A Health Bill This Year? New Doubts

Harry Reid is just like LBJ (in that both held the job of Senate Majority Leader).
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I almost feel sympathy for the GOP base who kept getting told that any day now we will line up the votes to ban abortion, put gays back in the closet, but in the meanwhile vote for us. We can get tax cuts for the rich done lickity split.
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This whole thing is a charade. If HCR was as important to Reid, Obama as it is to many of us, they would risk everything (including their careers) to get it done. They might think it is a nice thing to do, and would make sense, but they aren't willing to risk personal political defeat over it.
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I know all the senate dems seem to love Harry Reid. But here in the hinterlands, he continually looks feckless.

Shurashin, thanks for such a well - considered piece. It did not take long for Rusty to comprehensively prove your case, did it?

Apologies. Meant for previous post.

My heart breaks . . . .

60 Dem Sens, and Dems cannot get it done. If that's the case, doesn't that say something about how unpopular this thing is?

It's like he's trying to get fired.

Maybe I'll be able to use my "Keep the goverment out of my Medicare" sign for next year's Teabagger Halloween costume as well.

Thanks, KT, for this, your earlier post today, AND your infinite patience in putting up with us. Are the High Sheriffs still working on Daylight Savings Time (post times)? Or is this “Flash Forward”? As for Reid, can he and Nancy simply force everyone to work thru Christmas (WOULD he is another world)? If not, can we turn the timetables on its head by making 2010 HC work directly part of the campaign? Instead of playing prevent defense / do little next year as you've written, make the HC + PO fight front and center including a real filibuster? While we rabble complain, I mean, speak up to our reps, other top reporters and media starlets, such as your team, continue to shine the light / expose secret deals on the debate. More time = more pressure. Those who wish to take care of their constituents will vote for reform; those who don't will filibuster / vote no ...and go down next year. There's campaign 2010 right there. Okay, so I get whacked on the head for tossing flowers and always looking on the bright side of life, but I don't think HC is doomed from extending into '10. Do you think I'm wrong, KT? Thoughts? thx

Didn't Obama, just last week, say that healthcare reform would be signed this year? Doesn't Obama, an ex-Senator, know the realities? After all, he sure acted like a know-it-all when he yapped about Washington getting "wee-wee'd up".

OT, but that Louisiana justice of the piece who hates mixed-race marriages has quit –
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/11/03/national/main5514014.shtml?tag=stack
…now back to our regularly scheduled election / HC ranting.

This is interesting. Go MoveOn, go.
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http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/A-divided-party-Progressives-threaten-Democratic-lawmakers-68909752.html

Just like back before August, the year end is not so much a deadline as a goal. Yes, the goal can get set back, but that happens, folks. And let's also keep this one thing in perpective: I knew, even as I voted for Obama, that expectations were hyperinflated, and he would let down a lot of fools who didn't know any better. But that doesn't mean he's dead in the water. I voted against Bill Clinton the first time; it took him three years just to start turning my opinion around, and I voted for his re-election and didn't regret it. I disagree with Obama on a few points, especially his handling of Israel, but overall I think he's doing well.

Karen, I am hoping this is a little poker playing. Would like to think they are trying to get a good bill before CBO like House did and then might only need a few managers amendments and then vote.

Did you decide the Republican health plan was not serious enough for a blog?

All right, straight up, I think Reid needs to get dragged out into the street and beaten with a stick each and every day until he starts doing his f--king job.
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I would also like to see my "Street Beating With a Stick" strategy applied to Geithner, Bernanke, Paulson, and Baucus.

Hate to break a soon to be non-issue called Healthcare, but....
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McDonnell (R) Virginia - 59%!!! Deeds (D)41%
Obama 0%. A full press slam and dunk of Obama policies, right down the 'ol $hitter.
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A complete rout of the liberal Democrats in Virginia.
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Christie (R) 50%!!! Corsine 44% Obama 0%
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A closer race, but in a very DEEP BLUE State that Obama carried by 18% over McCain.
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Even in New York City, Bloomberg (I) a former (cough) Republican is barely hanging on. Bloomberg is to New York as Arlen Specter is to Pennsylvania. The saving life vest for Bloomberg, he had the sense to go from Republican to Independent.
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I think what is showing clearly are two things.
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A clear rejection of the direction Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid are taking this country.
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The other is a total rejection of incumbents or the party who last held the office. Voters do not want anything to do with the status quo of politics. Incumbents are dead in 2010.

Thank you, Harry Reid, for your stiff spine and for all of the arm-twisting that I'm sure you must do behind closed doors, and which for some reason we never hear about. But I hear you are well respected by your colleagues.

Thank you, Blue Dog Dems, for your tireless efforts on behalf of your consituents (aka the corporate lobbies).

Thank you, Joe Lieberman, for caucusing with the Democrats. It's a big help!

Thank you Olympia Snowe, for providing some much-needed bipartisanship (after all, bipartisanship is the single most important political consideration in the world) and for giving the Blue Dogs an excuse to chip away at the bill until it is meaningless.

Thank you GOP, for your thoughtful policy analysis, and for an innovative health care "plan," which almost make the Baucus plan look like something I'd want.

And thank you, President Obama, for your strong and decisive leadership on health care reform. Letting the debate drift off course for several months during the summer has sure proven to be a winning strategy.

Have the Chinese agreed to loan us the $1 Trillion to spend on our government healthcare reform? We should ask them first, since we can't afford this ourselves.