Three Republican Senators Are Worth More Than 76% of the Country

[babylonsister]

Three Republican Senators Are Worth More Than 76% of the Country
By: Jane Hamsher Monday July 27, 2009 9:32 pm



I wrote last week about the compromise in the Finance Committee being brewed by Baucus, Enzi and Snowe. This evening Snowe is giving details to the NYT:

Already, the group of six has tossed aside the idea of a government-run insurance plan that would compete with private insurers, which the president supports but Republicans said was a deal-breaker.

Instead, they are proposing a network of private, nonprofit cooperatives.

The three Republicans are Snowe, Enzi and Grassley. The Democrats are Baucus, Bingaman and Kent "co-ops" Conrad.

The Finance Committee was supposed to deal with -- wait for it -- finance. Instead, President Baucus and President Snowe decided that they'd just write the whole damn bill themselves and have included a competing co-op plan that would replace the public plan offered by the HELP committee.

Because three Republican Senators are worth more than 76% of the country to members of the most exclusive club in the world.

They certainly have a mighty high opinion of themselves.

http://campaignsilo.firedoglake.com/2009/07/27/three-republican-senators-are-worth-more-than-76-of-the-country/

[NashVegas]

1. "Private, Non-Profit"

Where all of congress's friends get to apply for the lucrative contracts without showing any genuine competence and raid the treasury.

In Nashville, there was a small shit-storm for all of three minutes when one of the people on a committee studying the use of charter schools in Nashville created a job for himself as director of those schools.

[sinkingfeeling]

2. I just can't believe the public is going to let them get away with this. The current proposals do

next to nothing to solve the problem. This has turned into health insurance reform (promises not to exclude pre-existing conditions, etc.) and will not improve health care nor make it more available.

[babylonsister]

3. I have confidence it's not going to happen the way Baucus and the others

envision. Too many people want the public option, including all the progressive Dems and the president.

Baucus's pandering to the insurance companies at our expense is blatant and predictable.

What did I read, that this will most likely be voted down in conference? In which case, no one should give Baucus such an important job in the future if all he's going to do with it is to serve his own self interest.

[lumberjack_jeff]

8. I prefer the word "optimistic". n/t

[babylonsister]

10. Yes, I'm trying. Our Dems sure don't make it easy. nt

[tsuki]

4. "Bipartisan" is the excuse that Baucus, Bingaman and Kent used

to do the Big Insurance bidding. "Bought and Paid For" should be the slogan for those three.

[brianna69]

5. The conservadems that are currently

selling out the american people to please their corporate masters(big Pharma and the Insurance Lobby) makes me sick. The problem here is not republicans but our own so called democrats. This is totally unacceptable. We have to fight to make sure this doesn't happen.

[Deja Q]

6. Wow. I thought they weren't worth two cents...

:(

[babylonsister]

7. They're not. I hope someone lets them know that, too. nt

[Javaman]

9. So private non profits, huh?

either they will become the new "military industrial complex" of the future filled with cronies or they will never be supported and allowed to fail in a massive spectacular fashion to only highlight their real mission of never ever allowing the government have any say in 1) our health care ever again 2) make sure the insurance corps are the real power and continue to fund their massively crooked campaigns or 3) They are getting some sort of gigantic kickback in the long term that won't be revealed until they are long retired, or dead and the money is left to the descendants.

Folks,
The fix has always been in. Isn't it interesting that no sooner does Obama proclaim that he wants the health care bill to be a done deal before the August recess then suddenly, these blue dogs cough up this pile of shit and proclaim that the public option is un-doable?

Come on, this is nothing more than some half baked retarded version of an off off off off broadway bad translation of a misquoted kabuki show.

I still hold out a stupid glimmer of hope, but honestly, I have known all along that we will get the "national health care" that we as half witted Americans deserve.

We won't get what is good for us, we will get what is given us.

See you all in the ER dying for help!

Cheers.