Assuming the House passes the bill today, the biggest losers are going to be the Democrats who vote against it and lose anyway. But even the Democrats who vote against it and survive are going to regret their vote more than the Democrats who vote for it and lose. That’s just reality. You can’t be a Democrat and vote against historic legislation like this without looking and feeling like an asshole later on.
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BooMan
Martin Longman a contributing editor at the Washington Monthly. He is also the founder of Booman Tribune and Progress Pond. He has a degree in philosophy from Western Michigan University.
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Larson says they have the votes.
Clyburn too, and Stupak has called for presser an hour before they start at 1, and Howard Kurtz tells me that Pres is ruminating over an Execu Order telling Bart that the Hyde Amendment is still the law of the land. My local station playing “Amen”
My radio station is a kick, it’s all Gospel this morning and now they’re playing “People get Ready, there’s a train…” which followed “This too shall pass”
This is just way too good and should get played all day!
You can’t be a Democrat and vote against historic legislation like this without looking and feeling like an asshole later on.
Most of them don’t care. That’s the point. They are just biding their time until they get a job on K Street.
Somehow I don’t think there will be all that many survivors among the Dem noies. There will be brutal primaries in a lot of cases, and even their gopper opponents will use their mendacity against them. I don’t see how they’ll rally the Dem base for GOTV.
Those who vote yes, OTOH, will have a shot at reviving the real Dem base and have solid accomplishment to show against opponents in the primaries and the general. What the prognosticators never see is that accomplishment — that’s how it will be seen — starts the pendulum swinging in a new direction.
Yeah and no. If the bill had failed because of this, then Democrats would be out for blood in terms of primary challenges.
But it looks like the bill will pass now with a comfortable margin, so I wouldn’t mind giving a pass to a few Democrats in conservative districts and let them vote against it. In fact I have no doubt that Pelosi and Hoyer have a short list of Democrats who have asked to be allowed to vote against it, but would vote for it if their votes were absolutely required..
If by conservative districts you mean they voted for McCain by a significant margin, then yeah, they’re probably not the ones to target. But the likes of Stupak (however he ends up voting) and Lincoln deserve nothing but grief.
Let those fuckers burn.
All right good Americans, I’m keeping, and will be keeping, all fingers crossed for you. I think you’ve done great progress in just a little more than a YEAR.
I wholeheartedly agree as a foreign observer with those who say that this is the beginning, not the end. If babies had the same kind of self-talk going on as one can hear about HCR when they tried to learn to walk, they would never walk again after the first step.
Yet the whole point of good government, just like learning to walk, is to take more good steps. It gets easier with experience! Here’s for more good steps!
The GOP may have a larger quantity of ass holes, but the Democratic Party has its fair share of quality grade A ass holes. The three stand outs for me are Berry of AR who is retiring and voted yes in November. He had absolutely nothing to lose by voting yes, but he’s decided to give the President his ass to
kiss on the way out the door. The second is Lynch of MA. He seems to pride himself in being an ass hole, taking pride in opposing his party, President, organized labor and Viki Kennedy. Only a real ass hole would run to the media to reveal that he told Ted Kennedy’s widow “NO!” emphatically–with laughter. The third is Lipinski of the President’s home state. He voted yes in November, but joined the Stupak bloc. He’s decided to remain a no vote seemingly for reasons that have nothing to do with abortion or health care. In an interview today with Lynn Sweet, he reflected on his father’s vote in ’93 against Clinton’s deficit reduction bill. I guess he’s saying he wants to continue his father’s legacy of trying to derail his Party’s agenda. Whatever the reason, it’s a real ass hole play.
I don’t understand Berry at all — unless this is just plain value for payment. Lipinski is another Blagojevich wannabe — a legacy appointment that doesn’t have a brain in his head. He needs another primary attempt — it would stand a better chance this time.
It’s too late to primary Lipinski, but it’s damn sure not too late to hit him with a ‘Blue Flu Campaign’. On election day, Democrats stay home with the ‘Blue Flu’. I’m not talking about sacrificing the majority, but a few worthless members who have NO business in representative government.