Democracy Has Prevailed.

December 15, 2009

Howard Dean: Kill the bill

From The Plum Line:
In a blow to the bill grinding through the Senate, Howard Dean bluntly called for the bill to be killed in a pre-recorded interview set to air later this afternoon, denouncing it as “the collapse of health care reform in the United States Senate,” the reporter who conducted the interview tells me.
More here.
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10 comments:

Bram Reichbaum said...

Brilliant tactical move. This will scare the moderates and get them eager to agree to something just to pass something. These folks have made promises.

And Joe Lieberman is singing a different tune! We may pull this off yet.

Maria said...

What different tune is Traitor Joe singing? That he'll support a bill after gutting it and getting everything he can for the insurance companies who pay him (no public option & no medicare buy-in)?

And, what exactly is being pulled off? A bill which requires individuals to purchase health insurance from private companies, but does nothing to rein in what insurance companies charge and allows them to continue to be monopolies? A bill with no lifetime limits but yearly limits? A bill that says no one can be turned down for pre-existing conditions but that companies can charge three times as much if you have pre-existing conditions?

The problem is passing something just to pass something and that can be laid at the feet of Obama.

Clyde Wynant said...

Happy holidays from a powerless President and an even more useless Democratic "majority." And yes, the quotations are correct, as these people have no idea how to get shit done.

It is intensely depressing.

CB Phillips said...

Dear Maria... I would like to officially say that You Were Right. At this point, I have no doubt that we'd be better off as a country if HRC were president. I still contend that her behavior during the campaign was less than dignified and drove a lot of people (like me) to support Obama, but he has shown a lack of leadership that I think HRC would have provided.

Little good it does now. But felt like I had to say it.

Maria said...

Who really knows how that would have tuned out... That said, one of the BIG reasons why I liked Hillary in the primary is because she promised to be a fighter (as for bi-partisanship -- there are often extremely good reasons to be partisan).

Bram Reichbaum said...

Nate Silver makes an argument:

http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2009/12/why-progressives-are-batshit-crazy-to.html

Traitor Joe was back on board the health care train, I heard! They caught him on tape some time early this decade saying he wanted to expand Medicare. Now it's all, "Oh, yeah, of course!" but the Dem leadership will discover a distinction. But Lieberman is (now, we think) a yes vote for what will survive the sausage grinder, unlike Altmire.

e b bortz said...

I'm afraid to say the Insurance
Industry Bailout-Obama-Lieberman-Reid bill might still find a way into law...as horrible as it will be for the 47 million uninsured.
It should be scraped...start over...give the Medicare For All point of view an honest open Congressional hearing.

i'm proud to say i never supported or voted for Joe Lieberman...my vice-presidential preference in 2000 was Winona LaDuke...a genuine environmental hero!

Maria said...

Bram,

Why Progressives Would Be "Batshit Crazy" To Listen to Nate Silver On Health Reform

Conservative Mountaineer said...

Aaah, liberals "eating their own"... makes me sleep good at night.

Bram Reichbaum said...

Maria,

Touche.