This has been building for a long time, and it seems like we’ve finally reached a tipping point. The prog blogs are in an uproar! Of course Glenn Greenwald has seen Obama for what he is for awhile now, but today he’s really letting it all hang out. Just watch this appearance on MSNBC (h/t Jane Hamsher at FDL):
From Greenwald’s latest post: White House as helpless victim on healthcare
From the start, assuaging the health insurance and pharmaceutical industries was a central preoccupation of the White House — hence the deal negotiated in strict secrecy with Pharma to ban bulk price negotiations and drug reimportation, a blatant violation of both Obama’s campaign positions on those issues and his promise to conduct all negotiations out in the open (on C-SPAN). Indeed, Democrats led the way yesterday in killing drug re-importation, which they endlessly claimed to support back when they couldn’t pass it. The administration wants not only to prevent industry money from funding an anti-health-care-reform campaign, but also wants to ensure that the Democratic Party — rather than the GOP — will continue to be the prime recipient of industry largesse.
But where will they get the votes to stay in office?
Then Greenwald quotes Russ Feingold from The Hill:
“This bill appears to be legislation that the president wanted in the first place, so I don’t think focusing it on Lieberman really hits the truth,” said Feingold. “I think they could have been higher. I certainly think a stronger bill would have been better in every respect.”
Ah…the Schadenfreude… We tried so hard to warn them…
Back to Greenwald:
Yet numerous Obama defenders — such as Matt Yglesias, Ezra Klein and Steve Benen — have been insisting that there is just nothing the White House could have done and all of this shows that our political system is tragically “ungovernable.” After all, Congress is a separate branch of government, Obama doesn’t have a vote, and 60 votes are needed to do anything. How is it his fault if centrist Senators won’t support what he wants to do?
Is there something wrong with me? I’ve gotten to the point where I’m actually laughing about this ghastly mess. I know it’s tragic, but it has gotten so bad that it’s like a horror movie that is so bad, you can’t help laughing at the gore splattering all over the place.
Here is a sampling of the writings of other outraged and disillusioned former Obots.
Jane Hamsher: Robert Gibbs Says Howard Dean is Irrational for Opposing LieberCare (Yes, she has been awake for awhile now too, but why was she banning everyone who questioned Obama back when we could have done something about it?)
From the Big Cheeto:
The White House Lashes Out At Howard Dean
Get this–the commenters are talking about electing Howard Dean in 2012, “after all, if Nixon could make a comeback….”
Barack Obama, Inc., by Cenk Uygur of The Young Turks
At Open Left, Adam Bink The Dangers of Deal Making (Isn’t he the guy who virtually led the Obamabot attack at the Cheeto last year?)
At TPM: Poll: Loss Of Public Option Causes Big Increase In Opposition To Health Care Bill
A NBC/WSJ poll is coming out tonight that shows a substantial spike in opposition to the Health Care bill. And the internals show the movement is mainly from liberals disappointed in the the decision to drop the Public Option.
How it must have hurt him to write those words!
And at Huffpo, the president and publisher of Harpers Magazine writes: More and More, Obama Seems a Faux Liberal
Ya think?
I knew this day would come, but I never expected it to come in Obama’s first year! Feel free to add your own Schaedenfreude links in the comments. {still can’t stop laughing}
Filed under: Barack Obama, big pharma, Blogosphere, broken promises, Democratic Party, Health Care Reform, Politics | Tagged: Adam Bink, Cenk Uygur, Dailykos, Firedoglake, Glenn Greewald, Harpers Magazine, Huffington Post, McJoan, obamabots, Open Left, progblogs, Slinkerwink, Talking Points Memo |
The Confluence 
I just heard that Howard Dean is on Hardball right now. I may have to watch the rerun.
I wish Howard Dean would address the Lieberman issue and how he managed to remove the Public Option and the Medicare Buy In for folks age 55-65 (those who are 40% at risk for death without health insurance…those are real lives they are playing with).
We want a Public Option and the Medicare Buy In for folks age 55-65 in the BILL NOW!
Oh, I hear that the SEIU is still in talks at this very hour…a little bird chirpped to me today.
Who cares what Howard Dean say? He’s utterly irrelevant. I can’t believe the WH is so angry with him. They should just ignore him. He doesn’t work for Goldman Sachs. He’s nobody.
I give Dean credit and thanks for saying what needs to be said.
bboomer, I’m with you. Sometimes the pain is so great you have to either laugh or die. So laugh away!
I’m sorry, but after being instrumental in the RBC cheating that put Obama on the throne, and his craven tolerance of rampant misogyny, over my dead body will Howard Dean ever be president. Just take your freakin’ Unity Pony and go home, Howard.
As for Jane, she’s still engaged in kicking SP advocates off of FDL even as she’s claiming to work for it, and she woke up far too late to positively affect the debate now. The public option devolved into kabuki so long ago I can’t even remember when, but she just kept whipping that d*mn dead pony. If she contribute to killing the health care bill(s) I’ll be very happy, but it doesn’t erase the fact that she was instrumental in bringing about the result we have now.
Yes, laughter is really the only sane response.
I heard a couple of clips on the radio today–2 reporters that were at the WH xmas party last night. I don’t know who they were or from which station, but both referred to Howard Dean as being the “only rat in the room.” I fell out of favor with Dean, but this kind of name calling by reporters is highly unprofessional. I guess that was the talking point of the day. Shameful!
