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23 Dec 2009 19:03

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U.S.: Health care now certain to pass final vote in the Senate

  • All it needs for final passage is 51 votes tomorrow morning. It was a long road to get here, boys, but it seems we’re reaching an epic point. The Senate passed its final 60-vote hurdle today, leading the way for a simple up-down vote tomorrow on the bill. If Joe Lieberman wants to defect on this specific vote, he can. The GOP still isn’t happy and – duh – will do everything they can to derail the bill after the vote. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

22 Dec 2009 09:33

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Politics: Our biggest Xmas wish: That the health care debate remain civil

  • Sen. Tom Coburn was crazy for suggesting this. Essentially, on the day of the initial Senate late-night vote, Coburn pulled out this giant sign and said that he prayed someone wouldn’t be able to make it for the vote (some have speculated super-old guy Robert Byrd, who shouldn’t be out at 1 in the morning). Which doesn’t seem very Christian of him. And as we’ve said all along, we don’t like the tone of this debate, and when things like this happen, we like it even less. Play fair, guys. This is just wrong.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

22 Dec 2009 08:47

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U.S.: Thanks to health care, the Senate’s sleep schedule is out of whack

  • late-night Early Monday, the Senate did a preliminary vote on the health care bill. Robert Byrd, who’s nearly dead, was forced to stay up.
  • dawn First thing Tuesday, the Senate did a vote to end debate on the bill. *yawn* And there are more votes to come yet. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

21 Dec 2009 21:19

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U.S.: What’s next for the health care bill? Here’s a quick round-up

  • one It (likely) passes the Senate after a couple more super-tense votes later this week.
  • two The Senate and House take their bills and try to compromise on major details.
  • three The House and Senate vote again, possibly with everyone still on board.
  • four It hits Obama’s desk, and he asks, “What do you call your act?” “The Aristocrats!” source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

21 Dec 2009 01:46

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Politics: Health Care: Here’s Sen. Mitch McConnell being snippy again

  • The impact of this vote will long outlive this one frantic, snowy weekend in Washington. This legislation will reshape our nation, and Americans have already issued their verdict – they don’t want it.
  • Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell • Discussing the landmark health care vote. The Kentucky senator is the public face of severe partisanship that’s shaped our political sphere over the last six months. This guy’s in a position of leadership, and it seems like all he can do is come up with new one-liners like this one rather than actually help craft something useful. Maybe, Mitch, if you had spent the last six months helping build a health care bill – or better, helping your party meet the Democrats halfway – you’d have a reasonable voice in this debate. That’s our real problem with the health care bill – it’s never been about finding a unified solution on both sides. It’s always been 100% about finding a way to screw the other guys. It shouldn’t be that way. It’s damaging and becomes less about helping out Americans and more about being on top. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

21 Dec 2009 01:27

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U.S.: Health Care passes its first 60-40 Senate vote. Twitter has more.

Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

20 Dec 2009 23:22

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Politics: Max Headroom: If snow’s involved, it must be an anti-war protest


  • Fox News Fail For some reason, Fox News chose to report the snowball fight story (which we covered directly below) as an anti-war protest … when it clearly wasn’t. Those twentysomethings are gathering! They must be protesting war or something.

  • Voice of the left How’d he get on “Meet the Press”? Markos Moulitsas, a.k.a. the guy behind liberal blog Daily Kos, got to sit up at the table with the big boys and tell them why the health care plan sucks. Honestly, it’s pretty cool that he’s considered this influential.

  • Lindsey’s madSouth Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, on the other hand, got to go on about why he thinks the health care plan sucks for a different reason – Ben Nelson got a sweetheart deal that he thinks his state can benefit from. Does this GOP complaint have legs?
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

20 Dec 2009 11:18

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Politics: Poll: Do you think Obama is too quick to compromise?


Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

20 Dec 2009 10:40

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Politics: Fox News’ angle on Ben Nelson: He sold his vote for his state!

  • Do the twist! Saying that the abortion concessions weren’t enough, Fox News claims that Nelson sold his vote for health care to win kickbacks. “It’s pretty obvious votes have been bought,” Sen. Saxby Chambliss of Georgia said. Nelson did get Reid to agree to help pick up his state’s future Medicaid tab, at a cost of $45 million. Most other states will get their tab picked up, but only over a short period.
  • Fair & balanced Politico covers the issue differently – they note it’s the kind of concessionary agreement made with legislation like this. Nelson’s fellow Democratic Nebraska senator, Tom Harkin, makes a good point: “… it is going to be the impetus for all the states to stay at 100 percent. So he might have done all of us a favor.” That’s right, the Feds might pay the balance of Medicaid for everyone eventually.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

20 Dec 2009 08:30

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Politics: Obama will take his victories, no matter how symbolic they are

  • Mr. Obama has put a high value on process and keeping things moving, recognizing that history generally does not remember the to and fro, only the big sweep of presidential accomplishments.
  • New York Times reporter Peter Baker • In an analysis piece on the recent pushes he’s made to get stuff done, even if it’s meant that the ends – particularly on climate change, although health care is the same way – don’t look anything like the means. The downside of this, of course, is that he’s had to compromise to achieve basic goals instead of more complex ones. Are these victories worth the paper they’re written on? We’ll find out. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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