DeMint: If We Stop Health Reform, It Will 'Break' Obama

[babylonsister]

These are politicians, with constituents? Hard to believe that the welfare of Americans doesn't trump their petty little partisan games.


http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0709/Health_reform_foes_plan_Obamas_Waterloo.html?showall

Health reform foes plan Obama's 'Waterloo'


Conservative leaders will push delay any vote on health care reform until after the August recess to capitalize on what they say is a growing tide of opposition to reform measures, they said on a conference call with "tea party" participants today.

"I can almost guarantee you this thing won't pass before August, and if we can hold it back until we go home for a month's break in August," members of Congress will hear from "outraged" constituents, South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint said on the call, which was organized by the group Conservatives for Patients Rights.

"Senators and Congressmen will come back in September afraid to vote against the American people," DeMint predicted, adding that "this health care issue Is D-Day for freedom in America."

"If we’re able to stop Obama on this it will be his Waterloo. It will break him," he said.

The founder of Conservatives for Patients Rights told the 104 participants in the call, which was organized to coincide with the National Tea Party Patriots group's protests at the offices of members of Congress today, that polling suggests majorities oppose a "government take-over," which is how Scott's group casts the Obama plan.

Rep. Mike Pence, also on the call, also said the tide is turning.

"Every single day more dems are expressing op to government-run health care," he said.

[Birthmark]

1. Yes, Senator...

...and the Moon Landings and Global Warming are fake.

Fortunately, wrestling is really, really, real!

[BlooInBloo]

2. (shrug) Let's get ready to rumble motherfucker.

[Cant trust em]

5. Straight up. If they want to throw down the gauntlet, then that's the way it is. nt

[Cha]

42. The Powder..

she's not dry anymore!

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

3. I'm not convinced that Obama will fight back with this kind of passion and fire.

I pray to God that I am wrong, but it seems that he's so wedded to bipartisanship that he'll just cave and give Republicans everything they want.

[Hawkowl]

6. Obama is a WUSS

He has never met a fight he can't run away from. He has no backbone. He has no principles aside from always compromise.

[BlooInBloo]

7. hahahahaa!!!

[Ikonoklast]

13. Riiight.

You are clueless.

The best day of your life, on the very best day, you won't be half as strong as President Obama, fool.

[Champion Jack]

15. Bullshit

[Spazito]

22. LOL! Even by the most generous standards...

your post is beyond pathetic in it's attempt to smear.

[Milspec]

28. Go piss up a rope

[Cha]

44. Hey, you the

the Fuckin' Wuss..Prez can take care of a whole country.

[Aramchek]

53. is English your first language?

[dolphindance]

9. The republicans don't want any reform at all. He won't give in to that. (n/t)

[rvablue]

18. He's holding an previously unscheduled presser at 3:15 pm today.

I'd bet that it will include some of that "passion and fire" you're looking for.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

24. I hope so. I really do. I'm so disappointed and dismayed by *some*

of the administration's decisions and milquetoast behavior. I'm becoming more and more disillusioned, but I still support the president.

[Thrill]

25. When he talks about bipartisanship, he's talking about Democrats not Republicans

I don't know why people up here can't see that. Democrats are his problem. Not Republicans

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

35. HUH?!? That's not what bipartisanship means! And that's not what Obama means

He means that Democrats must bend over backgrounds to work with the Republicans.

[Thrill]

36. I know in a sense what bipartisanship means

But in reality he is talking about conservative Democrats. He doesn't need Republican votes. He's trying to get conservative Democrats on board. He's not going to come out and say "I need to get my own party to support what I want to do" So you hear this bipartisanship line. Just like during the stimulus talk, bipartisanship really meant getting something that would get guys like Nelson and Conrad supporting it

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

37. Many thanks to babylonsister (love Steely Dan) for posting this one...

http://www.salon.com/opinion/conason/2009/07/17/healthc... /


Bipartisanship is for suckers

Hey, Democrats -- Republicans have no intention of addressing America's healthcare ills. Any reform is up to you

By Joe Conason


July 17, 2009 | Whatever hopes the Democrats in Congress and the White House may still cherish about bipartisan cooperation on healthcare reform, the Republicans are sparing no effort to mock them. Rather than expend much energy on seeking compromise or creating solutions of their own, the minority party appears wholly preoccupied with spreading propaganda against reform through all their reliable stooges, outlets and devices.