Joe Lieberman Gets Upset During Health Care Interview: “Do enjoy F***beeeee***ing the Democratic Leadership?”- Mark Davis
I lived through senility of my parents, and it was painful. This man exhibits all the same symptoms, and it is painful reliving this, the moreso because he is still considered a force to be reckoned with in the closet halls. Sad, because he should step down to perserve whatever legacy he has. Given this and other demonstrations, he won’t have any legacy left – other than an old man who outlived his usefulness.
HT, I feel much the same about Carter. He really does seem to be not quite all there the last few years.
Iago
That was very bizarre.
Lieberman Busted Flip-Flopping On Healthcare
Please don’t post too many videos, because it gets to the point where I can’t refresh the thread.
Oh gawd…Chris Matthews is gushing.
Aw, Chris, tingling to the end. Ain’t love grand.
He’s truly an embarrassment. Why does he still have a show–his numbers are in the basement?
I bet his wife gets lucky tonight… or unlucky depending on how she feels about him I suppose.
Earlier today I compiled some Schadenfreude links from B0botland – complete with an enthusiastic “Dean in 2012” thread linked in the comments
I would vote for:
POTUS: Hillary R. Clinton
VP: Howard Dean
This is the only consideration I would give Dean at this point given the May 31, 2008 let’s not count the votes fiasco!.
No way would I ever vote for Howard Dean, and if you think Hillary would pick him after he stabbed her in the back, you’re dreaming.
That would be the only way I would ever consider Dean again. Hillary I think would be inclined to give it some consideration, since he was trying to do some heavy lifting when he understood she had legitimate grass roots folks with years in the party vs some that just showed up.
I did speak to many Dianiacs and lets face it they do have the ground work and the software and the LISTS. The later being the most valuable.
But I hear ya….
Hillary won’t run anyway.
She is loyal public servant and if the polls are right and the country needs her… she won’t let AMERICA down.
I’m all over Hillary for Prez. I still say Fuck Howard Dean.
Surgeon General would be my pick.
I meant to also include Sec HHS. Sebelius is not ready for prime time.
Salelius has fucked women with her little panels throwing women under the bus on mammograms and pap smears. I here the health insurance companies in California have already seased the opportunity to deny women preventive health coverage.
OT, but these latest numbers are off the chart for Hillary.
http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/1209/Robert_Gibbs_should_run_for_something.html?showall
GO HILLARY GO!!! Hillary Clinton and Alicia Keys – Superwoman
Brilliant compilation – captures most – what a loss.
Why’d you have to post that? {{sniff}} What we could have had.
WE TOLD YOU SO!
I’m surprised. Alicia Keys is/was an obot.
Keys didn’t put together the video. Someone else did and put it on youtube. Youtube has taken several versions off their site because they didn’t have permission to use the song. But I do love this video. It was one of my favorites during the primaries. So much better than that Yes We Can celeb video.
What a contrast to the smug creative-class upper-class-twit-of-the-year frat-house bros-before-hos neo-Camelot Administration we have now. What a loss to our nation.
When I see those poll numbers I just want to run screaming off of a cliff with my arms flapping.
The descriptive image is something I am familiar with…especially as a child looking after several brothers.
Not really OT.
Wow, Hillary is even more popular than Obama inside the beltway. With Dems her approval is 96%!
GO HILLARY GO!!! Why I’m voting for Hillary / This One’s for the Girls
I bet Martina voted for Hillary! To hell with the Obot Keys!
Well she’s always had the majority of the people behind her it’s the paid super delegates she seems to lack.
18 Million Cracks: Hillary you can CRACK THE CEILING IN 2012! GO HILLARY GO!
That’s enough videos for this thread, WV–or I’ll have to start deleting them.
Now THAT was inspiring. I don’t know what anybody saw in Obama.
WV, thanks for those videos, though I know you shouldn’t post any more on this thread.
Look at how the third paragraph immediately tries to justify the disparity…b-b-but his job is much harder and she doesn’t get as much scrutiny!
Poll: Clinton approval soars
A new poll of avid news watchers shows that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has a much higher approval rating than the man she once campaigned against and now works for, President Barack Obama.
In the poll of 800 registered voters who are self-identified “news watchers,” Clinton had a 75 percent approval rating and a 21 percent disapproval rating overall. Obama, in contrast, had a 51 percent approval and a 45 percent disapproval rating.
The Secretary of State has conducted several well-received foreign trips in recent months and has not been as closely identified with the more contentious elements of the Administration’s agenda, including the health care fight, the federal deficit and the Wall Street bailouts. And she has not been subjected to nearly the same media and partisan scrutiny as the president. Obama, meanwhile, has been on national television on a daily basis tackling a wide range of difficult issues.
Clarus president Ron Faucheux said one reason for Clinton’s high poll numbers is her high approval among Republicans – numbers he said position her well to run for president again in the future, if she chooses. Clinton had 96 percent approval among Democrats, a healthy 57 percent approval among Republicans, and 65 percent approval among Independents. Obama was nearly as popular among Democrats – 93 percent – but his numbers among Republicans and Independents fell off dramatically, at 19 percent and 33 percent respectively.
http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=99126068-18FE-70B2-A889403E3F6A0F56–
Okay, now that I have caught my breath and gotten up off the floor where I’ve been in the throes of helpless laughter….
WTF????
Well she’s just holding tea parties for diplomat’s wives dontcha know? It’s not hard to impress with chocolate chip cookies.
Hahahahahaha!
Anyone who believes that — I’ve got a bridge to sell ya.
I love this thread tonight, it is bittersweet, but more sweet than bitter….
