The very best thing about this is we whooped the Republicans

[Winterblues]

We won.....It may not be everything any of us would like but one thing for sure it is HATED by the Republicans and for that reason alone I am delighted it is going to pass.Screw them and their abandonment of the American people. They have the arrogance to suggest that ONLY Republicans know what is best and Democrats never have any good ideas for America..Yet they will not offer a single idea other than "Tax Cuts" especially for the wealthy because we all know without the Wealthy America would perish. Only the wealthy provide jobs.....and the ONLY way the wealthy can provide jobs is if they don't have to pay taxes and don't have to abide by minimum wage laws..Democrats had a HUGE victory here, when is the last time that occurred?

[wryter2000]

1. Yup

They didn't win. They lost. And the precedent is set...they aren't going to be able to filibuster everything.

[pocoloco]

6. Threw them fuckers right in the middle of the Brier patch!!

[Ignis]

49. +1

And we knew they didn't want to go there, because they said so, and Republicans never lie.

[Faryn Balyncd]

55. "You can do A-N-Y-thing to me, b-b-b-ut ...P-L-E-A-S-E...... don't throw me in that Briar Patch!!!!"

[bvar22]

56. EXACTY!

The Democrats GAVE the Republican everything they wanted
PLUS, NOW, the Republicans WILL gain credibility for having OPPOSED this insanity when the Bills start coming in.

The Democrats SHOULD have Held the Line at the Public Option, and FORCE those who OPPOSED it to STAND UP and do so in a PUBLIC vote.
THEY would then pay the price in the next election.

NOW, it WILL be the Democrats who will take the BLAME, and America WILL blame when the bills start coming in.

If this was a victory, it was a Pyrrhic Victory.

[polpilot]

8. Obviously consulting Br'e Rabbit and the briar patch episode worked for the Repubs...and the Ins. Co

[Odin2005]

2. Yeah, who cares that this bill is a corporatist givaway! As long as we "win"!!!

:sarcasm:

Politics in not a fucking game.

[T Wolf]

4. To the cheerleaders, it is. Policy matters not - only getting a "W" for fearless leader. nt

[liberalmuse]

22. Then you haven't been paying attention.

It's all a fucking game, and to win it you have to have a strategy. Tossing out an entire bill because 'all corporations are evil' is not a strategy. There's a bit of regulation in this bill, and it is no doubt an improvement from what we currently have. Oh jeez, fuck it. There's this awesome 'Ignore' button instead.

[begin_within]

3. Yeah, real bipartisanship!

[opihimoimoi]

5. The hugh victory ??? Last years election? gave him MANDATE via landslide.

[BlueCaliDem]

16. Tell that to Congress. They didn't get the memo. eom

[MercutioATC]

7. Keep telling yourself that. It makes this pile of dung smell better.

Realistically, all we did was pass the Republican's bill for them.

...and now they can moan about it with impunity.

[Echo In Light]

12. It's only a movie ... it's only a movie ... only a movie ...

[gratuitous]

9. In one sense, that's very true

The Republicans not only bet the house, but the car, the farm and next year's tax refund on stopping any bill at all from passing. Solely in terms of power politics, they are the Buffalo Bills. Or New Jersey Nets. Or Kansas City Royals. I'm not sure it's worth all that much, but they got their collective pasty white rump-ahs handed to them on this.

I'm hoping for a very good bill to come out of the conference committee, but I'm not going to make any similarly foolish bets on that. I will, however, enjoy the Republicans' discomfiture at their loss, if only because I'm a mean guy.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

18. At least until 2010 and then 2012

[gratuitous]

37. I suppose

I suppose they can run in 2010 or 2012 on the premise of "We tried to do nothing, but the Democrats wouldn't let us!" I don't see that message as particularly resonant beyond their Nitwit Brigade base.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

42. LOL that's some funny stuff. Thx.

[sendero]

10. Elections have consequences...

.. and I suggest the pukes just "get over it".

[DJ13]

11. Are you kidding?

Privately the GOP is happy as pigs in fresh shit this passed.

Imagine how easy our party would have had it in a midterm if a Republican Congress had forced people to buy health insurance.

[ThomCat]

26. This horrible bill, and the fiasco of creating this corporate giveaway

has almost certainly given the GOP their best opportunity for a revival. I'm sure the GOP is sitting in their conference rooms with their strategists and advisers really enjoying this.

This bill does nothing to harm the GOP. Every flaw in the implementation is going to be held against Democrats.

Every person who ends up with a crappy plan that costs too much and provides almost nothing is going to blame the democrats for wasting their money on bullshit.

Every person forced onto Medicaid, and then unable to find a doctor willing to accept medicaid is going to curse Democrats for this fuck up.

