Bipartisan My Ass
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The Dems are about to screw up health care reform by trying to give in too much to the fringe Republican party. Stop it.
Trying to achieve full bipartisanship by squaring those two views is a recipe for incoherence.
As it is, President Obama and the Democrats have already compromised a great deal. They are not proposing a government takeover of health-care financing, as single-payer advocates prefer. Instead, they are working within the confines of current arrangements.
We didn’t win the White House, House and Senate to ask Chuck Grassley for permission to do stuff.
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© 2000-2011 Oliver Willis
E.J. Dionne asks “Where did we get the idea that the only good health-care bill is a bipartisan bill?”
Answer: From right wing Broderite concern trolling corporatists working for Republican Karl Rove and Republican Frank Luntz.
On the other hand, Obama could also start investing his political capital and stop being a pawn of those Rovian Broderites.
You’d almost think Obama was married to a Corporate-Medical-Industry lawyer…
Par for the DLC course
The Dems are about to screw up health care reform by trying to give in too much to the fringe Republican party insurance industry lobby.
Fixed.
We also need to work harder. According to his DKos diary, reps on the Hill are getting more anti-public option calls than pro! Despite the fact that a clear majority of Americans want a public option! One thing you gotta give the wingnuts, with their teabagging parties, etc., they’re good at whipping up the base. So if you want a strong public plan, don’t wait — call your Senator and Congressman! And email too!!
And to forestall the inevitable right wing misinterpretation of my comment: I am DEEPLY GRATEFUL that Obama is 100 times better than Republican McCain and Obama is 1,000 times better than Republican Bush.
But my HOPES were that he’d 1,000 times better than Republican McCain and 10,000 times better than Republican Bush.
But that’s the purity troll streak talking.
So glad the jellyfish Daschle dropped out. Now he’s talking about making consessions. And people thought his appeasement in 2000 was an isolated incident.
It was predicted – nay, expected – that the whole concept of “bipartisanship” would disappear, once the Liberals were in power. Do you guys ever not march in lockstep?
Some day you must tell me what it’s like to be assimilated by the Borg.
Poor Frank, I guess he didn’t notice that this post was written by a democrat criticising other democrats.
But then, perhaps Frank has his own special meaning of “lockstep”. I know he and his wingnut pals have a special meaning for “bipartisan”: “you do what I want and I’ll do what I want: everybody gets what I want so everybody’s happy.”
Because bipartisanship was such a concern for Bush between 2001-2008.
Wilbur: You can’t really believe that I am not dumb.
Who wrote this ?
The Dems are about to screw up health care reform by trying to give in too much to the fringe Republican party. Stop it.
[ Jaim and Wilbur ] And if by my “wingnut pals” you mean Republicans, they spent 8 years trying to accommodate Democrats, and look what it got them.
“not” should have been “that” dumb…
See how flustered dealing with liberals makes Republicans / Conservatives / Right to Lifers ?
they spent 8 years trying to accommodate Democrats
Does it rain lollipops where you live?
Here’s my little contribution to the health care debate. They’ve already taken single-payer off the table. We really need to push the public option.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FI5UwDrU40
“And if by my ‘wingnut pals’ you mean Republicans, they spent 8 years trying to accommodate Democrats, and look what it got them.”
This is easily the dumbest thing I’ve heard all day, and I teach six year-olds for a living.
LOL Jaim,
6 year olds? No wonder you come across the way you do. No adult interaction.
God, is this frustrating. It’s like the Repubs have their finger in their pocket and are telling the Dems its a gun, the Dems know its their finger but they’re treating it like a gun anyway.
Truth is, and not to sound all Taibbi, but I really think the truth is that Dems are – if not just as connected – nearly as connected to the big moneypots as the GOP. They don’t want a public option either. If they did it’d happen.
As the lightbulb in Parthenons head slowly starts to glow and glimmer. Do you think? They have to get reelected too. The whole nation is not as blind in following Obama’s lead as you who are interested enough in liberal politics to come here and bullshit about it every night.
I think you misunderstand me, AO. It’s not lack of people’s support I’m postulating, but lack of support from the moneybags.
