Kucinich Flips To “Yes” For Health Care Reform

10:31 am EST March 17th, 2010 | News, Politics | 7 Comments

Good news

In a big get for House Dems, Dennis Kucinich just made it official: He’s voting for the Senate bill, making him the first member to go on record fliping his vote from No to Yes.

‘In the past week it’s become clear that the vote on the final bill will be very close,’ Kucinich, who voted No last time because of the lack of the public option, said at a presser moments ago. He acknowleged that he’d be voting ‘not on the bill as I would like to see it, but as it is.’

‘However, after careful discussions with President Obama, Speaker Pelosi’ and others, Kucinich said, ‘I’ve decided to cast a vote in favor of the legislation.’

Topic: , ,

Related Posts

«
»

7 Responses to “Kucinich Flips To “Yes” For Health Care Reform”

  1. SaveFarris says:
    March 17, 2010 at 11:37 am

    How desperate is Obama when Kucinich is considered “a big get”?

  2. Scooter says:
    March 17, 2010 at 11:44 am

    At this point getting a ‘Yes’ out of any House Dem that voted ‘No’ the first time is a big get.

  3. Oliver Willis says:
    March 17, 2010 at 12:08 pm

    Because it means the bill is now 1 less vote closer to passage.

  4. liberalrob says:
    March 17, 2010 at 12:18 pm

    One vote closer to the point where come this November we can say we did health care reform. I’m so excited.

    Subsequently we will see if the President is as interested in pursuing real reform as O.J. was in finding the real killers. My Magic 8-Ball says “Signs point to yes.”

  5. liberalrob says:
    March 17, 2010 at 12:19 pm

    You said that wrong. Omit the word “less.”

  6. Kyle E. Moore says:
    March 17, 2010 at 12:37 pm

    Actually, the reason Kucinich is a big get is because his yes vote provides political coverage to the rest of the progressive caucus. I honestly don’t know how many of those folks are still holding out, unfortunately the most detailed whip counts seem to be on sites I try to avoid. But Kucinich voting yes will give other progressive dems the opportunity to say, “see, HE’S even voting for it.”

    It’s sort of like Sanders in the senate voting for the bill, you just don’t get further left than a self proclaimed socialist, so when he voted yes, anyone else holding out from a progressive stand point can with a little more safety switch their vote because, really, who the hell are you going to get to primary Sanders from the left?

    That’s why these names are so important, it’s not just their single vote, but it’s the votes they brought with them. Like Stupak, if it was just Stupak sitting all by himself, no one would care, but since he has a dozen reps with him, he’s all of a sudden got some serious clout. If HE were to switch to a yes vote, then that would provide political cover for the remaining dozen of conservative Democrats also wanting to vote for the bill.

    Hell, this was the principle behind the President’s “present” votes back when he was in the Illinois senate.

  7. Dave in SoCal says:
    March 18, 2010 at 7:35 pm

    I hear that Obama promised Kucinich a visit to Area 51 to clinch the deal.