I don’t think the Democrats realize they just need to push through, and there will be a lot more coverage like this:
Love it or hate it, one thing that is indisputable about the Democrats’ big health care legislation is that the cost figures are going to come out right where President Obama said he wanted them.
When the president finally came forward with an outline of his own proposal, aimed at bridging differences between the House and Senate versions of the legislation, he said it would have a 10-year price tag of about $950 billion and would reduce federal deficits over that same time period by more than $100 billion.
A preliminary cost estimate of the final legislation, released by the Congressional Budget Office on Thursday, showed that the president got exactly what he wanted: a $940 billion price tag for the new insurance coverage provisions in the bill, and the reduction of future federal deficits of $138 billion over 10 years.
So how did the numbers come out just right? Not by accident.
Congressional Democrats have spent more than a year working with the nonpartisan budget office on the health care legislation, and as they fine-tuned many of the bill’s various provisions in recent weeks, they consulted repeatedly with its number-crunchers and the bipartisan staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation.
In other words, the overall numbers were never going to miss the mark. Whenever the budget office judged that some element or elements of the bill would cause a problem meeting the cost and deficit-reduction targets, Democrats just adjusted the underlying legislation to make sure it would hit their goal.
The article makes the Democrats look capable, competent, and in control- not the impression we have had the last year. But the media loves a winner, and if they manage to finish the job, in the face of zero help from the Republicans, the media is going to be filled with positive stories about the Democrats and Obama finally achieving something close to what they have been after for decades. Hell, Sarah Palin was treated like the second coming of Christ for weeks in 2008, and all she did was read what someone else wrote for her at the NRC.
If the Democrats pass this bill, their electoral chances will be far better than they are now. They have the control to write the media narrative. So pass the damned bill.
schrodinger's cat
Or Tunch will eat your lunch.
demkat620
Heh, indeed.
I just wish the Dems could figure out that this will help them. Not hurt them. Let the GOP run on repeal. That will be politically toxic. Even my winger friends acknowledge that.
schrodinger's cat
BTW where is his highness? We can has Tunch?
Corner Stone
Dare I say…Rahm-esque??
J.W. Hamner
Amusingly, if you go over to McCardle‘s (NOT recommended) you’ll see her say in response to hitting the President’s numbers that this shows that “the CBO process has now been so thoroughly gamed that it’s useless.” Yes, how shocking that Congressional aides might know how to do some budget projections to have a good idea how they are going to get scored! Better they should throw bills out there randomly!
Concerned libertarian is concerned, but libertarian tears are so delicious.
Sentient Puddle
@demkat620: I’m cautiously optimistic about how this will play politically because of this and John’s post. Let the Republicans run on repeal. Once we get coverage of what’s actually in the bill and what Democrats did to get it done (i.e., not the shady shit), Republicans will just come across looking like petty assholes. All because they don’t have a mind for the long game.
General Egali Tarian Stuck
But, But Mitch McConnell republicans were gonna eat our lunch and shit out many baby Elephants on election day, if the Thermobaric explosion of Michelle Malkin’s noodle doesn’t wipe us all out first. This is fun.
HumboldtBlue
Sheesh John, lay off the Maker’s Mark. The Democrats will still find a way to make a clusterfuck out of a win, trust me, I’m a Democrat and I fuck shit up all the time. It’s a DNA thing or something.
The Dangerman
They are not only going to pass the bill, they are going to do so with both “deem and pass” in the House and reconciliation in the Senate. After all the nonsense over “”41” (Brown), the Right will be apoplectic. Exxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxcellent (think Monty Burns).
mai naem
The Dems might be competent and Luke Russert, the utterly incompetent lucky genes recipient was on Schuster yesterday talking about how Luis Gutierrez was trying to get HC for illegal aliens – patently untrue – he’s trying to get HC for legal residents i.e. green card holders. Also too, Baby Russert called the Democratic leadership in the Senate Democrat leaders. Also too, he lied about the Demon Pass. Arrrrgh. OTOH, Matthews did a good job of dealing with the faux Teabagger IRL Corporate Lobbyist Tim Phillips.
kansi
How long after passage before Boehner and Cornyn start taking credit for keeping the Dem plan more modest and fiscally responsible?
