will mass. give the kennedy family's personal senate seat to the gop?- Page 4
will mass. give the kennedy family's personal senate seat to the gop?
will mass. give the kennedy family's personal senate seat to the gop?#75
Posted: 1/20/10 at 9:50amA young(ish) charismatic Republican who managed to get elected in Massachusets, and even won in Kennedy's own Cape Cod? Don't be surprised to see him fast-tracked for the ticket in 2012.
will mass. give the kennedy family's personal senate seat to the gop?#76
Posted: 1/20/10 at 10:25amObama squandered the support of the country after the election the same way Bush squandered the support of the world after 9/11. Two presidents, two missed opportunities.
will mass. give the kennedy family's personal senate seat to the gop?#77
Posted: 1/20/10 at 10:44am
Same squandered, different way. Papa was right, Bush did what he believed, regardless of public sentiment or the constitution.
Obama needs to move to the left, and start leading, not trying to build a consensus that will never be there from the right.
Maybe this will be a wake-up call for the Dems. If not, 2010, is going to be ugly.
Get rid of Leibeerman, take power away from Nelson, Landrieu and push through a more progressive health care bill. Introduce a bill to repeal both DOMA and DODT. Get your base excited, because no matter what you do, the right is going to hate you Obama. Give them something to really hate.
will mass. give the kennedy family's personal senate seat to the gop?#78
Posted: 1/20/10 at 10:47am
"Obama needs to move to the left, and start leading, not trying to build a consensus that will never be there from the right.
Get rid of Leibeerman, take power away from Nelson, Landrieu and push through a more progressive health care bill."
With 60 votes in the Senate the new threshhold to get ANYTHING done, how can a more progressive healthcare bill be accomplished in light of this defeat?
will mass. give the kennedy family's personal senate seat to the gop?#79
Posted: 1/20/10 at 10:50am
Reconciliation.
Dems needs to get a backbone and some stones.
Updated On: 1/20/10 at 10:50 AM
will mass. give the kennedy family's personal senate seat to the gop?#80
Posted: 1/20/10 at 11:08amMoving to the left is what caused Obama's popularity to take a nosedive. Like it or not, we are a center-right country and any politician who strays too far to the left (or to the right for that matter) is going to pay for it. Obama can now do what Clinton did after the disastrous midterm elections of 1994 and move to the center or he can continue on his present course and forget about getting reelected in 2012. Since Obama is more pragmatic than ideological I expect him to follow in Clinton's footsteps. And if not, get ready for the Brown-Palin victory in 2012.
will mass. give the kennedy family's personal senate seat to the gop?#81
Posted: 1/20/10 at 11:15am
Wrong. Obama never moved to the left. That was just a false meme put out there by the Right, which people like you took as gospel.
Obama never tried to force the center to the left. He forced the left to the center, and that was his downfall.
As papa said, Bush never moved to the center. Bush stayed too far to the right, in your words, and, in doing so, forced the center to the right.
If Obama doesn't force the center to the left, his presidency will be nothing, except a move forward in civil rights.
will mass. give the kennedy family's personal senate seat to the gop?#82
Posted: 1/20/10 at 11:23amThe left has to figure out how to get their moderate wing to go along with their agenda. The right seems to have this mastered. No one in the Democratic party seems to have this skill. Not Obama, not either Clinton, not Emanuel, certainly not Reid. Only one who seems to be able to do her job is Pelosi.
will mass. give the kennedy family's personal senate seat to the gop?#83
Posted: 1/20/10 at 11:35amPalJoey, Obama tried to govern from the left in the sense that he tried to give the government too big of a role. Right or wrong, American people distrust the government. Huge stimulus bill, cap-n-trade, huge, convoluted health care bill - all of these have proven to be extremely unpopular. And in light of the increase in terrorist activity, Obama's early attempts to extend an open hand to the Muslims made him look weak and naive. He has set some very lofty goals and so far has failed in every one of them - domestic and foreign. I am a lifelong Democrat and voted for Obama, but I am also not blind to reality.
will mass. give the kennedy family's personal senate seat to the gop?#84
Posted: 1/20/10 at 12:25pm
American people don't distrust government. American people mistrust those running the government. There is a difference.
Siny, I think you are mistaken if you think Obama has truly tried to govern from the left. He has tried to be bi-partisan, with no benefit.
MB is right though, the Dems never have the message or party discipline that the GOP has had.
will mass. give the kennedy family's personal senate seat to the gop?#85
Posted: 1/20/10 at 1:02pm
i disagree with the idea that obama's tried to be bi-partisan. he tried to buy one or two gop senators. that's the extent of his bi-partisanship and in doing so he sold out the faithful.
they should go back to the drawing board. scrap this monstrosity with its payoffs to everyone and their brother and come back through reconciliation with a simple product: a single payer entity or a public option. start there. it should be a pure entitlement with no pork, no frills, no nothing for the lobbyists.
if i were him, i'd sketch out a simple proposal for either of the above and go to congress with a major speech admitting that perhaps this aganda is too ambitious and that clearly the american people want to take a more incremental approach. so instead of tackling all of the issues at once we are starting here: we will provide a means by which any american can get health care. not health insurance, but health care. in order to help pay for this new entitlement we will begin means testing social security. no longer will the american people line the pockets of those who have no need of it at the expense of those least fortunate among us. we will also enact a tax on so-called cadillac insurance plans with no exemptions for anyone. this is ambitious, but simple. we will expand medicare to cover every single american should they choose. the system is in place, we meerely need to bolster it to accept new participants. he should say that, i know this will be unpopular in many places, but i am willing to pay the price for the urgent issue of providing all americans with health care.
he should issue an ultimatum to congress to deliver to his desk in one week a bill which does exactly that with not one single penny of pork or one single amendment.
he should close by letting america know that leaders must lead. acknowledge that ther are real objections to this and that people of good will may disagree. point out that he has to follow what he truly beleives to be the best course for all america.