If the Republican leadership in either the Senate or the House of Representatives had conceived an alternative plan for reform -- confronting the twin crises of coverage and cost -- they could promote such ideas on all the media platforms available to them, from Fox News and Drudge to the mainstream media.

Instead, however, the Republican noise machine offers only noise, in the hope of frustrating the Democrats and blocking change. Although they understand very well that the public is demanding reform, if only because pollster and strategist Frank Luntz told them so, they don't seem to care.

snip//

Individual Republicans in both the House and the Senate may well share the concerns of Democrats about the rising costs and diminishing accessibility of health insurance, but as a matter of policy, their party is bluntly opposed to any real reform. Last month, Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, put out a four-page press release, dubbed the Republican healthcare plan, that was so vague and devoid of required detail that his members could hardly endorse it without laughing. The next Republican non-plan will be unveiled on Monday at the National Press Club in Washington, where RNC chairman Michael Steele promises to announce a "unifying set of core Republican principles for healthcare reform." Still no actual bill, but maybe Steele will recite the core principles in rapping rhyme.

Listening to Republicans and their pet pundits on Fox News, CNBC and talk radio, it quickly becomes clear that the conservative objective is not to fashion a solution acceptable to both parties, but to obstruct. The question they ponder daily is not how to reduce costs and provide healthcare to all; no, the question they repeatedly ask is whether and how they can "stop whatever comes out, healthcare-bill wise, from the Democrats."

So much for bipartisanship, a vanishingly rare commodity that is of no value to the Republicans, who know that voters will credit the Democratic majority for reform whether the minority offers support or not. What the Democrats need to understand is that there can be no cooperation without sincere partners. Among the opposition on Capitol Hill there are no such partners. There is only a cabal of legislative saboteurs, egged on by the right-wing media. The Republicans are pursuing the plan laid out by their strategist Luntz that is designed to kill reform -- and it is now time for the Democrats to recognize that grim reality.

[karynnj]

33. He did in NJ yesterday - and he was great

[Cha]

43. Sorry, you don't get the part about

Pres Obama that shows he is fighter.

[Arkana]

47. He said it on the campaign trail:

"Yeah, I don't do cowering."

[Joanne98]

4. Says a lot about what they think about their constituents.

I'm sure the people in his district will be happy to hear that he's fighting healthcare reform just to get Obama.

[GoCubsGo]

10. Speaking as one of his unfortunate consitituents...

I sadly agree with you. Better to be without healthcare than to have that horrible, librul neeeegro man succeed. There are enough people in this shithole of a state who share that mentality to get this putrid SOB elected.

[Jackpine Radical]

8. The welfare of the American public

is a small thing to sacrifice when it stands in the way of the quest for power.

[high density]

11. With Repukes it's all about getting re-elected

They think that having Obama crash and burn will be a good thing for them, even if it hurts the country even more. Americans have taken notice finally that Repukes are against the American people, though the Democrats so far haven't done enough to sell themselves as a better choice.

[Cha]

45. Yeah, it's about continuing to feed at the public

trough..the pig fuckers.

[Bucky]

12. Drago to Rocky: "I must break you."

What a weenie.

[opihimoimoi]

14. Lipstick on a Pub?..still a Pib....they keep changing colors and shades,,,,but

still the same ole Selfish Pub Party,,,,

Always thinking for themselves FIRST

They think EMPATHY is Bad....