Brandon
While this logic is infallible. It makes two giant assumptions. One is that the Democrats will somehow not find a way to turn a positive into a negative. Second, that the media will gush for Democrats because they are “winners”. After the Ds won unprecedented majorities in both houses and the WH, they treated it like a burden. And the media doubled down on wingnuts. Like I said, it makes sense, except for the execution part.
El Cid
So, given that there seem to be all sorts of clear positive incentives for Democrats to pass this HCR legislation, which will they choose?
demkat620
@El Cid: Aye, there’s the rub.
mantis
And furthermore, the good will from the millions of Americans who will be helped by this legislation should last well beyond near-term elections (especially with middle-aged, middle class voters who have experienced the problems of our health care system first hand), and none of it will go to Republicans, who will always be remembered as having fought tooth-and-nail against reform that twenty years from now, I believe, will be looked back on as one of the smartest things the US has ever done.
Itinerantpedant
What other piece of legislation in history affords us the chance to make Grover Norquist AND Jane Hamsher cry, and cause Rush Limbaugh to flee the country? This is a bird. It’s a plane. It’s Superbill!
Pass the damn thing already.
Tom Hilton
@kansi: no way–that would be like Republicans trying to take credit for Clinton’s balancing the budget.
Oh, wait….
Robin G.
If this damn bill passes, I’m going to go lurk on LGF allllllllll day.
Right now you are down and out and feeling really crappy
And when I see how sad you are
It sort of makes me…
Happy!
Sorry, Nicky, human nature-
Nothing I can do!
It’s…
Schadenfreude!
Making me feel glad that I’m not you.
Mike Kay
Ya know, I forgot all about Sirota.
Anyways, he’s in the midsts of a teabagger-like meltdown.
http://twitter.com/Davidsirota
He may commit hara-kiri.
mai naem
@Corner Stone: Actually they followed the SEIU’s gameplan to get where they’ve gotten, not Rahmbo. Sorry, but Rahmbo’s on the verge of pulling another Dean 50 state strategy bit by taking credit for strategy which has worked of which he was critical of. Rahmbo can go cheney himself. BTW I know people are critical of Andy Stern but he comes across as pretty smart labor to me.
General Egali Tarian Stuck
If we could bottle democrats despair, especially when things are going their best, it would be all the propulsion needed to fly to Mars and back, and still have fuel in the tank. Though there would need to be many stops along the way, to wipe away the tears.
El Cid
What if the Republicans hire a helicopter to fly Scott Brown around screaming from a bullhorn that HE DRIVES A TRUCK! — would that cause them to pass water and run for the hills again?
Bulworth
Well Dems like Stephen Lynch are getting attention for themselves by acting like they’re going to side with the teabaggers, Faux news, hate radio and the Republican Party. Hard to believe they don’t understand what they’re doing and who they’re siding with by acting like this.
mcc
Via Washington Monthly (who am I kidding? Probably anyone who reads this site also reads Steve Benen) Republicans float a vote to bar the use of “deem and pass” while setting up the vote on the health care bill, and it fails 222-203. I find this interesting because I wonder if we can treat it as a dry run for the health care bill itself or something where reps hint to us how they will vote on the health care bill. Brad Ellsworth voted with the Democrats. Arcuri and Sandlin voted with the Republicans. If all 222 votes there vote for the actual bill, it passes.
EvolutionaryDesign
@mantis: IF (and that’s a big one) the D’s figure out how to control the message. The rethugs always find a way to make the dems look like shit and take credit for their success.
blackwaterdog
Obama can be one of the 5 greatest presidents in the history of this country. His potential is almost scary.
mai naem
I got hold of my rep’s office(Mitchell.) The aide was nice. She said he’s undecided at this time and that the reconc. bill just came out an hour ago. I think he’ll vote yes at the end of the day. I didn’t make any threats to vote against him this time like I have the other times I’ve called.
Mark S.
@J.W. Hamner:
The CBO is partisan, because they don’t take into account how tax cuts raise revenue.