“media scrutiny” is really too much….yeah, she hasn’t done that endless stream of really tough interviews with brian williams, oprah, late night tv hosts….that would be too haaaaaard for her. for feck’s sake…..how many times have we hear whine about what he misses being “regular folk”: goin’ out to get ice cream, takin’ the girls for a bike ride along the lake….bla bla bla. such scrutiny.
wish i could hang around…gotta run.
His job is much harder? Really? She is Secretary of State. She is the difference between war and peace. It is a major accomplishment that we are only fighting those wars we inherited, as opposed to, oh, say, World War Three. Hillary is doing the heavy lifting in foreign policy for sure.
Those number are amazing. She has high approval among Republicans on top of it.
Run Hillary Run!
Barbara Lee (D-CA) just came on Hardball.
Oh. My. God.
😯 Scratching head…hemmm….recap…NO PUBLIC OPTION = clapping/cheering
NO MEDICARE BUY IN for 55-65 = SUCCESS…More clapping/cheering.
😯
Oh yes, Obama has done a superb job whipping up the left into a panic –at the end, when there is nothing they can do–and making his skidmark legislation look like some kind of moderate solution.
Yep. He’s doing an OUTSTANDING job of F#%&ING us all over.
Yes, indeed, the premiums are going up, there is no gaurantee for pre-existing conditions and NO PUBLIC OPTION and NO Medicare Buy In for those 555-65. Personally I think it should be 50 to 65 in the Medicare Buy In, but alas it won’t be there at all.
Ah, memories of the old country (Ceausescu era): a law would come that would reduce the retirees pensions. Old people wold be shown on the news cheering on….
they must be holding her children hostage.
Well, when you hitch your wagon to a falling star, you have to ride it the whole way down. That’s what the Dems are doing. What we’re seeing now is them burning up as they enter the atmosphere.
Barbara Lee is a hypocrite then. She is totally antiwar and she thinks Obama is doing a great job by sending more troops to Afghanistan? WTF.
Barbara Lee is an idiot! These people are embarrassing–trying to protect this “historic” empty suit.
Somewhere the great Ron Dellums just had a cow over that.
No, he didn’t. He’s too busy making a mess of Oakland and not paying his taxes!
I wonder what she got in exchange for doing that. Probably a fat cat donor list.
Hilarious. I listened to a little bit of the Ed show, and the callers were actually blaming Obama. I couldn’t believe it.
It was incredible to hear people actually apologizing.
You know when you create that level of messianic expectation in people, the let down hurts, bad.
I listened to Lynn today and it was like heaven. All the AA’s calling and telling Lynn that she was right all along. I can’t wait to hear the same from the many people who drank the kool aid. If only….
We’re you saying “Yes!!!!” as much as I was?
Wow. I can hardly believe it.
Dean piles on — attacks the mandate provision of the bill
http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/1209/Dean_group_attacks_mandate.html
He’s getting his revenge now for being thrown under the bus. Karma baby.
As for the answer to your question:”where will they get the votes”? – they’ll count them very carefully as they now don’t have to rely just on DNC/RBC
I’m not talking about the primaries.
Me neither. They have the government tools in their hands now. Like W had in 2004.
Vote stealing only works if the election is close. Dems are going to lose by landslide numbers in 2010.
Why do you still think that vote stealing is limited to any given number? They stole about 6 million votes in 2000, possibly more than that in 2004. There was a lot of theft in the midterm elections in 2002 as well.
Unless there’s a viable way to double check ballots (and there isn’t) the electoral fraud could be crazy obvious, and there’s still no way to fight it.
Plus it’s really easy to suppress the vote on a pretty large scale with just a corrupt SOS and a judge or two. Most fraud boils down to preventing people from voting, preventing them from registering, or having their votes sent to the provisional envelope, then tossed.
I will crawl though broken glass to make that so.
I was about to mention the same damn thing!!!!
Both Hartman and Schultz not only carried Obama’s water, they washed, spun, and fluffed dry his jock strap .
Has anyone else noticed how the so called lefties cannot criticize Obama unless they immediately whine that Bill Clinton was worse? The young’uns might get a pass, but Hartman, the supposed great historian, always conveniently neglects to mention that Clinton was only elected Preznit because Perot siphoned off enough votes to prevent Poppy Bush’s reelection.
So not only did Bill Clinton not have the mandate that Obama was handed, he did not have control of the Congress but by a bare majority of blue dog Dems which the party lost at the first midterm. Plus, he had his own financial Augean stables of financial shit to clean up left by Reagan and Bush.
Bill Clinton was fighting a hostile senate and house to get anything done, and unlike Obama, he did not have an electorate finally fed up with Reagenomics. Hartman constantly conflates Clinton with Reagan and Bush I & II. Today, I finally realized before I turned him off as I usually do, that he HAS to keep bringing up Bill Clinton in order to keep denying to himself and his listeners how badly they have been punked by Obama.
Schultz’s real reason for cussing out Hillary Clinton and kissing up to Obama is because she refused to kiss his fat butt and give him interviews when he wanted them. Barack, needless to say, was only too happy to suck up.
One final point. Bill Clinton was no saint. He jerked us around plenty and I was fed up with him, no more so than after his Monica escapade blew up the Democratic brand. But the circumstances of his presidency are so conveniently glossed over that it bears occasional mention. And that ugly law legalizing the derivative craziness that lefties love to criticize him for? It was attached as a fucking rider to the 11,000 page OMNIBUS spending bill that congress FINALLY passed in December 2000…after Clinton was already a lame duck.
