There is a great deal of anger amongst progressives today. And rightfully so. We have seen the most important political initiative in the last several decades be shanghaied by a petulant, spoiled brat. All the bad things they are saying about him are absolutely true. He was against the misuse of the filibuster until recently. He favored universal coverage, or so he said in his 2006 campaign. He was THE advocate for a medicare buy-in, and endorsed it as recently as September. And he told the New York Times today that when he realized that liberals actually liked the medicare buy-in, he decided to turn against it. Unbelievable. This so far exceeds any decent politics, even in today's hyper-partisan era (at least from the Republicans), that it borders into the realm of evil. And I do not say that lightly.
So what do we do about Traitor Joe? It is so tempting to strip him of his chairmanship. It would mean so much to expel him from the caucus. But none of that gets us health care.
Whatever we do or don't do to our pseudo-President, we cannot lose sight of so many in need of better health care. I say pass whatever's left of the bill, concentrating on reforms such as pre-existing conditions and improving access. Then pass a medicare buy-in and/or truly robust public option as a reconciliation bill. Does anyone think that the Republicans wouldn't have the stones to do it if it what they wanted to? IT WOULD ALREADY BE DONE.
We also need to reform the Senate rules so that a tiny group of industry protectionists can NEVER do this again. The simplest way to do it would be for Harry Reid to effect a change in filibuster rules, which can be done by a simple majority vote. Set it at 55. Or make all filibusters true filibusters - get your frickin' dictionary and hold the floor as long as you can. Again if it were the Republicans, and they had been filibustered a record number of times, IT WOULD ALREADY BE DONE.
The best way to deal with A--hole-In-Chief Lieberman is to mute his power through reconciliation and changes in the filibuster. Reduce his irritating yapping to background noise. And by the way, Connecticut citizens - think about a anti-spoiled brat rule in your state and federal elections - if you lose your primary, you can't turn around and run as an independent.
He makes me sick to my stomach, but let's keep our eye on the prize. There must be true reform and true choice. Do not give up the fight.
I agree with your conscensus that democrats are a bunch of wussies compared to the methodical fanaticism the republicans have. Joe Biden even said as much on John Stewart a couple of weeks ago.
ReplyDeletewww.dailyshow.com/watch/tue-november-17
And to add comment about how evil Joe Lieberman, google Joe Lieberman and Senator Palpatine and behold pure evil.
I also agree with the filibuster to some extent, and I want to remind you that it was only a couple of years ago when the republicans had a majority they tried to abolish it. I know you only want to revise it slightly so one man can't stop a bill, especially a significant bill that will benifit millions, but be wary of things going awry for both sides.
Thanks for your comment, Team Investment!
ReplyDeleteI agree that the filibuster should not be eliminated, but it also should not be so frequently used, as it's usage has exploded since 2007. I think a 55 threshold is reasonable. Could that just make No. 55 be the power point? Maybe, but it would make less likely that lobbyist/Republicans could hold sway. They also should make it more difficult to sustain - that you would actually have to hold the floor of the Senate.
Now that the Senate has passed their bill, I think that is completely inexcusable for some Senators to be mouthing off about how it won't pass the Compromise bill has one change in it. It visibly renders the House, the people's body, completely powerless. Talk about inciviltty! Dodd gets all upset that Franken cuts off Lieberman's blathering on the Senate Floor, but I don't think he'll say word one to the extortionist Senators trying to diminsh the entire House!