Grumpy Code Monkey
@kansi:
I don’t think we can directly measure time intervals that small…
Mike Kay
The worse was when they were saying she’s the new Reagan. The reagan family was so insult by the comparison they had to come out and defend their father from the slur.
bemused
Michael Steele told Sanchez on CNN that the CBO lied, saying, “Let me tell you about the CBO…” & proceeded with more bs.
That’s all they do, say the opposition lies, no matter what the issue & their base vigorously nod their heads, pump their fists & never, ever question anything. I wish I had some former landfill property to sell them at primo prices.
El Cid
@blackwaterdog: I’d really like to think that this 1st year was training, and he’s just getting warmed up. I said I’d really like to. Not that I did.
beltane
@J.W. Hamner: When is she going Galt? And can she take Jane Hamsher with her.
General Egali Tarian Stuck
Check out the front page at TPM. They are falling like flies, and even Ellsworth signaled he may vote for the bill. And I would argue that voting for the deem and pass resolution is certainly a good indicator for a final vote. Due to it being probly one the most potent demagogue weapons to use against dems on uninformed citizens, at least right now. I doubt they would vote for it and turn around and vote no on the bill. In fact I predict the vote will be some higher than 222 on final passage.
The only wildcard left, I think, is in the senate and their arcane and goofy rules, and if wingers can sabotage the reconciliation package enough to cause it to fail in the House, because even the slightest change in language of the sidecar the House will pass, will mean it will have to be voted on again in the House. Dems have been working closely with the senate parliamentarian and hopefully that won’t happen. But who know with the senate?
Jerry 101
@The Dangerman:
What the Teabaggers didn’t realize is that Brownie’s election was all a part of the plan.
He’s actually a bleeding heart liberal.
He’s going to announce a party change just before casting his vote for the Reform bill. Teabags everywhere will explode.
(yes, I’m kidding, but wouldn’t that just be the icing on the cake?)
Jerry 101
@mantis:
I dunno…never misunderestimate the ability of American’s to ask “what have you done for me lately?”
Or to get enticed by the promise of tax cuts and the belief that government services are created by ponies and won’t be affected by said cuts.
Brian J
If the Democrats pass this (knock on wood) without any Republican votes, that needs to be the talking point for the next, oh, 40 years. As in, “Rep. _____ voted for the plan that reduced the deficit and expanded coverage to 95 percent of Americans. His opponent wants to cancel the plan,” or something else that captures the idea better. And they need to parade around as if they just discovered the cure for cancer or something.
So yes, pass the goddamn bill, Democrats. And they be proud of it, because unlike the pieces of crap that call themselves Republicans, you did something to put this country on a better, more secure, more equitable path.
mr. whipple
If we can pass this 2x, will it make Jane leave, too?
Joseph Nobles
Steve King is upset that this is going to be passed on the Sabbath, on Sunday. Glenn Beck agrees, it’s a slap in the face to God to arrogantly “give” people a right to healthcare on a Sunday when only God gives rights.
I wish I was making this up.
demkat620
The good thing that could really come out of this is the momentum going the other way. After a year of Democrats are dead stories, could be so huge.
Big win. Pass the damn bill.
joeyess
Yes. Pass the damn bill. But I believe this is akin to clapping for ponies:
That highlighted bit is never going to happen.
Tweety, Todd, Whatshisfuck on MTP, et al all love a horse race. They will push whatever narrative that makes their little teevee shows seem relevant.
That is all.
Chuck Butcher
@mai naem:
You mean the one he worked his ass off for in the face of criticism from most establishment Ds? The one that wouldn’t have happened, period, if Dean hadn’t been in its corner? The one that is now history under Kaine? What office in the Democratic Party did you hold? What part of implementing this plan did you take part in?
My DNC Committee Persons tell a different story then and now. I’m real aware of what it took to put strategy into play and get these people on the ground and utilize them since I had my fingers in it. But you had a gratuitous rock you thought you’d toss…
Mike Kay
@El Cid: he doesn’t get enough credit for preventing another great depression. We were losing 600,000 jobs per month, the banks had all failed, the Dow was down 53%, and GDP was a negative 6.2% when he took office. If McCain and Phil Gramm had took over the reins, today, there would be soup-lines, miles long.
