Republicans smell the blood in the water.

[kentuck]

Healthcare reform is dead. The Democratic Party is bleeding. There will be no healthcare reform worth talking about. The Republicans are lifting their champagne glasses this morning.

The Democrats in Washington sold their soul to the devil for a deal and the devil had his fingers crossed behind his back. So there they stand, bloody and wounded, wondering what went wrong?

The devil's advocate, Senator Joe Lieberman, walks down the hallways smiling and greeting his Republican friends, barely hiding his glee with his new found power.

Panic sets in as the corporate sharks start to circle and surround the wounded and helpless Democrats. What did they do wrong?



.
edit- joy = glee

[placton]

1. what did they do wrong?

For once, they DIDN'T follow the polls, which show strong support for single payer, ending wars, not bailing out the banksters, more individual rights protection, etc. It's almost like there is some rich group with lotsa money who mean more to them than the voters?

[Vinnie From Indy]

2. If your opponent is digging himself into a hole

for God's sake let him!

[AzDar]

3. And Barack Obama holds the bloody knife.

:puke:

[placton]

7. I have re-thought (a little) my anger toward Obama

and decided that I need to be less angy and more proactive. Like not voting for him and other Dems who support stuff that they should oppose. Levin, one of my senators who I have voted for decades for, ain't getting my vote next year. He voted NO on drug re-importation. I am gonna become a single issue voter - but with lotsa issues!

[closeupready]

36. Yes, that's what everyone should be doing. The problem is NOT the party, it's individual players

within the party. IMO.

[Jester Messiah]

14. In his back, maybe. [nt]

[YOY]

19. Oh how could we horrible "extremist lefties" do this to him?!?!?!?

:sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm:

There ain't enough sarcasm stickers in the world to mock the sentiment efficiently.

[Jester Messiah]

31. I was actually thinking of Lieberman as the knife wielder

thin-skinned much? Freud would have a field day with you.

[YOY]

32. Not really.

n.t.

[Mari333]

4. The bluedog Dems are also happy

when they get booted out in 2010 they will have very very cushy jobs waiting for them with their corporate pimps.
the only people who will be out in the cold, as usual, are the citizens of the USA.

[TornadoTN]

5. I have the feeling that this nation is cooked

I've tried to stay positive and believe in the triumph of our ideals in the long run. But I just can't anymore. The Democratic Party is just another side of the jacket cut from the same cloth as the Republicans.

Corporations essentially own our government and we the people by default. There's very little out there right now that can stand against it. It's either "Vote Democratic and you'll like it" or "Help get a Republican elected by not voting for your Democrat!"

[Mari333]

6. I believe it is also the end of what could have been a grand experiment

might take decades more before it collapses and rebuilds.
I wont be around for the revolution, altho Id like to see it. Im old now.

oh well, we tried.

[placton]

8. we 60's Kids

bear a lotta blame in this - we shoulda kept on fighting, much more than we did.

[TornadoTN]

9. As a 29 year old, I don't blame you guys for anything

If anything, your generation sowed the seeds of the progressive movement that we have today. Too many people in my generation (in the 18-30 age range) are just apathetic about it all and couldn't be bothered to organize to protest anything.

Of course, the same 18-30 year olds who were motivated by Obama and the Democratic marketing plan of 2008, are completely disenfranchised now. So we're going to have to build that back up once again.

[kentuck]

11. Thank you.

We were not the greatest generation as far as fighting the wars. However, we tried to advance womens rights, civil rights, and the peace agenda. We succeeded to some degree, I suppose? But we could have done so much more..

[Heywood J]

29. I fit into the very top of that age bracket

and so many of my peers have stated that they don't know if they'll ever vote again. Many jumped through every hoop thrown at them, donated hundreds and thousands of dollars, stood in line for hours, volunteered on campaigns, distributed signs, etc. Their candidate was elected and promptly fell flat on many of his promises. Read through your copies of his books and compare them to what we got - a healthcare plan not worthy of jokes, war escalation, the GDP funneled to Goldman Sachs, plus continued prisoner abuse and secrecy.

After eight years of Bush and now this from a Democrat with a 60-seat majority, I don't really blame them for not voting. It doesn't get them anywhere but out-of-pocket.

