Money Quote: "We must stop the Tea Party before the United States Senate falls into the hands of extremists and ideologues who leave no room for reason or compromise, who don't recognize common ground even when they're standing on it."
Read the full text, here.
Apparently, no one.
Not even Senate Leader Harry Reid who states that Obama is not firm enough with the other side. LOL!!! Not firm enough? This coming from a WEAK ASS SENATE LEADER, who does not have the fire to make the Senate stay in the Capitol and pass unemployment extension or a jobs bill? This from a senator who has juiced President Obama for fund-raising several times this year and the previous and let us not forget getting First Lady Michelle Obama out there to stump for him and even doing exercises for the kiddies!!
Harry Reid, what next? Another pass? It is okay to basically call POTUS weak? Because that is basically what he called Barack Obama.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said in an interview with a Las Vegas television station that President Obama has at times been insufficiently forceful in his dealings with the Republican party.
"On a few occasions, I think he should have been more firm with those on the other side of the aisle," the Demotic Nevada senator told KSNV. "He is a person who doesn't like confrontation. He's a peacemaker. And sometimes I think you have to be a little more forceful. And sometimes I don't think he is."
The White House declined to comment on Reid's statements.
Public confidence in President Obama has hit a new low, according to the latest Washington Post-ABC News poll. Four months before midterm elections that will define the second half of his term, nearly six in 10 voters say they lack faith in the president to make the right decisions for the country, and a clear majority once again disapproves of how he is dealing with the economy.
I have written most of 2009 about Barack Obama, the Democrats and leadership. Well, the historians will have a hay day on Obama and 2009, along with the capitulation of the Democrats in D.C. Obama's lack of leadership on his cornerstone "wannabee" legislation of health care will be written about a man who did NOTHING, but just hand it off to the corrupt congress who did what congress does, change the bill to a corporate giveaway to the insurance companies.
Many state just pass that atrocious health care bill as is, well fine, but be prepared to campaign on tax hikes, mandatory purchase of insurance, which is not popular with the public. In fact, the public hates this senate bill, but the Democrats who are stuck in back room deals, must take it. This bill will not save one endangered Democrat in November, you know that and I know that, but to pass legislation because we don't have shit to show for it just proves how far the Democrats have dropped.
There are many who follow Barack Obama and listen to every word out of his mouth as gospel, I am not one of those. I worked very hard on getting Obama and Democrats elected in 2008, to only see what we have.
Scared, weak, corporate bought Democrats.
As 2010 is ramping up, look what we have. A health care that is on oxygen. A jobs bill that will be riddled with "tax cuts" because that is what Republicans want. And Democrats running scurred because instead of doing their jobs, they are trying to save their jobs.
2010 will be hard on Democrats and to be quite honest, it should be. When you are in the majority and don't have shit to show for it, do you think these people should stay in power?
Lawrence O'Donnell from The Ed Show telling it like it is:
Home Page
Hello!!! Everyone was saying that from the GIT GO!!! Why has it taken so long for the White House and even members of congress to get it? The Republican Party is not going to be an honest broker about anything with the name OBAMA attached. Can we put this to bed and say we won't deal with the Republicans going forward? Geez, dumber than a box of rocks? You think?
"As I look back it was a waste of time dealing with [Snowe]," Reid is quoted as saying in a forthcoming New York Times Magazine piece, "because she had no intention of ever working anything out."
That's a harsh but understandable assessment. The White House was banking on Snowe's support for months, both as a means of securing conservative Democrats' support for the bill, and as a failsafe, in case Reid came up short on votes in the Democratic caucus. But after supporting the Senate Finance Committee's reform proposal, Snowe was hesitant to support major changes to the legislation, which Reid needed to make to keep the progressive wing of his caucus from defecting.
Morgan Freeman's look is priceless....
| The Colbert Report | Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| Harry Reid's Racist Comment | ||||
| ||||
Everyone is yapping about the new John Heileman and Mark Halperin book, Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime.
The remarks by Senate Leader Harry Reid is offensive but not shocking to me. Reid said the following remarks:
In a private conversation reported in the book, Reid described Obama as a "light-skinned" African-American "with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one."
This is what I have to say.
President Obama did not do enough to push for the public option. We heard for 2 years that we should have "health care like congress", yet, when it was time to push for it there were crickets from the White House. The public option was an easy sell, yet, this White House allowed the public option to be defined by the very persons they were coaxing, Republicans.
