Comments on: Snowe Will Vote “Yes” on Baucus Bill in Committee

By: oldgold

oldgold — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 20:19:10 +0000

There are 60 votes available, but at this point we don’t have them.

By: yellowsnapdragon

yellowsnapdragon — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 18:36:52 +0000

I would agree with you, oldgold, if, there were not 60 votes for cloture in the Senate for a bill with a PO. (Jane has written a couple posts reporting that there are 60 votes there.)

But why settle for this crappy version of reform when a much better bill could be put to a vote?

By: Zombiebirdhouse

Zombiebirdhouse — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 18:32:42 +0000

Conrad said point blank that a public option is a non-starter for him. Lincoln said basically the same thing. I think the two of them are the best guesses as to who will join the repubs in a filibuster.

By: Woodstock

Woodstock — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 18:32:17 +0000

Whatever Her Royal Highness Queen Snowe does is of serious importance to me. ABC News’s lead story is always, “What do republicans think?”

Somebody please email me when Queen Snowe takes a dump, as it will be another blessed event.

By: cinnamonape

cinnamonape — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 18:29:39 +0000

Given that AHIP has essentially said “we’re going to increase charges if this passes” can the other bills now be promoted to “check” this by increasing the regulation of the insurance industry.

Seems the AHIP just made the biggest case for the “public option” to be included in the committee concurrence before the vote…or floor Amendments.

By: oldgold

oldgold — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 18:24:30 +0000

Unlike most here, I see this as a good development. Snowe is showing some courage.

By: Arbusto

Arbusto — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 18:16:15 +0000

Obama is probably, as I write this, providing her an office next to his in appreciation of her bipartisanship.

By: weimerbinx

weimerbinx — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 18:15:00 +0000

one more thought…
the blowback for passing really bad legislation that makes voters really mad may be so extreme that dems could easily lose one or more of the houses in 2010 or 2012. if that happens, even if obama wins in 2012, that would make it almost impossible for any meaningful changes to the legislation to be done.
so all of the incrementalists, the ones who are saying that dems should pass any old POS because one can always amend it later…well those folks will be in for a rude surprise, and we’re going to be stuck with this turkey for a long time.

By: weimerbinx

weimerbinx — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 18:08:55 +0000

dems getting played once more.
pathetic.
snowe will do her best to make the bill as bad as it can be.
and then it won’t matter if she votes for it or votes against it.
enough dems will vote for it to pass it.
republicans will have accomplished exactly what they wanted.
they got a bill passed that makes their sponsors very happy, a bill that could have very well have been written and passed by a republican congress.
AND they will still be able to run against the fact that the bill itself for any number of reasons.
higher taxes, the individual mandate, scaring the heck out of seniors…
the list of targets will be long and extremely vulnerable.
once voters realize that they will have to buy crap insurance for inflated prices, under penalty of law…
well, the natives will be plenty restless.
and the fact that most provisions don’t take effect until 2013 makes it easy as can be for republicans to lie and distort without voters actually having personal experiences that contradict those lies and distortions.
this is all a sick joke.
but of course, obama will be happy, cause snowe’s coming on board allows him to weaken the bill in exactly the fashion he’d promised the “stakeholders” he would weaken the bill.
what a joke.

By: yellowsnapdragon

yellowsnapdragon — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 18:04:26 +0000

Olympia Snowe needs to get the f*ck out of the way. Same for Baucus.