Mike Kay
@Joseph Nobles:
The Terry Schiavo congressional act occurred on a Sunday. Remember Bush had to fly back from texas to sign the bill in his pajamas in the middle of the night.
West of the Cascades
Another thing … if this bill passes and the Senate approves it before the Easter recess, AND the GOP continues to have Bunningesque single-Senator holds on nominees, I think we can expect the President to make a substantial number of recess appointments and really shove back in the GOP’s face its intransigence – “the people deserve to have a fully-staffed government working for them.”
At least that’s a pipe dream of mine.
zhak
I have a question: why is it that Democrats are afraid of doing the right thing?
Republicans have long since failed actual real people (by which I mean: poor people, middle class people, unconnected people, lower echelon servicemen & -women, union members & probably plenty of others I’m overlooking).
Democrats should be taking up the slack, and this one (HCR) is a no-brainer.
I understand that Dems are afraid of having big campaign donations dry up & that many of them are basically owned by various companies, industries or (other) countries. But in the end, shouldn’t this be about doing what is right?
Chuck Butcher
@zhak:
Hahahahaha…excuse me –
The argument you’ll get is they can’t do anything if not re-elected…so they can tell you the same thing next election and the next… ad absurdum. But then, this place makes the same argument in regard to the left and…ad nauseum.
mai naem
@Chuck Butcher: I guess I don’t write clearly enough. I was saying that Rahmbo, once again, was going to take credit for HCR, the same thing he(Rahmbo) did with the 50 state strategy.
Tecumseh
Forgive me if this has been talked about before, but if it passes the House on Sunday, what happens next? Doesn’t it go back to the Senate for the reconciliation vote or does Obama sign the Senate bill and then sign the reconciliation measures in when that’s done?
It seems to me that if it has to go back to the Senate everyone’s getting a little too overexcited because we’re talking about the Senate here. Reid says they have 50 votes but will 50 actually happen when it comes to voting? And the Republicans have all sorts of crazy fun planned when it does get debated so this thing could get ugly again. And somewhere I read that if the Senate changes one thing in the reconciliation bill, it has to go back to the House for that to be voted on which means we have to go through all of this again.
Jason Bylinowski
There is wisdom in this here post, sir….I certainly hope someone more important than Colbert’s interns or Chris “Maximum Intern” Bodenner are reading stuff like this, because in my opinion John Cole has just seen a perfect vision of the future.
The wisdom, it hurts.
General Egali Tarian Stuck
@Jason Bylinowski:
May I remind you that not too long ago our illustrious and gifted host, per Hola Fruita, was predicting no Health Care Reform bill at all. Though you are largely correct on this post, we mustn’t count dead chickens along with the live ones.
Joseph Nobles
@Mike Kay:
Dude, I totally forgot about that.
gbear
@bemused:
You Lie!!
Chuck Butcher
@mai naem:
That is not what you wrote. Yes, Rahm opposed Dean, consistently along with the rest of the DLCers and not just intitially – to the bitter end.
@Tecumseh:
There’s a question of what the Parliamentarian will rule on Obama signing it.
Jason Bylinowski
Regarding my previous somewhat tongue-in-cheek pronouncement of Happy A-OK Foreverness, I should add a caveat here that the positive coverage will last a grand total of about a week, because, did you hear? Something like 22 states are getting ready to enact laws to get around HCR? Granted it’s just something I heard on Fox. I can guarantee you though that Texas at least will threaten to secede from Our Glorious Union, and we will have to stop that, against our better judgment.
El Cid
@Mike Kay:
I think that’s entirely true. Which is why I’d like to believe it was just a warmup — that’s a helluva first year (more or less) to go through as Prez.
qwerty42
From TPM:
House Defeats Two GOP Motions Against Deem-And-Pass In One Day
The first one failed 222-203 (it was offered by ex-Democrat Parker Griffith of Alabama). The second was offered by Eric Cantor and was defeated by a larger margin: 232-181.
