Rockefeller: GOP Leadership Is “Bringing The Hammer” Down On Snowe

[jefferson_dem]

Rockefeller: GOP Leadership Is “Bringing The Hammer” Down On Snowe

There’s a very revealing moment in an interview that public option hero Jay Rockefeller gave to Ezra Klein. Rockefeller suggests he has first-hand knowledge of the tremendous pressure GOP leaders are putting on Olympia Snowe to not join Dems on health care reform:

I think the world of Olympia Snowe. She’s got incredible courage, and the Republican leadership is brutal in the way they apply pressure. Much more so than the Democrats…

They bring the hammer down on her, and I’m not going to say how. She’s very strong, and she represents a very rural state that has gone blue. So I don’t know what she’s going to do, and I’ll respect her whatever she does.

This has long been an untold part of the story: How hard, and in what ways, are Republican leaders exerting behind the scenes pressure on individual GOP Senators such as Snowe to not to get on board with Dems, no matter what the final bill looks like?

GOP aides I’ve spoken to have denied that this is going on. But Rockefeller is clearly hinting that he and Snowe have had private conversations about the “hammer” GOP leaders are bringing down on her to get her to block reform. If we knew more about this, it would help settle beyond any doubt the nature of GOP intentions and would fill in an important part of the story about the GOP’s conduct throughout this affair.

Rockefeller’s language is pretty suggestive. Worth digging into further.

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/senate-republicans/rockefeller-gop-leadership-is-bringing-the-hammer-down-on-snowe/

[Cha]

1. The GOP Hammer...

:scared: Wasn't there something Yesterday about Olympia saying her party left her or changed but she hadn't?

[Phx_Dem]

9. Yes, she said "I haven't changed, my party has."

[Arkana]

2. She should quit the party and run as an independent.

[Jennicut]

5. She could still win in her state as an independent. The Rethugs have pressure

but the voters in Maine don't want her to be overly conservative.

[formercia]

13. This is her last term in the Senate.

Unless I'm mistaken, she says that she will not run again. It could get interesting. A Dem might get her seat if the boys bring down the 'hammer'.

[ShadowLiberal]

16. I agree, she could win as an independent, Maine has had several independent governors

Besides that Snowe won almost 80% of the vote in her last reelection, in 2006, a horrible year for the GOP nationally.

[ej510]

3. Snowe will bow down to the Gop. She believes in their BullShit philosophies.

[Cha]

10. Too bad their "philosophies" are under a mountain

of evil bullshit.

[iceman66]

4. It could be something as simple as a primary challenge,

or maybe they've got some dirt on her and its straight out blackmail.

I wouldn't put anything past those creeps.

[mopinko]

8. can't believe it is as simple as a primary.

these lizards put the mafia to shame in the way they make people offers they can't refuse.
i hope she jumps. come on in honey, the water is gonna stay blue for a long time.

[C_U_L8R]

6. Eventually the nail tells the hammer to go screw

[graywarrior]

7. You're my new idol.

[SIMPLYB1980]

15. LoL!

:spray:

[Dappleganger]

11. She needs to leave them and become an I.

Somehow I see this as the only way to save herself and the people she represents.

[Kingofalldems]

12. I hope they realize they cannot work with cons and neocons

They are vandals out to destroy. Their leader pigboy even said as much.

[Blue Meany]

14. Yeah, well those of us in Maine are trying to bring the hammer

down on her so she will support a public option. I guess she is caught between a rock and a hard place and will have to either abandon her party or her constituents. Her "compromise" is not going to cut it, however.