[Heywood J]

30. If that were to happen someday, you'd be more likely to see smaller nations rise up.

Something vaguely similar to what was proposed for Iraq, where three smaller nations were to have been created out of the old territory. At least then, the others wouldn't be held quite so hostage by the fundamentalists and Bible-beaters.

[phasma ex machina]

25. +1 That's how it feels to me. (Probably need to tamp down my own cynicism again.) nt

[cowcommander]

10. Weak leadership

Ted Kennedy's absence is a huge blow to the cause. Even worse, Obama is no FDR and compromises too much. It's all about who's piloting the ship, and right now, no one is at the helm. :(

[kentuck]

12. I supported Barack Obama...

and still hold out hope that he will accomplish great things. My major concern is that he does not recognize the gravity or the seriousness of the times he inherited? Or that he believes that those that control the money and wealth are the real power, not the people? I hope I am proven wrong.

[TornadoTN]

18. I believe it's about the power and control

I honestly believed Obama last year and I am confident that he meant what he said during the campaign.

But the reality of the office and who controls what in this nation was impressed upon him after the election. I remember watching him on TV one day after he had a meeting with the previous government to discuss issues that he could now be privy to. That day, I saw a different man - it was almost as if he then realized just how much he wasn't in control and how his promises would be wishful thinking.

No excusing it at all, but I think we all know who controls things in this country and who will win out each and every time.

[theHandpuppet]

35. Good point

Ted's passing ripped the spine from the Democratic Party and the vultures of the GOP -- and their allies such as Lieberman -- now feast on the carcass of our hopes and dreams. There was no one within Congress to take up the torch, at least one who wielded that power like Ted did.

[LiberalAndProud]

13. The power is not newly found.

Our conservative Dems have long known they are the fulcrum on which the Senate turns. Remember the 50-50 split in the Senate? Oh I do! And I also remember an article celebrating the unique position that Ben Nelson and Joe Lieberman (then still a Democrat) found themselves. It is no accident that these two have been in the middle of this long and bloody roue.

So many lay the blame at Obama's feet. I don't. I know who the culprits are. And I know why.

[G_j]

15. making a deal w/ the devil,

never turns out well...

[Owl]

16. K&R

[Kansas Wyatt]

17. Of course...

Obama and the Democrats have cut their own throats.

[treestar]

20. Crazy

Repukes are scared to death of the "socialism" in the bill. They are sure we are on the sliding slope to communism with this.

The problem with protecting yourself from hearing anything the other side says is that you think it's gone.

I don't listen to Faux Noise at all, and even so I know what the RW thinks.

[Ganja Ninja]

21. Lets deal with the problems in the Democratic Party and stop worrying

about whether or not the GOP is happy/sad/crazy/angry.

[TheWraith]

22. Only if the left does something stupid like try to kill the bill.

1. There's lots of healthcare reform left.

2. Killing the bill hands total control of the legislative process over to Republicans at least until 2013.

[bvar22]

23. Where did they go wrong?

Well, lets review their accomplishments:

*WARS fully funded and EXPANDING. Bill sent to our children…...Mission Accomplished !

*Trillion Dollars given to friends and campaign contributors on Wall Street. No Strings Attached...Mission Accomplished!

*Military Spending INCREASED....Mission Accomplished!

*Trillion+ Dollars given to the Health Insurance Industry. Easily Avoidable, symbolic only strings attached....Mission almost Accomplished!

*Force all Americans to buy invisible products every year from For Profit Corporations who produce nothing tangible and create no wealth.....Mission almost Accomplished!

*Kill the possibility for a REAL "Public Option" or REAL Universal Health Care for at least another generation, and begin the “Entitlement Reform” defunding of Medicare (-$500 Billion)....Mission almost Accomplished!

*Block ANY REAL re-regulation of BIG BANKS and Credit Cards....Mission Accomplished!

*Protect the Bush War Criminals and Torturers from JUSTICE....Mission Accomplished.

*Throw the GBLTs under the bus and expand "faith based" initiatives....Mission Accomplished!

*Reinforce the worst Police State provisions of the Patriot Act....Mission Accomplished!

*Protect the very richest. Tell the Working Class that they CAN WILL compete with 3rd World Slave Labor for their jobs.....Mission Accomplished!

*EFCA (Employee Free Choice Act) killed in the crib....Mission Accomplished!

*More Anti-LABOR "Free Trade"....Mission almost Accomplished!