I expect the ordeal by total craziness to go on all weekend. But unless something really weird happens, we can win this. It will be a HUGE win.
eemom
@Jason Bylinowski:
Those laws are purely pathetic sideshows. They will be struck down before you can say “unconstitutional.”
See, there’s this thing called the Supremacy Clause, which means that no state legislature anywhere, no matter how dominated by wingnut assholes, gets to say “Fuck you” to the U.S. Congress.
The Supreme Court, yes. These clowns, no.
bemused
I think the media loves whiners much more than winners unless the whiners also happen to be winners. Jackpot.
Chuck Butcher
Is this the same John Cole who watches the media for us? I know that it is a bit more of DougJ’s beat, but hey, c’mon.
Napoleon
@Chuck Butcher:
Funny, because I understood exactly what he was saying.
Shalimar
@mcc: What I found most interesting about that story was this part from further down:
“Malfeasant?” Isn’t that basically voting that your own leadership are criminal scumbags? What reason could anyone ever have to vote that way? I understand wanting to position yourself in the center if you’re in a tough district, but that vote is way over the line of what should be acceptable.
Jason Bylinowski
@qwerty42: Yeah, we can win it alright, and I believe we will. But the GOP attitude on this scares me a bit. Mitch McConnell in particular sounds like he’s got something up his sleeve. It’s hard to say though, because even Pelosi is posturing like a used car salesman, but I guess that’s just the way things have always been won or lost, no matter what you do for a living.
Tonal Crow
@qwerty42: The funny thing is, Stupak voted for a motion permitting the Speaker to consider setting aside House rules after voting against bringing that motion up for a vote. https://balloon-juice.com/2010/03/18/another-list-of-people-waiting-for-your-call/comment-page-3/#comment-1632432 . Why?
Chuck Butcher
@Napoleon:
With a re-reading (a couple) I managed to torture it into that, that was with the benefit of explanation. An unfortunate linking of pronouns.
gbear
Of course, the 10 votes that flipped did it because it was fucking Eric Cantor. I bet people stand in line for the chance to fuck him over. I would.
Good to see those republican motions getting shut down. I see them as practice votes, and every time it happens I feel better about HCR passing.
eemom
Despite my ongoing enjoyment of the Jane Hamsher meltdown, I thought I should warn folks that, painfully obvious as it has now become how little any member of Congress gives a shit about her jihads and fatwas, she’s now setting her sights on Those Evil, Rahm-Loving, CorporateSelloutWhore Pseudo-Progressive Bloggers:
http://fdlaction.firedoglake.com/2010/03/18/what-matt-yglesias-leaves-out-of-his-analysis-his-own-role/
Since she’s starting at the END of the alphabet, we may be next……run fer yer lives…….!
gbear
@Napoleon:
I did too. It was clear to me the first time.
Chuck Butcher
@Tonal Crow: Win at any cost…
Some language regarding your own Party leadership should be out of bounds … but then – FETUS!
Tecumseh
@Chuck Butcher: Oh yeah, thanks. I actually just Googled it and found the ruling is that if the House passes the bill, Obama gets to sign the Senate version- hello HCR. The hitch, then, will just be in making the changes to the bill that the House (and everybody else) wants through reconciliation and, well, that’ll be fun
@El Cid: That may well all be true (and it probably is) but sadly, as a campaign slogan goes, “We avoided the Depression” doesn’t have a lot of resonance these days.
General Egali Tarian Stuck
@Tonal Crow: Because he is dumb as dirt, but not stupid in calculating the preservation of his own electoral hide. Or, the weasel will likely slither a yea vote on the final bill and hope nobody notices what a complete douchebag he is and has been through this entire process. He is only brave with a posse behind him, and they have mostly rode off with Nancy and her big ass gavel.
eemom
@gbear:
I would not only stand in line to fuck over Cantor, I would camp out overnight to buy a ticket before they were sold out.
General Egali Tarian Stuck
@eemom: I have my butterfly net handy. She can come by anytime.
Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony
@Itinerantpedant:
and cause Rush Limbaugh to flee the country?