No I get what you say. The Democrats are bought and paid for as are the Republicans. You’re sayig the big money isn’t in favor of this. I also brought up the fact that this rapid healthcare thing is disturbing to many people. Not all of the Democrats live in safe districts like Berkley etc. Some of them have to face folks at home who are not as committed to the harder left side of the Democrat party as most of the people who come here. Face it, if you’re here bullshitting about politics every night you are by definition a political junkie. And that’s a bipartison description!
AO, my co-workers are in their 20′s and 30′s. I realize “adult” for you would be post-70, but whatevs.
Jaim,
You never really did very well with story problems in math did you?
Sorry. Post-80′s.
LOL Jaim,
If you think watching you flounder about making agist jokes at my expense is an effective way to pick at some hidden nerve you are sadly mistaken. Showcasing your problem solving skillset is most amusing.
Shorter right wing authoritarians and corporatists:
Authoritarian right winger “Frank DiSalle”: ‘Do what I say or you’re not bipartisan.’
Corporatist right winger “Amused Observer”: ‘Corporate ownership of Republicans is complete, now we buy Dems.’
If Democrats want to blow up the budget and force everyone into a public option alone, then they should have the guts to do it alone. The fact that they don’t means you still have a few elections to win. Should have voted for people with intestinal fortitude instead of any old Democrat.
Right winger corporatist Adam Herman has decided to drop any pretense and throw his hat into the ring for the Nasty Lying Right Winger Prize.
REPUBLICANS ALREADY BLEW UP THE BUDGET.
I know people think it’s odd that I keep repeating this, but it’s a central right wing lie saying Republicans know anything about numbers.
The truth is that the Republican Party is the Debtor Party.
Republican President Reagan more than DOUBLED the US debt.
Republican President Reagan and Republican President Bush 1 more than QUADRUPLED the US debt.
Republican President Bush 2 more than DOUBLED the US debt again once all of his debtor bills are added up.
And Republican President Bush 2 deliberately left the future President burdened with deficits as far as they eye can see even after blowing the fiscally conservative surpluses of a Democratic President.
It’s the Republicans “Two Santa Clause Theory” of “Republican “Economics”": Blow up the budget, increase the debt, give a lot of goodies away, and then blame the incoming opponent for the mess.
Right winger “Adam Herman” has gone from repeatedly repeating lies to just being nasty duplicitous weasel.
Why don’t you explain again, “Adam Herman”, why you think our democratic republic should be dismantled.
There’s a prize! Why the fuck didn’t someone tell me there was a prize?!
It’s like Gore and Krugman getting a Nobel. It’s time to take off the gloves, there is a prize at stake!
they spent 8 years trying to accommodate Democrats,
How long was my cable out?
Democrats don’t give a shit about bipartisanship. They are pretending to pursue bipartisanship as an excuse to sell out the the wealthy, monied elite.
“Democrats don’t give a shit about bipartisanship.”
Actually, they do and that’s the problem. There’s a reason there are only 40 GOP senators right now, and that’s because of their disastrous track record between 2001-2008. It’s only the David Broder’s of the world who truly feel a bipartisan bill would be better than a good, sane one.
Totally guessing here, but Obama might be trying to hold off on health care reform until after 2010 when it’s likely there’ll be even bigger numbers of Dems in both sides of the Congress. And that’s when the bleating and moaning of the GOP can be fully ignored on getting some reasonable health-care reform through.
I agree that bipartisanship is overrated. Usually, when both parties agree on a major issue, they are merely empowering themselves at our expense.
But this public option thing, it’s completely unnecessary. And progressives need to stop doing the Iraq-war type rollout of this plan, telling us how it will cover everyone and reduce costs. It does neither in its current form. Doesn’t even come close on either count.
16 million Americans covered out of 47 million? for $1 trillion? Seriously?
The CBO score that right winger “Adam Herman” alludes to is a projected cost over 10 years that uses rough estimates that were poorly put together (not by the CBO but by Congress).
If I understand the CBO estimates, the worst case scenario would mean that covering ALL 47 million uninsured would cost at the outside $300 billion a year.
That’s less than half of what we’ve already spent in the unnecessary Iraq war and less than 1/6th what Republicans gave to their crony buddies.
Nor, as I understand it, does the CBO score take into consideration the savings that would come from better health outcomes for the entire nation, the alleviation of health costs from businesses, and the additional competitiveness that it would provide for America.