EOR…End of Rant
Excellent rant too.
The Monica thing did nothing to hurt the Dem Brand. That was a republican myth. Bill left with the highest approval rating of any president in history. Just about anything negative repeated about Bill is repub myth and both Dems and Repubs repeat that crap.
I literally have no qualms about anything Bill did. nothing. If history is retold truthfully, Bill balanced prosperity for everyone.
Bingo! He was, and is a man who actually gets it. I don’t care about his peccadillos. He understood, and he worked for the common man/woman. When it comes down to brass tacks, would I want an adulterer who worked for everybody, or would I want a self righteous prig who worked for the corporate culture – give me the adulterer ever time.
And Glass Steagall should not be hung around Bill’s neck. It was passed in the same year as his impeachment and was passed 90-8 in the Senate and with only 57 voting against it in the House.
What was he to do with that? I really despise the negative myths about Bill. If only we could have him or Hillary.
Congress tries to hang everything they do around some one else’s neck … it’s the look over there!!! approach to leadership
to say nothing of the fact that it was HILLARY Clinton running, not Bill. And no one better make a sexist asshole remark about how she would be his third term.
It pains me that even my siblings were so freaking stupid as to buy that crap last year.
http://blogs.abcnews.com/theworldnewser/2009/12/president-obama-federal-government-will-go-bankrupt-if-health-care-costs-are-not-reigned-in.html
It’ll go bankrupt at least as fast if this feces legislation passes.
faster
I need some ASPIRIN or something…my head is hurting with all this glorifying of this horrific BILL. ahhhhh
Try advil. It’s easier on the stomach.
Thanks…trying a pear now to have it go easy on the tummy.
Here’s some good news. Al Franken’s anti-rape amendment made it into the appropriations bill.
http://blog.alfranken.com/2009/12/16/minnpost-franken%E2%80%99s-amendment-on-rape-included-in-appropriations-bill/
He is the ONLY politician (other than Hill) that I feel good about right now. Okay, well, maybe Coakley.
Here’s another idea: single payer and cap the premiums – problem also solved
Sheejus. Get rid of the leechey insurance co’s. Oh yeah, the banksters too. Problem solved.
Same tactic he used in Feb to push the stimulus bill.
OH GEEBUS! 😯
So what does that make Ed? Answer: The same thing.
Ed must not remember his own history. How convenient.
Oh, snap!!
Oh Dear Lord….Schultzy is flipping out.
Make some room UNDER THE AUTOBUS for Ed Schultz.
Oh, I’ll GLADLY shift over and make room. Here, Ed’s ass can go right back there by the tailpipe and SUCK ON IT.
Lol We have a special section for our verbose, all knowing ex Repub scold friends.
He was a republican before he was a democrat. I don’t trust him.
Heh. Big Eddie blows with the wind to keep his show.
Personally, I tend to think Feingold is somewhat overrated, but I give him props for being the only one to speak the truth. I just hope he stays away from Kusinich, because if Dennis hears he’s called out The One, Feingold’s knees could be in for quite the pummeling.
*snerk*
😉
Harkin is on saying that the bill is “half a loaf.”
The funny thing is if this thing passes, it will be tied up in the courts for years. Lots of people are already preparing lawsuits because we will be forced to buy something from a private monopoly.
Thank goodness for that.
I cannot for the life of me figure how anyone can think mandating a purchase from a private agency and penalizing with a tax for not doing so, can be legal.
Maybe Congress should pass a law with a public option in, pay for it with taxes and … oh wait.
It’s so weird. The more left-wing my tweets are about health-care, the more right-wingers follow me. I think they have gotten so confused they have no idea what left and right are anymore.
boston, I think a lot of people in this country are fed up, and angry over the same things – they just use different terminology.
That’s why I was not so quick to rake the tea partiers over the coals. Yes, the GOP is co-opting it, but a lot of those average people could care less who organized, they came out because they are righteously angry, and know something is bad wrong with this country. They feel marginalized and ignored. If you can get past the right/left buzzwords many are on the same side. We call it oligarchy, they may mistakenly call it “socialism”, but the anger and disgust at the actions of the govt is the same. Govt of, by, and for the Govt (and their donors) is what they are seeing, same as us. That for those in DC, it’s about THEM and their petty power games, not about US.
Huffpo’s headline right now says that unemployement in Detroit is nearly 50%! It’s bad out there.
Do they cite a source, and if true, what does Dak say? Shoot, I hope it isn’t some sort of indicator thingie on the economy. SCARY news.
Yup. The GOP deserves blame for exploiting frustration, but that is unsurprising, it’s what the out-of-power party would do. It’s the Democratic party that deserves the lion’s share of the blame for turning what should have been an FDR moment into an anti-government moment. The tonedeaf, “they have nowhere else to go” mentality of the Democratic party can’t bite the party in it’s ass soon enough. They have thrown group after group under the bus when they should have been putting forward policy to help as many people as possible.
Yup. People were sick enough of Bush and scared enough about the economy that this country could have united with a REAL Democrat at the helm.
Obama has made EVERY division in this country WORSE. Every fucking one. D vs R, men vs women, black vs white, rich vs poor, young vs old, educated vs blue collar…. he has exploited and worsened every single fucking divide.
He’s an unmitigated disaster, and he’d done it under the Democratic banner. I’ll be surprised if the Dem party doesn’t go into the wilderness for 3 decades once this fool is through.