Rush is like herpes. Even if he goes away for a little while, he will keep coming back.
geg6
Less than 72 hours, folks. And then we make our bid at Greatest Generations. Despite all the generational warfare on the left of center, Boomers (and Gen. Joneses like me), GenXers, GenYers, and Millennials got this done. Wouldn’t have happened without all of us, too.
qwerty42
@Jason Bylinowski: I think Mitch plans to use every arcane, weird Senate rule he can. He’s Minority Leader and probably is very familiar with them. But this is at best a delaying action — someone will have to check the rules followed for reconciliation, but infinite delay and tweaks are not really part of it (heck, it was devised as a way to bypass them). Does not mean next week won’t be interesting as well.
J.W. Hamner
The real question is when the GOP will pivot from a “Obama’s Socialism is going to destroy America!” position to a “It’s a HUGE failure that Obama couldn’t do more with those historic Congressional majorities!”
I predict the day after the vote.
rootless-e
Sirota annoys me more than Hamsher, but I can’t really explain why.
Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony
@Jason Bylinowski:
I can guarantee you though that Texas at least will threaten to secede from Our Glorious Union, and we will have to stop that, against our better judgment.
Can’t we just let them go, this time? I think it would only take a couple of years before they were crying to come back.
Tonal Crow
@J.W. Hamner: Aren’t they already doing that?
rootless-e
Sirota got called a Nazi! On the Internet! Imagine that.
WereBear
@J.W. Hamner: Good heavens:
They live in our world. But it’s the bizarro version where the things that most upset them are not true.
That’s really pathetic.
SiubhanDuinne
@blackwaterdog:
One of the? One of the?? Wow, talk about yer soft bigotry of low expectations . . .
WereBear
@Joseph Nobles: I remember it every day.
SiubhanDuinne
@Mike Kay:
. . . and what that bill was doing in his pajamas I’ll never know . . . .
/groucho
SiubhanDuinne
@Jason Bylinowski:
Amazingly, it looks as though Georgia (I can’t believe I’m typing this) will NOT be among those states. From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
J. Michael Neal
@Tecumseh:
Understand what they’d be voting on. Obama will have already signed health care reform. Voting against the reconciliation package means that you are voting *for* the Cornhusker Kickback, and *for* the Louisiana Purchase, and *against* the delay in the excise tax. I predict that opposition to the reconciliation package is going to evaporate if the House votes yes. The Republicans will likely mount a token delaying campaign, and then give up. Voting against it would be a case of the commercials against them writing themselves.
Then again, I was wrong about the Senate being unwilling to take up reconciliation at all, rather than just hoping the problem would go away by letting the House just kill everything.
FMguru
I’m excited about how this will take the air out of the teabaggers’ sails. All that yelling about death panels, all those misspelled signs, and the bill passes anyway. Teabaggers strike me as front-runner types who think of themselves as winners and will largely drift away from a movement that now has the loser stink all over it. That Code Red event last week where they got barely 300 people to show up at Capitol Hill for a last-ditch anti-HCR rally was a sign of things to come. Mark it – in six months, all that’s left will be a bunch of lawsuits about who owns what trademark and misappropriated funds.
All this assumes, of course, that the bill actually passes.
danimal
Back to Cole’s original point, the media environment will be filled with some stories about Dems getting things done. And that’s good. But the really fun stories with be the massive finger-pointing amongst the GOP.
The teabagger-GOP establishment smackdown will be a sight to behold. Teabaggers will unleash the crazy and marginalize the GOP in a significant way. Enjoy the show.
mcc
Exactly.
Although, you’d also be voting against a provision that would take money currently going directly to big banks and instead spend it on student loans! The Republicans probably would feel comfortable going all-out over that one.
Leelee for Obama
@kansi: I think they have already done that, haven’t they? Bart Stupak is carrying their water, but still.
WereBear
Get out.
The corporate owned media saying nice things about Democrats? I will eat a hat.
One of those jelly-like Mexican sombrero candy hats, but still.
qwerty42
@mcc: I think (not sure) the Senate parliamentarian has already said the loan thing cannot be in it; that will have to be passed in regular order (I may be wrong on this, but …)
Joe Lisboa
If the Democrats pass this bill, their electoral chances will be far better than they are now. They have the control to write the media narrative. So pass the damned bill.