*Jobless Recovery....Mission Accomplished

*The Democratic Wing of the Democratic Party SHUT OUT of the Obama Administration…...Mission Accomplished!

*Accelerate the destruction of Public Education...Mission Accomplished!

*Bury next generation under such a debt burden that they will never be able to afford any social or economic programs that will benefit their Working Class....Mission Accomplished.


There is probably a clue in there somewhere.
If the Democratic Party passes this sham of a Health Care Reform bill, they will have achieved the IMPOSSIBLE.
They will have revived a DEAD Republican Party and given them credibility for having OPPOSED it.

[kentuck]

24. Mission will be totally accomplished once they extend...

the Bush taxcuts beyond the 10-year sunset provision next year. I will not hold my breath.

[bvar22]

27. You KNOW that one is coming.

It has already been 1/2 accomplished when "Repeal the Bush Tax Cuts" became "let them expire".

However, the real Pièce de Résistance will be "Entitlement Reform", where Medicare will be killed, and our Social Security "Trust Fund" will be given to Wall Street.

That IS next on the DLC Hit List, and it IS coming.

The seeds for the defunding of Medicare ARE already planted in this Health Care Bill (-$500 Billion Dollars).

[kentuck]

28. You are probably right on target.

We should not be naive about what is happening here.

[ljm2002]

26. What went wrong?

They mis-played it from the outset.

They could have started with single payer as the preferred option, then negotiated down from there. No go, it was simply not possible to think outside that box. Plus, it would have acknowledged progressives and "leftists", and our lovely centrist Democratic party cannot do such a thing!

They could have told the Republican obstructionists to put it where the sun don't shine. No go, President Obama made it clear he expects our side to "work with" the other side. Even though they were never negotiating in good faith, even though their public comments made it clear they would dis him at any and every opportunity, even though they (and I include Lieberman here) removed the football every time our side got ready to kick.

They could have rallied the troops, and gone straight to the public. President Obama could have been a great asset here, asking how long we are willing to put up with the Republicans obstructionism, and how long we want to put up with the soaring healthcare costs and outrageous executive bonuses while people don't get the care they need and even paying customers are made bankrupt due to out-of-pocket expenses, caps, rescission, etc. etc.

But the bottom line is this: things have only gone "wrong" if you think that the goal was to provide adequate health *care* for all. I submit that was never the goal, at least not for 95% of our Congress (and sadly, it looks like I can include the President in that). The goal was to give a few sops to the great unwashed and give the private insurers a big boost in enrollees. If the newly insured don't happen to be able to actually *use* their insurance for actual *health care services*, due to the high out of pocket expenses, well, so much the better: more money to pay those very, very valuable insurance executives.

Color me cynical, pissed, livid in fact.

President Obama is green and his natural tendency is to mediate between warring factions. He seems to have no clue that one faction is intransigent, while the other is somewhat amorphous and tends to be unfocused (a side effect of having a "big tent"). The pros in Washington DC know how to play that, and they have done so, brilliantly.

[krawhitham]

33. I am not a member of any organized party — I am a Democrat.

we always rip ourselves apart

[KharmaTrain]

34. Yep...Just As Scripted...

Time for another lesson in Corporate Media 101. They build you up to knock you down. It's playing up the divides and filling hours of airtime with speculating and to be a "player" in the court of public opinion. They play up the memes of division and Democrats eating their own cause its one that gets attention.

Credit also has to be given to the right wing hate machine. They got out in front of the media wars. The teabaggers provided the media attention that helped astroturf a lot of noise into the healthcare fiasco that put both this administration and Democrats on the defensive and gave cover to all who wanted to oppose real reform. Just turn on an AM radio and the dial is loaded with screaming hate spewers who showed their aniquated medium still has a lot of bite and beat the netroots...who in turn is trying to figure out "what went wrong". It's a momentum shift that, sadly, is leading to a lot of angst amongst Democrats who represent a far broader range of people than the insular rushpublicans.

[Nikki Stone1]

37. It's the Democrats' own fault, except for a select few, and mostly the fault of Barack himself

It seems the White House never wanted health care at all, but mandated health insurance.

[SoCalDem]

38. They should.. They have been dumpings barrels of chum into it

and convincing dems to jump into the water and pet the nice big-finned fishie