They are all going to know that our party is 100% responsible for this. Our party made every single decision. The GOP sat back and let us fall apart over this.

[DJ13]

28. Every flaw in the implementation is going to be held against Democrats

And when Obama spouted the bullshit that this bill "has 95% of what I wanted" he put a huge target on his own ass for 2012.

When a large number of people are finding themselves having trouble paying for the mandated insurance in 2012 who will they blame?

And then theres the double cross Obama pulled on his base of younger voters who likely dont need the insurance but now will be forced to buy it, at the same time they are hurting in this economy and unable to find jobs to pay for it.

This has to rank as one of the biggest political fuckups in modern times.

[ThomCat]

29. "one of the biggest political fuckups in modern times."

Yes, one of the biggest AMATEUR fuck-ups imaginable. It really shows that Obama is politically timid, inept and doesn't really have the skills people thought he had. :(

We have been lied too, and duped.

[smiley_glad_hands]

31. You are full of shit, lol. eom

[ThomCat]

40. Oh my, you convinced me with your wize argument.

:eyes:

Yes,
Failing to trust or rally a movement of public support despite massive public interest and demand, so that the tea baggers were the only grass roots organizers pressuring the outcome and getting constant media attention,

Failing to even put Universal Health Care on the table as an initial bargaining point,

Failing to bring in advocates of the positions you claimed to support to help your bargaining position, excluding them from the hearings and negotiations, instead stacking the hearings and negotiations with paid lobbyists and industry reps so that Nobody at the Table is representing the view you claimed you support,

Giving away a bulk of concessions to the corporations even before the negotiations began, and agreeing in the very beginning that one of the goals will be to make sure the opposition remains fully profitable and viable (in other words, conceding that they cannot lose as a result of the negotiations no matter what happens)

Repeatedly giving concessions to republicans for non-existent bi-partisan support,

Lying to the public and claiming you never really supported or campaigned on Universal Health Care,

Never rallying your party or demanding party unity,

Giving away every concession to conservatives in your party every time they complained and threatened to withhold their votes, even though it was unnecessary, and refusing to use reconciliation to get around those conservatives and their demands,

Scolding only your base on the left as if the left is your enemy, while coddling and giving in to everyone on the right,

These were all the moves of an expert political chess player. I am in awe of his political maneuvering. :eyes:

[Hippo_Tron]

51. Most people have insurance anyway

Millions more will get a subsidy to buy it and will gladly do so. Very few will actually be forced to buy it or pay the fine against their will.

[donco6]

13. Oh yeah. Go team. Rah.

I'm going for a beer - anyone else want any?

[ThomCat]

32. I'd love one.

:beer:

At least that would be something to look forward to. :)

[donco6]

34. Yeah. The Schadenfreude Bowl is pretty dull.

Especially when no one comes out a winner.

[napi21]

14. All you nay sayers...how would you have felt if the bill had gone down

in flames? You know what you would be hearing , starting TODAY & continuing FOREVER, that even with 60 votes, those stupid Dems can't govern!

Remember how we bitched & moaned when Delay pushed through the drug bill at 3-4 AM via threatening people until he got that 50th vote? Now you want the Dems to do the same thing????

SURE I'm happy for our President!But even more so I'm happy for the WIN and to have stopped the damn Pubs in their tracks so they can't use "total failure" in all their damn campaign ads! I don't EVER want to go back to a Pub controlled Congress! If you're so unhappy with our elected Dems, then try to get some better ones elected, but I think you'd be a lot MORE unhappy with another group of Pubs!

[polpilot]

19. Obama assured everyone, especially the Repubs & Ins. Cos., that nothing was going to change and it

didn't. Except the Ins. Cos. now have more control & 'forced' new customers. I'm sure it will be swell!

[dhill926]

21. well said.....and agreed....n/t

[rusty fender]

33. Yeah, 'cause all that matters is that the Democratic Party looks

like it can govern, when, really, their "governing" boils down to shafting the people and honoring their corporate overlords. Neither party is capable of really governing. They're both only capable of ripping us off.

[donco6]

35. Yay! Fuck the People! We got a Dem WIN!

Cuz that's what's important.

[CrispyQ]

39. "...even with 60 votes, those stupid Dems can't govern!"

Have you read our posts? We're saying that now!

;)

[Beetwasher]

15. No, That's Not The Very Best Thing, But It Is Part Of It

The very best thing is there is no a solid foundation on which to build.

I can't even express how important this accomplishment is.

[NNN0LHI]

17. Yea but the Republican states have all sent very strongly worded letters to Congress opposing it

:rofl:

[girl gone mad]

20. won the battle..

but what about the war?

