US POLITICS: AMERICANS, PLEASE WELCOME YOUR NEW PRESIDENT... SCOTT BROWN!

classy misunderstanding of democracy there.

http://www2.nationalreview.com/dest/2010/03/20/descriptionimg00250201003201322.jpg

someone help me parse that sign?

I'm assuming it was a brain tumour.

Is that a pro or con sign? Does the sign mean "lucky I had cancer last year ... before I lost my insurance"? Or "Lucky I had cancer last year ... before the Commie government could invade my privacy and help me pay for it"? I sadly assume the latter.

the bumper stickers are the best

http://wutbumperstickers.com/c/vote_for_obama_thanks_asshole_bumper_sticker-p128332074008619969tmn6_400.jpg

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41ovHtIz6mL._SL500_AA280_.jpg

http://images2.cafepress.com/product/402080002v3_225x225_Front.jpg

big day doods BIG DAY gettin amped ovr here

bumper sticker should read 'if so, thanks a lot. asshole.'

If this passes, the real bouquets go to Nancy Pelosi, who's the most effective Speaker of any party in my lifetime (even Tip O'Neill caved to Reagan one too many times).

yeah says here she sonned rahm et al over some incrementalist beef back when everyone was spazzing abt scott brown http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0310/34753.html

yeah pelosi's looking amazing now. tbf, those articles this morning also praised obama himself for insisting on bold action (even tho he wavered and his advisers -- e.g., RE -- counseled him to act piecemeal, if at all).

funny how everything turned on this vote. obama will either be a hero/bold leader for his "remarkable" job getting this passed, or a goat/failed president for not getting this passed.

'nothing succeeds like success'

Dan, that kind of polarization has been applied to nearly everything he does!

OTOH they might find something else to do, it's NASCAR season soon, right?

Stupak is YES.

WOW. what did we have to give up to get that -- the promised executive order reaffirming the hyde amendment?

(xp to adam): when you say "nearly everything he does," you mean the stimulus bill, i guess? few presidents, it seems to me, pass two pieces of such sweeping legislation in their first year in office, so i suppose turning those two bills into make-or-break moments for the presidency makes sense. i guess my feeling is that the stimulus was what obama was elected to do (everyone knew it was coming; it was the democratic alternative, compared to the "do-nothing" hooverism that i guess was the GOP's suggested response), so getting it passed is a less crucial moment for his presidency.

Yeah pretty much it is the reaffirmation. Best description of it I've read so far is that it saves face for Stupak.

wow, a "sweeping" transfer of wealth to insurance companies w/ no mechanism to control prices, i am so damn impressed. so AMPED if you listen to Chuck Todd or whatev the fuck that guy's name is.

xp

And they couldn't've done it without your idealistic positivity, Morbz!

hey morbs heres some info on prices/cost controls in the bill, enjoy http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2009/12/five_cost_controls_in_the_sena.html

Anyway Stupak apparently still waffling! Who knows. Kinda suspect he just wants to be the deciding vote.

he nixed reports of his voting yes?!?

maybe he feels politically vulnerable, and is waiting to see if the democrats need his vote. as i understand it, pelosi's doling out "passes" to certain democrats who are battling for survival in conservative districts.

or maybe he's just a self-absorbed gasbag.

stupak has been saying things that make it sound like he really wants to vote yes, but obvs hes sort of painted himself into a corner w/all the nonsensical abortion grandstanding

Baird and Giffords have announced yes.

Good luck USA <3

lol, not sure what you mean, dowd.

And apparently Stupak is just haggling over the EO wording still. Figures.

pelosi/lewis & others in the leadership deliberately walked straight through the crowd of tea party protestors on the way to the capitol just a few minutes ago. hah

(watching megyn on fox, who just showed a clip of a few gop leaders at the mics and said they were being cheered.. now has on larry sabato to explain why the gop will win big in november. what does he even know? i don't believe it)

holy christ, has Pelosi or Hoyer ever asked one of their staff members to print copies of the Hyde Amendment and taped it to poster boards? What the hell is Stupak's problem?

really? seems likely they will (mid-term election against the party controlling the white house).

(xp to daria)

they'll work something out with stupak. fwiw i saw him on hardball early last week and it seemed like even then, it was pretty clear he did want the health care bill to pass. wonder if at this point it isn't mostly about.. how he backed himself into a corner and wants to save face, idk

also the GOP's nutty base -- angry white people fearing the loss of "their" country -- tend to vote.

well, gop prob gains some seats, but i don't expect a 94 level meltdown at all. and there's a LOT of time between now and november and people have short memories.

and yeah their nutty base tends to vote, but now i think ours might have a reason to show up as well, what with something actually getting done.

agreed that the best thing for democrats now is pass HCR fast, then have 10 jobs bills pass between now and november.

also, i have a feeling you're right about the democratic base possibly coming out to vote, too. we'll see a lot of crazy, wingnutty talk over the summer, which should anger/scare the democratic base.

at least i'm hoping you're right about that.

for real, why are white people with money so angry? i don't understand it. if i weren't broke would i be angry too?

it's the perception that "others" are "taking over." all those claims that "our grandchildren will be saddled with this debt!" and "no more handouts" and "self-reliance" are -- in many or most (tho not all) instances -- just proxies for boiling-over frustration at minorities.

dems will lose seats, but the house is fully elected every two years, if they maintain control of it, reguardless of how the press portrays it that means theyve won - after two cycles of republican blood flowing through the streets democrats are near their high water mark as far as how many seats its realistically possible for them to control - add that to the facts that majorities always shrink in off year elections and that we are in an epically shitty economic situation - its obvious dems wont maintain the number of seats they have now come next congress - but eh filibuster reform anyone

Digby:

The last thing I want to do is rain on anyone's parade, but I think it's worth remembering that this still has to go through reconciliation in the Senate. I would hope they learned their lesson after the last "Mission Accomplished" moment in December when everyone cheered each other like it was VJ day only to have Scott Brown knock them back. From what I'm hearing they haven't learned a thing. There's much crying and rending of garments over "history being made" among the liberal Villagers already and the votes haven't even been cast.

It isn't over folks. The Senate is a strange creature and until this thing is on the president's desk, anything can happen. Once he signs it, everybody gets to take their victory lap and congratulate themselves for being so darned awesome. Until then, they should try to keep their encomiums under wraps. It only makes them look stupid when everything falls apart.

Just saying. Everybody should keep their pants on. (Good advice in most situations.)

for real, why are white people with money so angry? i don't understand it. if i weren't broke would i be angry too?

― wears suburban hang-ups on her sleeve like some kind of corporate logo (daria-g), Sunday, March 21, 2010 1:47 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

all the fiscal responsibility talk always makes me lol, the suposed pro business party doesnt understand the concept of 'investing' at all - they really think theres a finite number of dollars and that they should get to hold them

xpost -- Wise advice obv. but isn't it simple majority in the Senate?

digby's right. now, to totally look past that, i wonder if there's time for this congress to pass one or two more "big bills" after HCR finishes, e.g., financial reform and/or immigration reform?

xp to digby, harry ried says he has the votes all lined up, but yeah who know

"Immigration reform" = Lindsey Graham pandering nonsense.

do they really need lindsey graham? i thought on that issue, there were other republicans willing to break-ranks (even mccain, maybe).

xpost - re: angry people, i've never understood it. oh, i'm paying so much in taxes blablabla poor me, we're taxed to death in this country, why can't everyone use Personal Responsibility to buy their own health insurance so we don't have to pay for anyone but ourselves. people are so greedy imho.

people are so greedy, and have no idea whats really in their best interest