is much farther right and watered down than what was produced. Save for a few flukes of history, the Democrats in the Senate would be in a much different position than they are now. I think this is further evidence, which should scare the hell out of Republicans, that Obama isn't an ideologue, but a pragmatist. Pragmatists move the ball down the field, produce real accomplishments, and this is the real threat to a Republican comeback. But apparently this is the only site left selling hope.

Let's Play Doctor: Obama's Waterloo

2009-12-24T08:09:00.002-05:00

How do you like that Republican obstructionists? He needed every last of the sixty votes, but Obama got the bill through your last stand in the Senate. The bill now goes to conference, and Republicans will pull out all the stops to kill the bill after the conference vote, exploiting liberals and their unhappiness with the missing public option, and the public's frustration with Washington gridlock in general. When thinking about said gridlock, that Republicans are causing with their insistence on cloture, a parlimentary procedure not in the constitution, I find it funny that they then exploit the frustration these tactics cause. So was this begs the question, was this healthcare debate really the Republicans' Waterloo? They threw all their eggs in one basket, and bet that the Democrats couldn't pass healthcare measures in two chambers that would extend coverage to 30 million Americans and reform the way healthcare operates in America. How could they ever work against the most pressing problem American families are facing today? How do you not help in that effort? And don't tell me the Democrats shut them out. Core provisions of the healthcare bill are based on Republican ideas, and hundreds of Republican amendments were adopted into the legislation. Yet, still the Republicans stood in the way, and tried to kill the bill with everything they had. I hope the American people remember this for a generation or two, and that the Democrats help remind them every chance they get.

30 more Al Qaeda terrorists killed in Yemen

2009-12-24T03:11:00.003-05:00

President Obama continues to kill terrorists in countries we aren't at war with. Details of the first attack in Yemen by a drone. In 2008, the U.S. gave no money to Yemen to help it fight the reemergence of Al Qaeda there. President Obama has given them almost $100 million this year.

UPDATE: The Fort Hood killer's Imam may have been killed in the air strikes, as well as many of Al Qaeda's top leaders from the region.

Question of the night.....

2009-12-24T01:31:00.002-05:00

Who's defending President Obama? Remember how during the Bush years, anyone who criticized the President, his policies, the government, or the Administration had their patriotism questioned, and was shouted down by the right? Where is that on the left right now to defend anyone questioning President Obama's policies? I don't see, at the moment, anyone defending the president. He will be a one term president if this doesn't change. If the left refuses to embrace everything he does, even if it is center-left instead of left-center, there will be no one else to defend him. Think about the problems he had when he took office, which were punctuated by two wars that have lasted longer than WWII, the economy in tatters, literally in tatters, in the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, and a Republican party who's sole party platform is to do whatever they can to ensure his failure. Bush never took fire from the right, which is why he got so much of his agenda through. While this was horrible from America because Bush's agenda benefited the few, Obama's is the complete opposite. I think the left needs to remember what it voted for, stop acting like spoiled brats, and ensure President Obama has the political capital necessary to continue pressing his agenda for.

Just another reason Democrats always lose.

I think the left needs to realize the historic accomplishment that President Obama has achieved in his first year. Tom Harkin says it best at about 9 minutes in below. He says that the bill isn't perfect, and it will be improved upon, but it is a major step forward. Liberals, stop slitting the President's political throat with snarky headlines. You got 95% of what you wanted. Act like it.

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Iran Protecting bin Laden's Family

2009-12-23T19:11:00.000-05:00

Iran has been protecting bin Laden's family for 8 years, after they fled Afghanistan shortly before the 9/11 attacks.

Hardball: Debating Obama's Healthcare Acheivement

2009-12-23T19:01:00.002-05:00

Pat Buchanan makes some good points about Harry Reid, yes, I can't believe I'm saying that either. But Buchanan points out that in September, Reid had 61 votes for the public option with a trigger, the precise option the President was pushing hard for. But the liberal base refused to compromise, and therefore the public option got killed because Reid included the full opt-out public option in the bill. Furthermore, as Joan Walsh is pointing out, President Obama always did say he preferred a public option on the campaign trail, but he also always qualified it by saying it wasn't a line in the sand. There were many dust ups during the campaign and at the start of his term because he pointedly refused to draw a line in the sand on a public plan. He only said that healthcare reform must create competition, and he believes the best way to do that is a public option. Liberals are treating it like he drew a line in the sand, which is something he was very conscious to avoid.