Q.F.F.T.
mcc
@qwerty42: Hm. Well one way or another it was in the text of the reconciliation bill released this morning. I really doubt they would have put something in the reconciliation bill if they weren’t pretty sure they could get it through the senate — the GOAL was to get it out of the senate with no modifications at all I think…
I don’t see why the student loan changes would be disallowed under reconcilliation, they do reduce the deficit?
FMguru
Even if they get no credit for the win, it’s still better than the media shitstorm they’d eat if the bill went down to defeat. Can you imagine the This Week crowd chortling about how stupid Obama was for swinging so far out to the craaaaazy leftists, or the victory lap tours that President McCain and Senator Lieberman would take?
I’m still waiting for the first contrarian explanation of how the bill’s passage will inflict crippling damage to Obama and the Democratic Party, and that he’d have been much better off by letting it fail.
qwerty42
@mcc: If it was in the bill released today, it is in. I hope so as it is a good thing.
gnomedad
@Chuck Butcher:
It will be interesting if the effected HCR turns out to be popular and these guys end up backpedaling or defending trying to cut their constituents off from it.
mclaren
Finally a solid argument in favor of this HCR bill.
While it’s true that this HCR bill make things worse and dump millions of people off health care and lock in the already airtight corrupt cartels of doctors and hospitals and insurers and medical devicemakers, I guess in the long run that doesn’t matter. Health care costs in America are zooming upwards so fast, the system is doomed no matter what we do unless we go to single-payer with brutal cost controls (read: unleash the hounds of anti-trust hell on doctors and hospitals and inurers and medical devicemakers, which is never going to happen until the whole system collapses).
So since the current private-insurance doctors-as-businessmen-charging-whatever-they-can-get is doomed, might as well vote for this monstrosity of a bill. Sure, it’s undeniable that this HCR bill makes things worse, but at this point, who cares? If you have insurance today, you won’t have it 5 or 10 years from now, at the rate health care costs are skyrocketing and at the rate employers are shifting cost burdens from themselves to employees. If you can afford you health insurance premiums today, it won’t take very many 39% annual increases before you won’t be able to afford ’em 2 or 3 or 5 or 10 years from now.
Since America’s health care system is doomed no matter what we do (unless we go to single-payer, which is never going to happen until the entire system falls apart in chaos), might as well pass the bill and help Demos gain re-election in November.
General Egali Tarian Stuck
@mclaren: Looky here, Mclaren caves, the big lovable nihilistic ball of snot. Welcome aboard grasshopper! Life is hard, then we die, right?
SIA
@SiubhanDuinne:
You probably won’t see this, but that just made me laugh out loud. My dogs are lookin’ at me funny.
Love it!
WereBear
Well, I welcome just about any competent overlords.
I’m reduced to that, yes.
SiubhanDuinne
@SIA #101: Saw it! (Some threads just can’t get rid of me.) Thanks, always glad to provide your dogs some gentle consternation.
Tomorrow is supposed to be a GORGEOUS day here in Lanna. Near 70 and clear and sunny. I would play hooky in a heartbeat if I didn’t have a pile of deadline stuff. But if I’m productive, I might cut out a bit early.
Jay C
Uhh, John: note the “R” in “NRC” – remember, it’s the same letter as in “IOKIYAR”
KRK
@Napoleon:
@gbear:
Yep.
snarkyspice
@mai naem:
You wrote clearly enough for me. I completely understood what you were saying.
Admiral_Komack
“The Dems might be competent and Luke Russert, the utterly incompetent lucky genes recipient was on Schuster yesterday talking about how Luis Gutierrez was trying to get HC for illegal aliens – patently untrue – he’s trying to get HC for legal residents i.e. green card holders. Also too, Baby Russert called the Democratic leadership in the Senate Democrat leaders. Also too, he lied about the Demon Pass. Arrrrgh. OTOH, Matthews did a good job of dealing with the faux Teabagger IRL Corporate Lobbyist Tim Phillips.”
-Luke Russert:
He’s affirmative action and nepotism rolled up into one.
Whenever I see him on TV, I think “Baby Huey”.