...global warming can manifest itself as heat, cool, precipitation, storms, drought, wind, or any other phenomenon, much like a shapeshifter. -- jim geraghty
pray to st. jude
i'm a sonic reducer
he was the gimmicky sort
fenchurch=mejusthavingfun=magwildwood=mmousefan=bkcollector=bradmajors=somethingtotalkabout: the fenchurch mpd collective
will mass. give the kennedy family's personal senate seat to the gop?#86
Posted: 1/20/10 at 1:08pm
Papa, I generally agree with you. (except for the bi-partisan - I think he targeted those who had any willingness to consider health care - the GOP was not generally a willing partner in any sort of health care legislation - but we can agree to disagree on that one).
My only tweak is that I would use the Medicare infrastructure with increased reimbursement rates to provide coverage, and let everyone who wants to buy into it. I am not inclined to create a whole new infrastructure, and would rather use a system that generally works.
will mass. give the kennedy family's personal senate seat to the gop?#87
Posted: 1/20/10 at 1:37pm
"he should issue an ultimatum to congress to deliver to his desk in one week a bill which does exactly that with not one single penny of pork or one single amendment."
And if they don't deliver, then what ? Do you realize how many deadlines he had set only to see them pass with no retribution - be it with Congress or with Iran ? Right now he has no political capital left and is in no position to demand anything.
I am afraid he should forget about health care for now and go back to what most Americans are worried about - and that is jobs. That's the only issue that matters. And forget about giving amnesty to illegals and passing Cap and Trade. Those issues are dead and buried. And if Obama is not careful his political legacy will be buried with them.
will mass. give the kennedy family's personal senate seat to the gop?#88
Posted: 1/20/10 at 1:46pm
he's not going to walk away from healthcare. not yet. only when he can say that it's the gop that blocked it - lmfao - will he retreat, if at all.
so, rather than continuing to flog a dead horse, change direction.
as far as consequences to the ultimatum? direct the dnc and ofa to refuse funds to any sitting congressional rep who refuses to go along. have them fund primary challengers to every single one. tell them, "you will help me, or i will find people who can." he's the only truly nationally elected official so he's the people's true rep. the rest of them have their petty little fiefdems to consider.
but really, what's he got to lose at this point? they just effin' lost teddy kennedy's effin' seat in the senate!!
and ywiw, i was trying to get at that exact means - using the existing medicare infrastructure. i may have been unclear. but why make them buy in? find the funds and bump the taxes to make it free for all. draconian taxes and penalties on every existing insurer and health care provider as penance for their past transgressions.
...global warming can manifest itself as heat, cool, precipitation, storms, drought, wind, or any other phenomenon, much like a shapeshifter. -- jim geraghty
pray to st. jude
i'm a sonic reducer
he was the gimmicky sort
fenchurch=mejusthavingfun=magwildwood=mmousefan=bkcollector=bradmajors=somethingtotalkabout: the fenchurch mpd collective
will mass. give the kennedy family's personal senate seat to the gop?#89
Posted: 1/20/10 at 2:16pm
If we were starting from scratch, I would adopt a single payer model for everyone - but that is not viable.
My biggest problem is fundamentally, I believe that some entities should not be for profit. Most should be, but I think health care should not be. (To me, and me alone, there is an inherent conflict when your personal wealth goes up by denying health care to customers). I have no problem with large salaries. I have no problem with bonuses pegged to increased mortality/life expectancy coupled with staying solvent. But I have a problem with rewarding someone when they can find a way for their company to provide the least amount of services possible to customers.
Many people would be happy to pay a reasonable amount of money to buy insurance.
I also don't think punishing the industry as a whole solves any problem. My objective would be to make them have to actually compete for customers without relying on default monopolies in many states, and taking away the right to rescind years later for unrelated medical conditions. (Generally, life insurers can only rescind for two years after a policy is issued).
But again, that is just me.
will mass. give the kennedy family's personal senate seat to the gop?#90
Posted: 1/20/10 at 6:56pm
Isn't it a wee bit funny that Beck and Randall Terry are already going after Brown?
Wouldn't it be a bit ironic if he really is a true Independent? Some have said he is left of Snowe.
Updated On: 1/20/10 at 06:56 PM
will mass. give the kennedy family's personal senate seat to the gop?#91
Posted: 1/20/10 at 11:26pmAs we have learned from Obama, we can project whatever we want to see on somebody, occasionally informed by things he has said, and it don't amount to a hill of beans.
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