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Why Lefties are wrong on healthcare

2009-12-22T19:24:00.006-05:00

Interesting article about what things would look like if the healthcare bill is killed by liberals, and also a handy dandy chart, which comes from Think Progress...bigger version here:

President Obama gets vaccinated

2009-12-22T19:09:00.002-05:00

President Obama receives the H1N1 shot on Sunday:

President Obama: "I didn't campaign on the public option"

2009-12-22T18:17:00.002-05:00

President Obama, defending the Senate healthcare bill, says that he is very enthusiastic about the heatlhcare bill coming out of Congress, and that the biggest misconception about the healthcare debate is the public option. He says that he didn't campaign on the public option, and that the bills coming out of Congress accomplish 95% of what he wants.

i.e.....grow up liberals.

Cat on a Roomba v. Dog in a sweater.

2009-12-22T00:56:00.002-05:00

I sure hope I get a cat and a Roomba for Christmas. I'll pass on the pitbull.

Huffington Post

2009-12-21T17:55:00.002-05:00

Does anyone at Huffington Post have a business degree? Right now, they're leading with a graphic lamenting the fact that healthcare company stocks are jumping. Not only are healthcare stocks rising on this news, the market as a whole is. The healthcare bills make life easier for businesses and the rest of Americans. The rise in the stocks should be welcomed and encouraged. This will reflect very nicely on Democrats because they are helping to solve the most pressing business problem out there.

Hardball: Throwing cold water on liberal's dreams

2009-12-21T17:47:00.002-05:00

Nate Silver drops some knowledge on Hardball, and basically tells liberals to knock it off. You can't trust Lieberman, and Ben Nelson is voting for a healthcare bill that has an approval rating in the 20s in his home state. It isn't going to get much better than this. But Silver also tells liberals that this is a pretty damn good bill, and that losing the public option is a 2-3% hit in cost control, so he is in effect saying stop risking saving $130 billion to save an additional $20 billion. I'm glad grown ups are finally getting some air time. Chris Matthews jumps in on the fun and calls out the progressive representative for citing Joe Lieberman. Must watch stuff:

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Big Step: Senate Advances Healthcare Bill

2009-12-21T01:17:00.003-05:00

60-40. Motion to invoke cloture on the Senate version of President Obama's signature reform effort passes. The Senate bill moves on. Not a single Republican voted for the motion to limit debate. This was the Republicans' Waterloo.

Let's Play Doctor: 1 A.M. Fast Approaches....

2009-12-21T00:40:00.002-05:00

Joe Biden's article from today's New York Times provides some gravity to the moment, and captures my frustrations with liberals over the last week.

Money quote:

Is America better off today because a chance at a compromise health bill was missed in 1993? For my friends on the left, the rising toll of the uninsured provides an emphatic no. For my friends on the right, the soaring share of federal spending on health care likewise provides a no. Let’s not make the same mistake again.
If the bill passes the Senate this week, there will be more chances to make changes to it before it becomes law. But if the bill dies this week, there is no second chance to vote yes. What those who care about health insurance reform need to realize is that unless we get 60 votes now, there will be no health care reform at all. Not this year, not in this Congress — and maybe not for another generation.

He must be a reader of this blog....

2009-12-21T00:36:00.002-05:00

I've been saying a long time that Republicans are playing this healthcare debate all wrong, and this debate would have been much different if liberals would focus on the tactics of hurting the Republicans for their actions, instead of criticizing the Senate bill and worrying about abortion rights. It was a foregone conclusion that the Democrats would pass something historic, regardless if the left wing is pissed. So why try and wound Obama just for a few more House and Senate seats in 2010? It makes no strategic sense.

Let's not get carried away here....

2009-12-20T20:56:00.001-05:00

with calling Brittany Murphy an actress.

Know when to fight.....

2009-12-20T20:16:00.002-05:00

Looks like Howard Dean quieted down a bit today, walking back his foolish criticism of the Senate healthcare bill today while on Meet the Press, saying that the bill wasn't the reform needed but had been much improved over the past week.

Strategically, what would have been the point for the White House putting up a fight for the public option before the merged bills? If Obama really wants the public option, he'll side with Pelosi when the bill goes to conference and put his considerable political weight on Nelson & Lieberman and get it put in the bill.

I think the biggest injustice put forth by both the right and left during this whole process is how any one vote is the final nail in the coffin of any given provision. The bill still has a long way to go, and will probably look much different when done. Hopefully, they'll take the best of both bills, and they will ram it through.

What makes Markos, Scarborough, Tavis Smiley, and Ed Gillespie Agree?

2009-12-20T12:10:00.002-05:00

That this 'healthcare reform' is not really reform. Joe Scarborough reiterates what Howard Dean has over the weekend---that insurance company stocks reached a 52-YEAR HIGH on Friday when it became clear there were 60 votes for the bill. David Axlerod (and Obama) always claim that "we took on the insurance companies, this is real reform, they're against it", but it seems to me like insurance companies are really the only ones who profit from this bill.