And folks are wondering why Barack Obama's poll numbers are dropping? He needs to look around him and the people he have around him, that is the first start.
Dumb ass Democrats.
Democratic senators say they have a tentative deal to drop a government-run insurance option from healthcare legislation.
No further details were immediately available.
But liberals and moderates have been discussing an alternative, including a private insurance arrangement to be supervised by the federal agency that oversees the system through which lawmakers purchase coverage. Additionally, talks centered on opening Medicare to uninsured Americans beginning at age 55, a significant expansion of the large government healthcare program that currently serves the over-65 population.
Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) told reporters he didn't like the agreement but would support it to the hilt in an attempt to pass healthcare legislation.
From left: US President Barack Obama, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-NV, former senator Edward William Brooke, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-KY, listen to the national anthem during the Congressional Gold Medal presentation ceremony for Brooke October 28, 2009 in the Rotunda of the US Capitol in Washington, DC. Brooke was the first African American to be elected to the Senate by popular vote.
At a Capitol ceremony honoring him, the 90-year-old Massachusetts Republican addressed a multitude of issues on Congress' plate in addition to health care: overseas wars, restoring the economy and providing Americans with adequate housing.
"We've got to get together," Brooke said, turning his eyes to Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. "We have no alternative. There's nothing left. It's time for politics to be put aside on the back burner."
Joe Lieberman is irrelevant. Period. This from the Democrat, who turned Independent to keep his job in Connecticut, who was Obama's mentor in the senate, now a turn coat again, this time for health insurance reform. Remember he smeared Obama with this...
Oh, he sided with John McCain, actually endorsed him, remember.....
Senate Leader Harry Reid was ready to DEMOTE, Senator Joe Lieberman after his disgraceful speech against Barack Obama at the Republican National Convention:
Part Two
....but Barack Obama intervened and Lieberman was able to keep his chairmanships and status in the Democratic Caucus, remember:
Now, since Joe Lieberman is not on the White House guest list (as he should not be), does not have his mug on any of these Sunday talk shows (for what he is not a power player), is a piranha to the Democratic Party (AMEN), he has now decided to become relevant again by making the decision (or threatening) to filibuster with the Republicans in the Senate against health care reform. Is anyone surprised here?
Folks, the reality are that Lieberman has taken BIG MONEY from the health care insurance industry and he owes them. Connecticut is an insurance haven, now the masters have knocked on Lieberman's door, he must respond and become relevant again.
But take a look at this list of donations to Lieberman since 1989. Three of the top 12 industries have contributed $2.7 million to Lieberman:
Health Professionals $1,041,362
Insurance $1,036,070
Pharmaceuticals/Health Products $612,540
While, we are happy for now, the work is not done. President Obama will, in the end, have to push this legislation over the hump and that will include twisting the arms of Democrats. Listen to the process that MUST partake, Melber is spot on. And those in red states have every right to be leary about the opt out portion of this bill. Damn, when will I get to have a final exhale on this SHYTE.
Senate Leader, Harry Reid lays out the senate bill and categorically states that the public option will be in the final bill. And NO TRIGGER OPTION.
The health care debate has been rough.
I mean, this issue was too easy to make so hard. Barack Obama campaigned on reform, we saw a lack of organization on the White House part during the summer; we had to deal with the lies and misconceptions of the insurance industry and the GOP over the summer; we had to endure a possible "trigger option" for the sake of a "lovey-dovey" bipartisan bill, which would not be a bipartisan bill; only to have Harry Reid finally deliver. White House Press Secretary, Robert Gibbs statement on the merger of the bills:
The President congratulates Senator Reid and Chairmen Baucus and Dodd for their hard work on health insurance reform. Thanks to their efforts, we're closer than we've ever been to solving this decades-old problem. And while much work remains, the President is pleased that at the progress that Congress has made. He's also pleased that the Senate has decided to include a public option for health coverage, in this case with an allowance for states to opt out. As he said to Congress and the nation in September, he supports the public option because it has the potential to play an essential role in holding insurance companies accountable through choice and competition.
Majority Leader Harry Reid says health care legislation headed to the Senate floor will include an option for government-run insurance.
Reid says states will have the prerogative of opting out of the program if they choose.
Reid noted that polls show widespread public support for giving the government a role in the overhauled health care system envisioned by President Barack Obama and his allies in Congress.