Yes, but can you tell us how you really think? 😯
when the powers that be shove a “no blue states or red states, no black America or white America” motivational speaker down the electorate’s throat, that’s what happens. Empty rhetoric does not bridge the divisions. It only makes for a kumbayah infomercial.
I agree WMCB. I listened to a number of town hall mtgs and many, many people said they have never “gotten” involved before, and nobody from either party was speaking for them.
Well-said WMCB. I think you are on to something. Sometimes people are not good advocates for themselves, but that doesn’t mean there is no substance to their grievances.
New York Times: New Democratic Group Finances a Republican-like Attack on Dean
Oops, that was an oldie but a goodie…
Kerry was up to his neck in that. Thank goodness he realized the error of his ways with the old politics through the power of hope and change.
Once again, Mama Lady Parts didn’t do anything, but she has these flat out scumbags on their high horses trying to make her atone for their sins.
At least he supported Martha Coakley.
I betcha he was under a lot of pressure after behaving like such an ass. O’Neill, with no campaign to speak of, put up some decent numbers, and that was before many people really started to hate him. With an actual opponent, he could be in a little trouble.
I sure hope so. I’d like to see him retire.
So was Robert Gibbs. That guy is a pure scumbag through and through.
Oh, I bet Howie was delirious about Obama’s choice for press secretary…
good catch bb!
Gibbs was such a weasel.
Another double take. From Huffpo.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lisa-solod-warren/two-black-role-models-don_b_394421.html
Personally I suspect all the backlash from the left *at this juncture* is either what the WH wants or something they’re not all that upset to have. It doesn’t take being left-of-center to see this piece of shit as a bailout to the insurance industry, but the backlash is being marginalized that way. The left should have been putting pressure on Obama and the Dems from the start by being part of the broader “bipartisan” opposition to the bill on the basis that it would turn out to be an industry bailout (which was clear at the OUTSET if people had been paying attention and not deluding themselves with 11 dimensional theories). If they had been part of an opposition that wasn’t easy to marginalize as “left,” that would have actually put pressure on Obama and the Democrats to put some cost control in the bill.
They kept rationalizing his non-existent leadership:
He’s just playing 11th dimensional chess…
He’s creating confusion deliberately so he can come in at the end and guarantee the public option…
He is doing the opposite of what the Clintons did to ensure success.
Yada yada yada.
Which is true–and really sad if you care what’s in the bill.
Obama blew it and sold us out!
He doesn’t care–never did.
Do you think he’s pushing the bill to be shitty so he can theatrically veto it and demand something better? How deep does the kabuki run?
veto it? no way.
The insurance companies demanded that the mandates be written into the bill. I remember reading that in a Business Week article last summer. It does make sense to cover everyone to decrease costs, which is what a single payer system would do, but mandates to buy health insurance may be illegal. I would like to see some legal opinions about this.
No, I think he’s pushing it to be shitty because he wants to keep his corporate donors happy, meanwhile selling it to the hypothetical “middle” — they want this “middle” to see his polices as not too left, not too right. And, I think there is a grain of truth there generally speaking–a lot of people are “moderate” in the sense of not wanting either side running things unchecked. But, the Obama WH is bipartisan for bipartisan sake, not for the sake of advancing policy that works. They have both the right noise machine calling this bill socialist, and the left noise machine calling it an empty bill. He is counting on moderates/independents to see him as winning this fight and coming home to him, making his approval numbers go up when he passes this skidmark. I don’t think he’ll get the support back from all the independents that he’s losing specifically because of the economy, but he will impress some voters by the appearance of “winning.” The question is the margin og people wising up and realizing there is no there there with this bill.
I don’t think that will work this time with moderates. This has been in process too long and too many people have opinions about it now.
In part I think the Admin people were still flipping out about the financial collapse in the early summer. But it was also BO being naive and arrogant about his power to build consensus. Those closed door meetings with the insurance companies where he drove hard bargains and gave stern warnings. All baloney. He never cared about building a consensus with the people. Just a bunch of PR nonsense at the townhall meetings. He doesn’t have a core, and eventually most people will come to see that, regardless of the spoonfeeding press and media. You cannot elect a President without understanding his or her core convictions.
Even Dana Millbank, the ultimate Village whore, had a WaPo editorial today calling Obama a sell-out to big PhRMA. There was none of the overly cute and sarcastic writing that has turned me off of Millbank in the past. It was written as just a very sad commentary on how Congress cares more about corporate re-election contributions than it does about the price gouging Americans face when paying for drugs relative to the rest of the world.
Help! I’m in moderation.
I think it might have been the “w” word that did it.
Thanks. I’ll be careful next time to imply rather than to type it out.
No biggie. We can always get you out.
Greenwald was really articulate in that clip. As you said bb, it’s like watching a car wreck–you can’t look, but can’t look away. This is very surreal for those of us who called it a long time ago. I didn’t think it would become so obvious this quickly. He’s completely lost Republicans and Independents, and now he is alienating his base–exactly how does he plan to get reelected?
There aren’t enough free ponies to seduce enough people back into the fold. Their only saving grace is that the GOP is on life support.
It just keeps getting worse and worse. You’d think at some point Obama might get worried, but he doesn’t seem to care what happens to his popularity.
Really, this administration is so much like Bush’s that it’s scary.
Actually I’m a bit worried.
I hope it won’t be bombing Iran.
Brazile’s on it!
http://www.dailynewstribune.com/opinion/x962895978/Brazile-Irans-nuclear-dance-with-death
It makes me miss Canada and our votes of non-confidence.