Money quotes:
Kos: "This is allowing more people--30 million people--to buy into the existing, broken system.....it's REWARDING the existing system."
Scarborough: "He's made a lot of people with insurance stock a lot richer."

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Rep. Stupak working with GOP to blow up abortion compromise

2009-12-19T19:56:00.004-05:00

Politico is reporting that Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI), the leader of a group of pro-life Democrats, is working with GOP leader Mitch McConnell to oppose the compromise made in the Senate involving Sen. Ben Nelson (N-NE) this weekend.

So, now moderate Democrats are crossing the aisle to work with Republicans to kill the bill. Funny, I thought the liberals were the ones responsible for fucking things up......

Let's Play Doctor: 60 votes on healthcare...Christmas Eve Vote

2009-12-19T15:43:00.004-05:00

Reid gets 60 on a final bill. The non-profit multi-state insurance plans negotiated by the federal government seem pretty damn promising. Once the bill passes, it will go to conference, and be merged with the much more progressive House bill. Or this, which is good for anyone with a costly disease like cancer (via Andrew Sullivan):

The very first provision of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's Manager's Amendment would explicitly prohibit insurers from imposing either annual or lifetime limits.
A group health plan and a health insurance issuer offering group or individual health insurance coverage may not establish—(A) lifetime limits on the dollar value of benefits for any participant or beneficiary; or (B) except as provided in paragraph (2), annual limits on the dollar value of benefits for any participant or beneficiary.

Today was a pretty big day for the nation, our future way of life, and the nation's businesses which are dying under the costs caused by the monopolies in the insurance industry.

Barack Obama is a bad bad man

2009-12-19T06:44:00.001-05:00

Ordered cruise missile attacks that killed dozens of Al Qaeda militants last week in Yemen, a country we are not at war with. When I first read this, I thought of Bill Clinton's impotent attack AFTER an Al Qaeda strike that didn't do anything, but this is preemptive, and if you believe the report, it was to prevent an attack on US assets. I find it very comforting and reassuring that President Obama is choosing to shoot first and ask for forgiveness later.

Cartoon of the Day

2009-12-18T17:45:00.002-05:00

Question of the year.....

2009-12-18T17:09:00.002-05:00

Is insurance itself, of any type, private or public, socialism?

Democrats slitting their own throats

2009-12-18T16:45:00.001-05:00

MoveOn.org is trying to kill the healthcare legislation President Obama has spent all year selling. It is the 20% on the left and the 20% on the right that are ruining this country.

Morning Whiskey - 12/18/2009

2009-12-18T07:34:00.002-05:00

[BLOCKING FUNDING] - WaPo - Republicans tried to block funding for the troops yesterday in an effort to stall healthcare reform, but the Democrats overcame a GOP filibuster of the defense bill with a 1AM vote. I simply can't believe that the Republicans want to be such obstructionists that they'd hold up a $600 billion war funding bill to do so.
[SWINE FLU] - La Times - Tomorrow is the busiest shopping day of the year. Maybe try and get a swine flu vaccine whilst your out, as apparently they're plentiful as hell now.
[WHO DOES THIS?] - BBC - Someone stole the 'Work will set you free' sign at the Auschwitz Nazi concentration camp in Poland this morning. The Germans killed over a million people at the camp in WWII.
[SEE YOU NEXT TUESDAY] - TMZ - Sarah Palin, flush with millions of dollars from her book deals, is vacationing in Hawaii. But she can't afford a hat? She says she is just trying to be discreet, but she wore a McCain campaign visor, and colored over the McCain lettering with a black marker. Just weird and unnecessary.
[IT'S ALL OUR FAULT] - NYTs - That is what Muslims are saying. It is our fault, through our FBI policies/tactics, that their religion is plagued with radical jihadi terrorists who kill innocents. Yep, all our fault. Your religion is viewed with suspicion because your congregants are the only ones blowing themselves up in crowded markets, mosques, cafes, and police stations. Furthermore, since 90% of all Muslims in the last 7 years have been killed by other Muslims, shouldn't you guys be profiling yourselves too? Additionally, when Pakistan knows that the leaders of the Taliban killing scores of Muslim civilians in Afghanistan are located in the Pakistan tribal region of North Waziristan, but they deny President Obama's request to go in and get the senior leadership, it doesn't help your cause. This makes Muslims look complicit and supportive of the terrorists, as does blaming Americans for their existence and not yourselves.
[GITMO TRANSFER] - Reuters - House minority leader, John 'Tiny' Boehner, said they can stop Obama from transferring prisoners from GITMO to an Illinois prison. This is all a shell game. Obama is just going to keep the prisoners indefinitely in Illinois, like he would in GITMO, but the closing would be symbolic. The Republicans are trying to use this as some sort of 'Obama won't protect you' ploy, even though we put away rapists and murderers in prisons everyday without a second thought.