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The PLOTS Thicken
From Politico
Democrats might like to think that health care reform is all but a done deal if it clears the House, but the Senate is where Republicans have been plotting for months to sentence it to a painful procedural death.
Is it possible I could finally, for the first time in my adult life, be proud of Republicans?
Republican aides have been mining the Senate’s arcane parliamentary rules for an attack that aims at striking elements both broad and narrow from the bill, weakening the measure and ultimately defeating it.
Arcane is the new modern.
Their goal is to force changes that leave Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) without 51 votes to pass it, or at the very least, that drive it back to the House for a second vote that drags out the process and saps Democratic resolve.
Please, don’t cave. Don’t roll over like usual. These stakes are way too high. You do this for us and we will rename you the “T” party – for tenacious.
But the first step in the Republicans’ game plan is making sure they never need to use the rest of it.
“Our initial goal is to stop the bill in the House,” said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas). “Part of convincing House members to vote for the Senate bill is that it can be fixed by reconciliation, and I think that is a highly questionable proposition.”
It’s a pre-emptive strike meant to scare jittery House Democrats into withholding their support from Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who needs 216 votes to pass the Senate bill and a companion measure that fixes unpopular elements of the bill. If she falls short, comprehensive health care reform dies.
Who needs sports? THIS is March madness.
The spin from the left, bank on it, will be that these maneuvers, if they should succeed, will be pyrrhic and “the death of the Republicans.” I don’t think anyone would believe that warning, look at the polling on this bill. The people know that this is not about health reform for the left, it’s just a power grab. It’s been through so many different incarnations that it would be difficult to maintain that this is a principled bill. With regards to principle, the bill is a shadow of it’s former self, having been bastardized and bastardized. It’s the power grab that is the constant, making the power the principle.
Big Richard
March 18th, 2010
Wet dreams…
http://herdailydevotions.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/roadblock.jpg
My2Cents
March 18th, 2010
This whole thing has gotten so convoluted, it’s like listening to Abbott and Costello discuss “Who’s on first?”
My understanding is that if the House passes the Senate bill, that’s it…it goes to the Big BO for signature, and it’s a done deal. It’s a “reconciliation bill” to modify the Senate bill which would need to go back to the Senate, but the strategy is, I believe, to get the Senate bill passed by the House, sign it into law, and then abandon the effort of passing a reconciliation bill.
My2Cents
March 18th, 2010
It’s a power-grab, yes, but the other factor at this point is that its passage will show that Obama isn’t a complete failure as a President. This thing fails, and Obama immediately turns into a lame duck.
BigFurHat
March 18th, 2010
Yep. March Madness.
Zonga
March 18th, 2010
It is a power grab, it is biometric national ID cards, it is DNA on file for all of us mundanes, it is a bottomless pit in which taxpayers throw their money, it is FedGov having a complete file of our medical financial information – together in one jacket, it is information sharing on us from FedGov to your local politicos and LE, it is amnesty for illegals, it is fill in whatever I have missed…
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Matt
March 18th, 2010
Does Pelosi know she is evil or does she really think what she is doing is the right thing?
I have never met her but I bet she smells just like the “Cornelia Marie” from the Deadliest Catch.
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Joe
March 18th, 2010
Dude, if the bill gets to the Senate, that means the 12/24/2009 Senate bill has already been passed (or “deemed” passed) by the House, and the President has signed it into law. At best, the Republicans in Congress are just creating a diversion while we gather our guns and construct the barricades.
cakes
March 18th, 2010
my2cents: I don’t see how Obama looks successful IF it passes. Everyone knows of the underhandedness, the threats, the bribes, the supreme difficulty in getting Democrats on board. If they pass this in some “iffy” procedural maneuver, they are toast. Considering the poll numbers that show the American people do NOT want this bill, the people will consider the Dems ramming it in as a hostile act.
BTW, if it does pass, either through a proper vote or by procedure, I do not believe those Americans opposed to this will let it rest. The Repubs, if the above is true, will be heralded if successful in derailing this nightmare. And the people will assist them and cheer them on until it is dead. It ain’t over til the fat lady sings (would that be Hillary, Mechelle, or ?)
Betty
March 18th, 2010
Okay..I’ll take lame duck…so that means failure.
cakes
March 18th, 2010
Zonga- it is Eugenics, forced death by denial of treatment with NO option to get needed treatment on one’s own dime, it is leverage to make you do something they want you to do (they used the water in central CA valley for a mere vote, imagine what they can make you do if they refuse cancer treatment on a stage 2 patient), it means complete control of the food industry….. what else, y’all?
Bigun
March 18th, 2010
What constitution? Even the so called reconciliation is a violation of article 1 section 7. John Wayne said the ballot was the sword and the people it’s weilder. But congress merely looks at us as weilding rubber swords.
Alo Konsen
March 18th, 2010
You want bare-knuckled resistance? Check out what the people over at Hillbuzz are doing: targeting the biggest donors of the wavering House Dems.
http://hillbuzz.org/2010/03/17/action-items-march-17th-2010/
Bigun
March 18th, 2010
Geezo, “wielding.”
My2Cents
March 18th, 2010
I’m with you, Cakes…This bill is a disaster for the Democrats whether it passes or fails. Their fate is sealed. In suggesting its passage would prove Obama not to be a “failure” is the delusion in his own mind. I’ve concluded that he REALLY BELIEVES that the people will love him for passing this monstrosity. He’s the most tone-deaf person to sit in the Oval Office in modern times. His particular personality disorder makes him believe he can do no wrong.
Jenny
March 18th, 2010
Arcane may be the new modern, but sticks of dynamite in the nostrils is the new arcane.
cakes
March 18th, 2010
My2cents- yep, except I believe he doesn’t care if the people will love him for this particular bill. I think he is going for the Hugo (as in Chavez) kind of “adoration”.
AvgDude
March 18th, 2010
From now on, I think the Democrats should either be called the Deem-ocrats or the Teat Party.
Tim
March 18th, 2010
If the Republicans do anything to stop this evil, I’ll send them money until I die.
Alpha Maser
March 18th, 2010
Reminds me of “Ya Got Trouble in River City”, not pool just billiards.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LI_Oe-jtgdI
DavidD
March 18th, 2010
I’d say it doesn’t matter, since everyone knows that Obama will just sign the Senate bill whenever the House passes whatever it’s going to pass while it deems the Senate bill passed under the Slaughter House Rule, except that there are bound to be Dems in the House who are pretending to believe that the Senate will vote on the House bill and this puts the lie to that.
“Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practise to deceive!”