I don’t get that either. These people aren’t as dumb as they appear. They know they have no interest in governing and couldn’t do it successfully if they wanted to. So what’s the contingency plan? Just intone “Bush,” pass tge buck, more Scarlett Johansson videos and hope lightning strikes twice?
They are all out to rake in as much money as they can for mthem selves and their cohorts before it all collapses. And it will.
Maybe Scarlett Johansson wants to be the next Marilyn. In Obama’s case, after seeding so much misogyny, I think that might give his numbers a boost.
Nixon’s plan for health care reform
http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Stories/2009/September/03/nixon-proposal.aspx
It’s clear and not over 15 pages by the looks of it and had all the realities/hardships/costs and benefits in it. Hemmm, why have Republicans turned into shuch meanies today?
That’s actually a decent plan. I wonder what those deductibles/copays would translate to in today’s dollars?
I do like the idea of everyone paying in in some sort of means tested way. It shouldn’t be free except for the very poor. If you work, you should pay something. Heck, I’d go for a 2 or 3% VAT to pay for it, if we could get UHC.
yes, yesteday when myiq was saying Nixon would have been considered a liberal in today’s skewed right environment, I pointed out that Nixon had a better healthcare plan than Obama.
so sorry to have missed that! Where McCaskill blamed her children, Thom blamed his wife. What. A. Jerk.
Dean:HealthCare Bill Bigger Bailout 4 the Ins Industry Than AIG http://guerillawomentn.blogspot.com/2009/12/howard-dean-health-care-bill-bigger.html
http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2009/12/16/132039/17
Booman is such an idiot. In his worldview, white people are ivory tower academics and black people live in the hood. Maybe the best thing to take from this is that young white affluent male students who don’t know $&@& from shinola should not be discussing policy or speaking on everyone else’s behalf.
Booman has never seen a trailer park, evidently, and thinks those shiny grad students represent “the white point of view”.
The way he talks, honestly, I suspect he grew up in a hermetically sealed pod and has never interacted with another live human. ‘The alien species, hereafter referred to as ‘specimens….’ He’s not even talking about people, he’s talking about “urban progressives,” those people who want to help Mrs. Jones. How about Mrs. Jones? How does she feel?
Is Mrs. Jones just as willing to gratefully accept any old POS bill that will make her life worse as the “urban progressives” who speak on her behalf?
Want to see a cross section of who is barely hanging on in America? In a big town or small, go to the laundromat late in the evening. Black, white, asian, indian, whatever – they are there, counting quarters, talking about (and worrying about) their families, asking who’s hiring, waiting on their ride from their cousin because their car broke down and they can’t fix it.
There is no color at the laundromat at 11pm. Wanna see the America that no one talks about? Go there.
In 2008 the progressives were all aflutter: ;Obama is the one who understands this moment. He’s the one who can make this moment special. He knows what Nickelodeon is. He has a blackberry. He gets the new generation.’ Now, suddenly they’re worried about “getting” Mrs. Jones. Sure.
No, he doesn’t care about “getting” Mrs. Jones. He cares about pissing off the “urban progressives” who want to help Mrs. Jones, because “white and black progressives live in completely different worlds.” And ultimately, he doesn’t care if the bill goes down even though he believes Mrs. Jones will be completely screwed if it does, because it’s worth it to not allow scary “Teab—— Palinism.”
booman is right about one thing, he lives on a completely different planet from the rest of us.
this is all about winning–winning is the ends for fauxgressives, it’s not the means to any policy objective. Booman’s post is just another version of Matt Yglesias saying, “grow up.”
Yep. I never understood why kos and the gang left the Republican Party, since all they care about is winning and Repubs win more often. I suppose it’s because they were too low in tge Repub pecking order to get significant spoils, while the Dems gave them more attention.
Excellent point. In the ethereal world of these pundits, all displaced, disadvantaged people are black (that opinion to my mind is racist). There are so many white and asian and inuit and first nations that are hurting., where the heck does he get off passing judgement. Has he ever lived on the streets? I haven’t either, but I’ve worked in the streets, and he’s just one more supercillious man who thinks he has the pulse of the nation. He is pathetic.
So now being academic and educated makes you ignorant. remember how during the election the meme was the other way around? ‘Oh my gawd how dare that Hillary even float the sillyidea of a gas tax holiday! How dare she try to court voters who want relief now!’
Interestingly enough, that post indicates in a very round about way that Booman opposes the bill. That’s rather amazing.
yeah, but he can’t seem to bring himself to do it without screaming.
is the Lyn Samuels show available anywhere on the net? Heck, I’d happily pay to hear THAT show.
She’s fabulous! I hope someone youtubes today’s show too. Wow.
But her show is repeated at 3 am to 5 am. It is worth setting the alarm. She is spot on…most of the time. She nailed Obama back in January of 2008. She was a big time Hillary supporter. She took some criticism from AA men in particular. But she never backed down. She is a pistol!
Yeah, Thom’s show was my last brush with Air America. He was the last hold out. Seemed fair and balance and then one day, it was all about hope and change.
Me too. I can’t even remember what it was he said, but I do remember driving along and screaming at the radio.
And Cenk? Omigod. The Young Turks were awful. So, he can KMA.
After Obama was sworn in, Cenk floated McCaskill as his prediction for first female president.
Lolol Oh yeah. They’ll be all over someone with as weak a resume and as poor political skills as Obama. What’s that? She got 1%? Oh, well. Did you see that a woman ran and we didn’t attack her? Doesn’t that say where our hearts are? 😉
It seems that my Christmas present came early this year!