[griffi94]

38. didn't even win the battle

unless the battle was to piss off the gop.
that's not really very hard to do and we certainly didn't need to sell the middle class to blue cross blue shield. hell the gop was already pissed

[ThomCat]

41. Lost every single battle,

but have their PR firms claiming they won the war because they merged with the enemy. :(

Our party has been absorbed by the Insurance industry. The insurance industry won. Our politicians got paid by the insurance industry. They won. We lost.

[DisgustedInMN]

23. To quote what Tonto said ..

... to The Lone Ranger...

"Who's this 'we' you're talking about, cowboy?"

[NNN0LHI]

36. In your view was Tonto a good guy or a bad guy?

Hint: He helped outsiders commit genocide against his friends and family.

Don

[DisgustedInMN]

50. I hope you're joking...

.. because I was.

Lighten up, Don.

[Tutankhamun]

24. The pukes weakened this thing from a health care bill

to a corporate giveaway. Now we're locked in the clutches of deceptive, greedy, death merchant private UNinsurers for the rest of our natural lives, and I'm thinking of going to Canada so I don't fucking die if I get sick. WOOHOO!!! This "victory" is going to kill a lot of Americans and put many more in the poorhouse. And it'll help the Pukes get elected in '10. What kind of a victory is that?

I know, I know. They'll fix it later, just like NAFTA.

[barbtries]

25. i actually think i agree with you

that may be the very best thing about it. and just think maybe the dems will start to realize that they can actually make things happen with their super majority. i'll take a little sweet.

[Kansas Wyatt]

27. Make no mistake about it, the Republicans will stand together and scream about this all year...

And when this SHIT Bill hits the fan...

Guess who is going to be standing behind the fan?

'abandonment of the American people' or throwing the American people under the bus...
And the difference is?

[TiberiusGracchus]

30. WRONG. No Public Option, Poor folks FORCED into slavery to insurance industry, no cost control and..

you think the GOP ___LOST___ ?

Tell me, if the GOP had written their own bill how would it be any different than a bill that does the following:

- Forces 30 million vulnerable uninsured Americans into buying policies from the most corrupt segment of the insurance industry.

- DOES NOT impose any price controls on the price of insurance thus guaranteeing that the costs of healthcare will only go UP

- Prohibits and places limits on women's reproductive rights under the Nelson anti-choice compromise.

- DOES NOT allow for sensible, proven methods of dramatically reducing drug costs by introducing imported drugs into the market.

- DOES NOT create a new, subsidized public insurance option to maintain reasonable quality and most importantly keep all healthcare costs DOWN.

What did I miss? In another universe the GOP could pass this bill and they would be holding PARADES in texas in its honor because it is almost a bullet-point list of ___ALL___ the GOP initiatives except for imposing "freedom of conscience" and limiting consumer protections via "tort reform".

In summary, the rethugs didn't get any of the "whooping" today. They got all their priorities filled. The only whooping was handed out to the poorest and most vulnerable of your neighbors.

Merry Christmas.

[Xicano]

45. +10

Welcome to the DU TiberiusGracchus. :hi:

[JVS]

52. And the republicans not only got all of these concessions...

they also didn't give it any votes so that when people are pissed off they can point to us and say "Look what they did to you!"

[GeorgeGist]

43. Whoop ,whoop , whoop ...

the Republicans are whooping all right.

[Xicano]

44. Some people are easily played by the good COP bad COP strategy.

eom

[cbdo2007]

46. YAY - the Democrats won!!! Unfortunately, the American people lost.

[cherokeeprogressive]

47. WRONG. The VERY best thing is that I was smart enough to move part of my portfolio to INSURANCE

stocks.

I wish investing was always this easy.

I figure they'll peak around the time of the SOTU address. Then I'll move them back.

I'm hoping for a 15--20% gain in the short term.

[NMMNG]

48. I wouldn't call this piece of fascist crap a win.

But I guess if your only goal is pissing off the Republicans rather than providing actual healthcare reform that helps people then I guess you'd have a different opinion.

[mmonk]

53. You forgot your sarcasm tag.

[Raine]

54. Winning ... yeah thats all that matters

what you actually "won" doesn't matter in the least. :sarcasm:

[clarence swinney]

57. WHUPPED

On Social Security Medicare Medicaid WWII Draft Min Wage Public free education-

Republicans are the TRIPLE A PARTY.

ANTI CHRIST
ANTI AMERICA
ANTI WORLD

Make a List of things they are for then against for Proof.

ALWAYS THE COUNTRY CLUB PARTY.

[clarence swinney]

59. 20=93

20% OWN 93% OF TOTAL FINANCIAL WEALTH IN AMERICA.

80% OWN EQUITY IN HOMES.

WE ARE NOW WALL STREET OF AMERICA

[TheWatcher]

58. If this is "winning" to you, I'm really horrified about what will happen to this country

when something happens where you think we "lost."