Clay Davis Memorial POLITICS THREAD

by **TheBrig** » Wed Jan 20, 2010 20:04:34

And they were oh-so-close to just having 59 too... nuts.

by **kopphanatic** » Wed Jan 20, 2010 20:04:44

One Republican not too happy with the new Junior Senator from Massachusetts

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/20/glenn-beck-slams-scott-br_n_429939.html

by **Rococo4** » Wed Jan 20, 2010 20:57:17

TheBrig wrote:It occurred to me just a minute ago that Al Franken getting seated as the 60th Democratic senator was probably the worse thing that could have happened to Obama's presidency in its infancy. If the Senate had been 59-41, I really think they would have passed a bill by now that wouldn't have been all that dissimilar to the one that's on the table now.

true that...

But no doubt they would have been better off, and I think probably had a health care bill. Plus Franken wouldnt be in the Senate. Probably little consolation to Norm Coleman though.

by **The Nightman Cometh** » Wed Jan 20, 2010 21:24:17

I had no idea Jefferson was basically a communist until today. * The more you know*

by **allentown** » Wed Jan 20, 2010 22:01:27

TheBrig wrote:And they were oh-so-close to just having 59 too... nuts.

Had 59 and then accepted Lieberman as one of the flock.

by **drsmooth** » Wed Jan 20, 2010 23:29:58

TheBrig wrote:
It looked to me like you were making a "supply-side" economic argument about why health care in the US costs so damn much. Sorry if I misread.

nah, your point was probably well-reasoned. I'm just in a foul mood, and naked.

by **drsmooth** » Wed Jan 20, 2010 23:32:33

Rococo4 wrote:
drsmooth wrote:
jeff2sf wrote:It hurts my head to think how rococo/cshort are patronizingly pointing out what they might find acceptable in an HC deal.

don't get too concerned. Those points aren't what they think; they haven't really thought about it, really. Those points are straight from the party playbook.

They mean well. If they thought about those points - if they looked at data on the impact of tort reforms that have been implemented, for example - they might think differently about the merits of those proposals in terms of their own interests vs those of Rove/Norquist/others among their political/economic masters. Tip, guys - their bread-and-butter interests do not line up with yours.

But it's neither fair nor realistic to expect everyone to show much interest in these details. Hell, I'm not even that much interested in them.

They are what I think. I know, impossible right. All of us Republicans take marching orders right, while people on the other side are all independent thinkers.

Jeez chriz, I'll bite.

Give me details on your understanding of tort reform OR cross-border sales; no need to tackle both. And don't be afraid to get into the nitty gritty, whichever you pick.

by **drsmooth** » Wed Jan 20, 2010 23:36:35

Warszawa wrote:
Howard Dean seems to be sick of Democrats' bipartisan attitude.

In sharply worded comments Tuesday night following the loss of former Sen. Ted Kennedy's (D-MA) Senate seat, the former chairman of the Democratic Party asserted that party leaders needed to bypass their quest for sixty Senate votes.

“We’ve got to be tougher," Dean quipped. "I’ve said the Democrats are not tough enough. Bush would have had the health care bill done a long time ago. He would have gone through reconciliation.”

Dean says Obama should start by simply proposing a bill that allows all Americans over 55 to buy into Medicare. Such a bill could be passed through the Senate with 50 votes, a margin the Democrats can easily muster.

There's not much “real” reform in the Senate bill either way, Dean said.

The former top Democrat added that he believed it would have been better had Democrats only had 59 votes from the start, since it would have forced his party to make tougher choices and push the bill through reconciliation in the first place.

“I think we would have been better off if we had had 59 senators to start with,” Dean remarked.

what he said

can we go ahead & just refer to Dean as Mr. Great Timing

by **jerseyhoya** » Thu Jan 21, 2010 00:32:00

Angry, rabid Senator Elect Scott Brown, noted right winger and representative of the nihilist Republican Party, discusses the need to make sure everyone has health insurance.

by **pacino** » Thu Jan 21, 2010 00:37:20

jerseyhoya wrote:Angry, rabid Senator Elect Scott Brown, noted right winger and representative of the nihilist Republican Party, discusses the need to make sure everyone has health insurance.

and republicans everywhere just cried?

by **jerseyhoya** » Thu Jan 21, 2010 00:40:54

I think Snowe is more likely to make a deal than Brown is, but I think Brown is going to turn into someone of that ideological hue. I read somewhere today he has $4 million COH. He probably wants to be senator for 9 years, not three.

by **drsmooth** » Thu Jan 21, 2010 00:44:11

jerseyhoya wrote:Angry, rabid Senator Elect Scott Brown, noted right winger and representative of the nihilist Republican Party, discusses the need to make sure everyone has health insurance.

Framingham: "burn him!"
\

by **jeff2sf** » Thu Jan 21, 2010 00:47:22

jerseyhoya wrote:I think Snowe is more likely to make a deal than Brown is, but I think Brown is going to turn into someone of that ideological hue. I read somewhere today he has $4 million COH. He probably wants to be senator for 9 years, not three.

What does COH mean? Too many acronyms

by **pacino** » Thu Jan 21, 2010 00:48:04

cash on hand. money he can just burn right now instead of later

by **jerseyhoya** » Thu Jan 21, 2010 00:50:06

He was raising money a lot faster than he could spend it at the end.

by **CalvinBall** » Thu Jan 21, 2010 00:53:34

if Brown actually means those things he said in that article Hoya posted this actually could be a really crazy thing to watch. My guess that the 40 other higher ranking Republican Senators will just tell him to shut up.

by **drsmooth** » Thu Jan 21, 2010 00:54:18

jerseyhoya wrote:Angry, rabid Senator Elect Scott Brown, noted right winger and representative of the nihilist Republican Party, discusses the need to make sure everyone has health insurance.

[img]I%20think%20it's%20important%20for%20everyone%20to%20get%20some%20form%20of%20health%20care,"%20Brown%20told%20a%20news%20conference%20Wednesday%20morning.%20"So%20to%20offer%20a%20basic%20plan%20for%20everybody%20I%20think%20is%20important.%20It's%20just%20a%20question%20of%20whether%20we're%20going%20to%20raise%20taxes,%20we're%20going%20to%20cut%20a%20half%20at%20trillion%20from%20Medicare,%20we're%20going%20to%20affect%20veterans'%20care.%20I%20think%20we%20can%20do%20it%20better."[/img]

psst, Senator Brownie: the campaign's over - you'll have to do better than happy-voice nonsensical slogans now.

by **drsmooth** » Thu Jan 21, 2010 00:57:46

CalvinBall wrote:if Brown actually means those things he said in that article Hoya posted this actually could be a really crazy thing to watch. My guess that the 40 other higher ranking Republican Senators will just tell him to shut up.

If the dems have any instinct for the jugular, they have more than enough material to get a not-totally-embarrassing reform measure passed, AND swing Brown and maybe a few other other Rep. senators from this "I think we can do it better" rope.

by **kruker** » Thu Jan 21, 2010 01:47:32

Thinking about profound social change, conservatives always expect disaster, while revolutionaries confidentially expect utopia. Both are wrong.

~ Carolyn Heilbrun

I like that for my quote of the day on iGoogle.

by **jerseyhoya** » Thu Jan 21, 2010 12:22:18

I hope dajafi just stays away from the politics thread today, for his sake and ours

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/22/us/politics/22scotus.html?hp

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Clay Davis Memorial POLITICS THREAD