Sanders won’t vote for the bill as is.
Didn’t he withdraw his amendment earlier to stop the Repubs reading it? If he wants to improve the bill, that seems like a foolish move, would have bought time.
I agree. Do you suppose someone threatened him?
I don’t know. I wouldn’t think there’d be much of anything they could do to him except run someone against him.
Maybe Bernie just has the stones to try a Lieberman in reverse. Without 60 votes there is no bill, and Bernie knows it.
Ben Nelson still isn’t on board either–he won’t vote for it without Stupak.
I got an email from Mary Landrieu this afternoon. She said she was voting for it now.
She’s been all over TV. Now that the bill is worthless, she thinks it’s just fabulous!
Hey, that was supposed to nest under Dak’s comment. There’s something wrong with the nesting today.
Uh Oh. All the Schadenfreude broke teh internetz.
Didn’t she get about 300 million for LA?
who gives a rat’s rear at this point.
And Andrea Mitchell and others are straight out saying his amendment is irrelevant at this point.
State of Disbelief: lol
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1209/30681.html
Pelosi, purporting to be for a strong public option, on July 30, 2009:
“I am for the strongest possible public option… because, as the President said, that’s the way you keep the private sector honest, it’s how you have true competition as you achieve universal quality accessible healthcare for all Americans.”
Obama: I have always opposed the war
Pelosi: I have always said the public option was expendable
FAIRYTALE!
http://www.politico.com/click/stories/0912/schumer_has_a_flight_to_forget_.html
Ooooh testy…tempers are getting short.
I hope they are all eating Tums by the truckload – every damn one of them. It’s all going down in flames even IF they pass this crap bill.
That’s what happens when you get cute and think you know better than The People. I don’t even care if some of them really thought that by weighting the scales for Obama they were “doing the right thing”, because they sincerely thought he’d be better.
YOU HAVE NO RIGHT. It is OUR vote, and you have NO right to take it, or to make our decisions for us, even if you think our decision is wrong. That is the essence of representative govt.
So yeah, I hope they all have fucking bleeding ulcers and irritable bowels. Those arrogant pieces of shit NEED to be taken down a notch or two or a dozen.
The arrogance and narcissism of these POS is breathtaking. They really do need to be taken down many pegs.
No-one with eyes and a brain could have really thought he would have been better than Hillary. It was all delusional and/or payoffs (imho).
These people really need to be brought down many, many pegs. “‘That was Harry Reid. Guess health care will have to wait.'” Ugh.
She should have shot back “Yes, if we’re lucky.”
She should have taught him a lesson in how the other half lives by having him escorted off the plane so he could continue his call. 😉
I wrote an email off to Schumer about this little tirade of his.
Said that if if had been anyone but him, we would have gotten
our asses hauled of the plane and been charged with disorderly
conduct. I then said that had he played his cards right in 1999 when
he was in support of repealing Glass-Stegall, he might have gotten
his own corporate jet and then he wouldn’t have to fly with us peons
in the first place.
🙂 I can’t believe how obnoxious he was. She’s doing her job and he’s trying to humiliate and one up her. Over entitled ass.
Pegs, notches, same difference. See above – great minds think alike!
I’m honored! 🙂 Another day, another entire plane’s worth of lost votes.
David Letterman calls Sarah Palin a slutty flight attendant… and a flight attendant stops Harry Reid and Schumer from passing wealthcare. We have come full circle.
I hope she reported that as a threat and had his but kicked off the plane. They are not LORDS…good grief…already. She is just trying to do her job, but maybe they could have placed him in the dunny for security reason for the remainder of the trip.
Someone should take him in a room…
nah, he should be left on a deserted island with no cameras or microphones
mirrors, definitely no mirrors either.
Does he cast a reflection?
Probably not 😉
LOL!
STOP!!!! STOP!!! it hurts!!!! hahahahahaha
He’s “threatening” to refuse to buy insurance (sez he’s ‘self-insured’) and said “jail me Mr. President.”
Hmm… that’s about the best reason to pass this bill.
oh, the humanity!
Keep Keith Incarcerated! Keep Keith Incarcerated! Send him to Gitmo so he can appeal to the SoS!
That’s the best idea I’ve heard in a while! 🙂
ZOMG! I have to get on the phone to my congresscritters right away and tell them to PLEEEEEEAAAASE pass the bill! It might be worth it to see Obie in prison.
I would like to make a nomination for Worst Person in the World. Whoever taught him to speak.
It’s good to see you laugh, SOD! Keep it up, Keith…
Oberman is so full of hot air and himself. What a d*ckhead. Yea, I’m sure Bo is going to listen to him.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
o/t and scary:
http://www.sauditelegraph.com/news/newsfull.php?newid=311756
wth?
the saudis probably asked for help
From the State Department press briefing yesterday:
Isn’t Bin Laden Yemeni?
Saudi – his family is wealthy too.
I was just asking what happened to you, but on the new open thread up above.
I think his grandfather emigrated to Saudi from Yemen, decades back,
Speaking of shit hitting the fan, Tea Party more popular than Dems, GOP
The popularity of the Tea Party movement is not necessarily a rise of doctrinaire conservatism, IMO. But it’s a very good measure of just how PISSED OFF a huge number of Americans are, for a variety of reasons.
It’s popular because there they are saying FUCK YOU to Washington, you are not listening to we the people.