[RaleighNCDUer]

16. I think he might be calling it wrong, a bit -

If the repubs stop healthcare reform, the 71% of voters who WANT healthcare reform will know exactly who to blame.

Napoleon thought that Waterloo would be his greatest, and final, victory over the British and Prussian allies. DeMint is Napoleon in this scenario.

[Jane Austin]

17. Dang. I reported the same story an hour ago and

didn't get a single recommendation.

Pout.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=6088987&mesg_id=6088987

It's a quote that needs to be spread far and wide.

[BlooInBloo]

19. :) Happens to me, too.

[mimitabby]

20. yeah, me too i suddenly DON'T think we need health care

I have changed my mind, i am not worried any more about my 30 year old son without health care and the dwindling health benefits that i have
and the fact that our emergency wards are full, not of emergencies, but of people that can't afford to go to the doctor.

right.

repukes.

[PretzelWarrior]

21. fuck that piece of shit asshole. the corollory...if it passes, you are toast, bitch.

[Parker CA]

31. Pain grille, indeed!!

[LiberalAndProud]

23. It's the same strategy they used against Clinton.

I'd bet I could find a quote if I cared enough to google. But truly, the only thing that remains "broken" is our health care system. Left to our "Conservative leaders" (Cough..BenNelson.Cough..) it will remain broken. always.

[Thrill]

26. Democrats can't see that they need to stick together on this if on nothing else

.

[HopeOverFear]

27. I know

[Bleacher Creature]

29. Anyone remember the theme of last year's GOP convention?

"Country First"

[elehhhhna]

54. Wrong. Those were the instructions to their DJ.

[Vinca]

30. Do Republicans have a secret health insurance company

where everyone is affordably covered and no one is ever turned away? Hard to believe they can celebrate the ruination of health care reform when they must have constituents who are desperately in need of medical care who cannot afford it or are cherry picked out of it.

[karynnj]

32. Well - they might be surprised that there are angry constituents

who want health care reform. This is an issue where the public agrees with us. If they push it till after the recess we need to organize as much (or more) than the RW does, so THEIR senators get the message.

[bigwillq]

34. It's so sad that some people in this country

what to STOP the advancement of health care reform for political gain. If "they" try to stop it, they are the ones who will be broken.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

38. DeMint you can pay my healthcare bills!

[SeattleGirl]

39. It wouldn't just be a failure for Obama, you asshole. It would be a

failure for all of us.

But then, you don't care about we, the great unwashed masses, do you?

[dolphindance]

40. Don't look for Dems to band together and help the Prez.

We can't even do it here.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

41. The DeMint tied up with Abramoff?

[Arkana]

46. Let's throw down, Sonny Jim.

[Jennicut]

48. Aside from the bs Rasmussen poll, the public wants health care reform.

What a stoonad, as my husband would say.

[Hansel]

49. Sounds like DeMint needs to have a starring role in a DNC commercial

I'm sure people who can't get health insurance or who have lost it because they got laid off, will get a real tickle out of DeMint's comments. How he is standing in the way of affordable health care just to "break Obama".

The Democrats need to learn how to do outrage and how to rap every dumb ass statement coming from Republicans like this around the entire party's neck.

[Odin2005]

50. This is fucking WAR. These wing-nuts need to be DESTROYED!!!

:grr:

[Vidar]

51. I'm hoping it passes, but failure to pass didn't break Clinton & it won't break Obama.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

52. No, but it will break millions of Americans

who will either die due to lack of covergae and treatment or go bankrupt.

[elehhhhna]

55. ...and the Reep party AND the blueballs, er...dogs.

golly, it's almost worth it.

[prolesunited]

56. Yep, I'm in that category

Ever try getting insurance with multiple chronic conditions? If I keep up with my doctor and meds, along with my own self care, I'm fine. Take that away, and everything I have is life threatening.

[billyoc]

57. And if you fail to stop it, it will break YOU, Jim.