Meantime, the head of the AFL-CIO said Monday he's willing to consider a tax on high-end health insurance plans to help pay for President Barack Obama's health care overhaul, as long as middle-class workers aren't hurt.
The comments by AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka indicated new flexibility on the issue from a powerful Democratic constituency as House and Senate leaders scramble to finalize sweeping health care legislation. Trumka last month dismissed the proposed insurance plan tax as "outrageous."
The tax is the Senate's preferred method to pay for covering the uninsured, but labor leaders have worried their workers would be affected even though lawmakers were aiming the proposed tax at insurance plans offering the richest benefits — what Obama has called "Cadillac" plans.
"If you show me a definition of a Cadillac plan that hits the Cadillac plans and not the middle class, then we'd take a look at that, of course," Trumka told reporters on a conference call. "If you wanted to tax the Goldman Sachs plans, I think that's fine," he said.
Trumka declined to say at what level he could support the tax. read more here....
This is a powerful ad by a swing voters in Nevada. Reid, I hope you are listening.
Home Page
Wow, he is actually doing something.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has cancelled the Senate’s Columbus Day recess so that lawmakers can focus on passing healthcare reform legislation during the week of Oct. 12.
Reid said the Senate would likely take up healthcare legislation on the chamber floor that week.
[snip]
The pressure on Democrats to pass healthcare reform, however, has raised the stakes. Some Senate aides speculated that Reid did not want to give conservative activists a chance to stall progress by staging a second round of angry demonstrations during townhall-style meetings over the recess.
“The Columbus Day [recess] is fast approaching,” Reid said on the Senate floor. “It’s the week after next and with all the things going on here, it just would not be right for us to take that week off.”
Conservatives for Patients Rights, you got that?
Are you pissed, yet?
I don't know how this health insurance reform will play out. Right now, it is not playing out well.
Sure, we need a bill out of conference, but who is going to defend the public option once out of conference?
We have a lot of sorry ass Democrats who are not listening to their constituents, taking marching orders from health insurance companies and doing it while screwing us, the American Public.
With no public option, it now means that Senate Leader Harry Reid has to whip the Democrats together, but he does not do that well. That fact is that he is trying to raise money while BLAMING REPUBLICANS for the debacle called, "health insurance reform". The truth is the obstructionists have never been Republicans (we always new they would not vote for shit), but have been the Democrats.
Blanche Lincoln, Max Baucus, Kent Conrad, please don't send me any emails or mailers because I am truly not feeling ANY OF YOU. And Harry? I could care less. As my mother told me today, "everything coming from these Democratic groups goes in the garbage until they get their priorities and act together."
And I co-sign those sentiments completely.
Oh, and if you want to know the deal on Rick Scott? View it here.
Home Page
Well, it is about time that Reid drew his line in the sand. And I love this pay line quote:
Reid opened a private meeting of health care providers in Las Vegas on Tuesday by saying, according to one attendee who took notes: “We have a problem in America and it’s called the private insurance industry.”
“We’re energized and we’re also confident that Sen. Reid is on the right side on this issue,” said Michael Ginsburg, a community organizer at the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada, who attended the meeting. “That’s something we can take to our supporters and reassure them.”
Reid has been traveling throughout the state talking to constituents about health care and other issues while Congress is on summer recess.
It is time to WHIP the Democratic Senators towards health care reform, period. We have 60 damn votes in the senate, there is NO DAMN REASON that we should not pass this vitally important piece of legislation. About time, Harry Reid is finally showing us he is a LEADER.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Tuesday strongly urged Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) to drop a proposal to tax health benefits and stop chasing Republican votes on a massive health care reform bill.
Reid, whose leadership is considered crucial if President Barack Obama is to deliver on his promise of enacting health care reform this year, offered the directive to Baucus through an intermediary after consulting with Senate Democratic leaders during Tuesday morning’s regularly scheduled leadership meeting. Baucus met with Finance ranking member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) on Tuesday afternoon to relay the information.
According to Democratic sources, Reid told Baucus that taxing health benefits and failing to include a strong government-run insurance option of some sort in his bill would cost 10 to 15 Democratic votes; Reid told Baucus that several in the Conference had serious concerns and that it wasn’t worth securing the support of Grassley and at best a few additional Republicans. read it all here....
Senator Elect Al Franken will be SENATOR AL FRANKEN, TOMORROW. WORD.
Home Page
subscribe here
icebergslim on Daily Kos
Share