This is beyond agreeing/not agreeing on ideology, from what I’m hearing from my non-political neighbors. It’s about pure anger at a clueless, unresponsive, unaccountable, arrogant pack of crooks on both sides of the aisle. Scratch that, its past anger and approaching rage. Dismissing it as just a bunch of astro-turfed wingers is a very dangerous thing to do, if that’s what the Beltway thinks.
I think the first sentence from the quote above says it pretty well. “Just how angry is the public with the country’s two leading political parties?”
Even the non-political general public is starting to get really pissed off. The beltway people better not laugh this off either.
I think most (not all) of the people at the actual rallies are conservative/libertarian. But the average Joe watching it all happen? He is cheering them on even if he doesn’t agree with them totally.
There is pure HATE for all things Washington brewing in this country, and DC had better wake up and smell the pitchforks.
Great news! Howard Dean 2012! Hillary Clinton 2012. Hell, Anyone But Obama in 2012! The fact these polls are turning and everyone is finally coming around to see what we have known all along is belated, but nevertheless grounds for hope.
I don’t know about that. I for one am incensed that the Dems foisted this superficial gigolo on the country. The US is in crisis and needed the steady, sure hand of Hillary Clinton. This was not only a betrayal of Dems who supported Clinton, but of the country.
yep
Obama is part of a larger problem. He was able to become the nominee because the party leadership was already corrupted. Dean, Pelosi, Reid, etc. have failed at leadership.
You left out Axelrod and Donna Brazile. I agree with you.
I don’t like Howard Dean.
I don’t either. He is part of the reason we have Bozo in the WH.
I used to be a Deanie, but his role in the 2008 fiasco turned me off.
I liked Dean more than Kerry in 2004 (though was never a Deaniac), but 2004 set the stage for Dean’s role in 2008.
Hell, Anyone But Obama in 2012!
It was “anyone but Bush” that got us in this mess.
No way. Dean was part and parcel of the backstabbing of Hillary Clinton and the selling of America down the river. Howard Dean, no way. He can try to work himself back into a respectable position but pres or VP, nope.
I was reading all the Obama Loving bloggers this morning, and honestly, I almost started to feel sorry for them. Then I remembered how they treated us all like dog crap and went out to breakfast instead.
It’s surreal, uppity. I actually do feel a tiny bit sorry for the very young voters who were just young and stupid. But the bloggers who played that pied pier tune for the children, when they of all people should have known better? No sympathy for them at all. I hope they eat crow from here to doomsday.
piper, not pier.
They gave Obama the best years of their lives.
And that’s significant when you’re only 23.
😆 Yup, us old gals that volunteered for years and years, well, we just didn’t do enough.
LOL! I never even come close to feeling sorry for those losers!
Uppity, I hope you had an extra waffle with syrup for me.
I will never feel sorry for any of them. I figured this guy in ten minutes watching in him a debate in Jan ’08. And I’m no Rhodes Scholar. I don’t know what rose coloured glasses they were looking through but there was never any there there.
How did you know I had waffles!
C’mon, Uppity!! That is the only meal you could order in honor of The One…
I do not feel sorry for them. I saw through all of this back in 2007.
The DemocratUnderground is currently fighting amongst themselves about this attrocity from the US Senate.
Oh an about going to jail. That’s the Public Option now Poor Keith. Somebody needs to” take him in a room and only he comes out”..
snap 🙂
which personality will come out? the one in 1998 that said his work at MSNBC made him ashamed, made him depressed, made him cry? Or the one who posts on the Great Orange Satan?
I think a bunch of women should take him in a room and only they come out.
BB! This is so unlike you. You must be getting it from Katiebird’s emails.
I volunteer to be the videographer on that one BB.
From Politico:
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1209/30694.html
They say there won’t be a vote before Xmas. Good. Let it die.
I just saw Nelson on Fox state that he WILL be voting for the bill.
Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton has a 75% approval rating! Read all about it at Alegre’s Corner.
It must be driving Obama’s guys NUTZ. Maybe that’s why they have to pass this healthcare bill pronto no matter what’s in it. They can’t have Hillary, just OUT there, charming the pants off the world and making everyone wistful.
Great thread! Lots of comments. Er, maybe time to start a new one?
I did, but no one is joining me up there.
We have been vindicated.
Cheeto face is on Obie’s show now..
LOL…they both need to go into a padded cell and never come out.
New Open thread up.
Who’s the ratfuckers now?
Nesting is broken here, so don’t know where this will end up, but there is a NEW THREAD UP.
“This bill appears to be legislation that the president wanted in the first place, so I don’t think focusing it on Lieberman really hits the truth,” said Feingold.[bearing in mind the Barnum and Bailey Circus was h’q’d in Baraboo, WI, in the nineteenth century.
Ditto with cap ‘n trade or with stimulating jobs into existence… etc, etc……
In all the cases above, pixie dust and Neverland plus all sorts of other things your lyin’ eyes are tricking you into believing are the key element.
P.T. Barnum was right about one thing, and with the present population, make that a sucker per second…….!
Olbermann is calling for civil disobedience if the health care reform containing mandates is passed, and he’s doing it on the Daily Cheeto, no less (my, how things have changed…). I think this is a very real possibility, and a desirable one. Looks like everyone is souring on Obama. What’s he going to do, run as a Republican in 2012? An Independent, with Joe Lieberman as his running mate? This has “one-term failed presidency” written all over it.
Best Christmas/Hannakuh/Kwannza present EVAH!!! Other than one that didn’t leave people sick, dying, & dead, I mean.
Thanks, everyone who voted for Barry – good work! How the f can you sleep at night?