You put your left vote in.
They take their right vote out.
You put your left vote in.
Then you really shout it out.
You do the Hokey Pokey with the Public Option clout.
That’s what it’s all about.
It would seem on the surface that in light of what transpired in Washington yesterday, by all rights Lefties should be thrilled. Majority Leader Harry Reid stated unequivocally that there will be a Public Option in any Health Care Reform Bill that comes out of the Senate…and we had previously been assured by Speaker Nancy Pelosi that the Bill the House puts forward will also include a ‘robust’ Public Option.
So, to paraphrase Janis Joplin…now that we’re here, where are we?
Let’s start with Reid’s assertion that the Senate bill will feature a Public Option with an opt out…meaning individual states will be able to opt out of the program after a pre-determined period of time…say a year. No problem for people who want and need a Public Option and happen to live in a blue state…but potentially devastating news for those that have been counting on a Public Option and, when it comes to acquiring health insurance, have the misfortune of residing in a red state. So on balance…some good and some bad in the news department.
In any case when Reid went all in on the Public Option, not surprisingly he was assailed by the usual suspects on the right. What was surprising…perhaps even stunning…was that he was also questioned by some on the left. One pundit, MSNBC’s Chris Matthews, went so far as to say that Reid had effectively thrown Maine’s Olympia Snowe, the lone Republican to vote with the Democrats to move a Senate Bill out of committee, under the bus for crying out loud!
Others say the only reason Reid came down on the side of a Public Option was because he was afraid he would lose the support of Democrats in his re-election bid in Nevada. Well duh! These are the same people who only the day before had been warning that if Reid didn’t support a Public Option, he would lose the support of Democrats in his re-election bid in Nevada! So now they’re criticizing him for doing what they warned him he’d better freaking do. Kind of gives you a headache, doesn’t it?
Then there are the reported whispers supposedly coming out of the White House…that the President actually prefers the trigger mechanism favored by Senator Snowe to the opt out plan Reid favors. Of course, those are just whispers. Nobody has actually heard Barack Obama say anything like that publicly…at least not yet.
Until we do…and until the Senate and the House produce their actual bills…let’s just chill. The fact is that no one knows for sure how all of this is going to flesh out. We won’t know unless and until a Health Care Reform Bill actually comes up for final debate… which looks probable now but is by no means a certifiable lock. So essentially, everyone’s getting all lathered up about something that doesn’t even exist…and how stupid is that?
Seriously Democrats, let’s leave it to the GOP to eat their own. One circus in town at a time is more than enough. And while we’re at it, let Snowe go back over to the dark side, and take Joe Lieberman with her. Who the hell cares? That butt hole dances the Hokey Pokey with two right feet anyway.
The Public Option is still alive in spite of them…but Washington bipartisanship is deader than Dick Cheney’s conscience.
And so it goes.
SC
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For as long as I can remember and have been following politics in Washington, there has never been true bipartisanship. It has always been party and dollar before country. The thing that frustrates me is that in the Congress our career politicians on both sides of the aisle never seem to work together or offer constructive alternative ideas or improved plans. In my time frame of reference, during Presidents' Bush 1's term, Clinton's term, Dubbya's term and now President Obama's term it has always been no ideas from the opposite side, and disagree with whatever idea that the other side puts up, and try to make the President look like a fool. How can something (bipartisanship) that never really lived be dead? Hell, bipartisanship does not even live within the political parties themselves. I will explain later.
ReplyDeleteFrankly, I have grown tired of the slamming and castration of senators and representatives who speak from a different point of view from their party. It's either walk the party line or lose your support from us to be re-elected, or we will name call and make fun of you in the various forms of media that are out there so people will think you need to be removed. Where is the insentive for real problem solving and communication. Group think rules. If you are not 100% in line with our party's ideas and/or ideals you are:
1. The enemy to be defeated at any cost.
2. You don't care about people and are evil, or you care too much and are a bleeding heart.
3. You should go to the other side because we don't need you anyway.
4. You are a fence sitting idiot who can't make up your mind on somthing.
Just another example that term limits for congress are needed.
When Democrat Dick Gephardt first came on the scene, he had a lot of good ideas, but some went against the party line. You could see and hear his dialog change. You just new that the democratic party had conversations with him. Or when John McCain sided with the left on certain issues you could hear and see the same thing. It is such a shame that there is such rigid and childish parties running our congress. And the media just fuels this fire for ratings. It seems as if only the views of the extreme right or left hold any validity and the rest of us are mindless village idiots.
Congress needs term limits. No matter what political leanings that anyone may have, we should be extremely unhappy with the jobs that our senators and representatives are doing. Petty party politics, incumbent re-election, and lobby money win out every time. If our homes or private businesses were run the same way as the congress, nothing would be productive and we would be in more trouble than were in right now.