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Seducing Olympia Snowe: The Key to Health Reform
Time ^ | Friday, Sep. 25, 2009 | Karen Tumulty

Posted on 09/26/2009 8:06:26 AM PDT by presidio9

Quiz time: Which of the following provisions has been tucked into the most closely watched health-care bill on Capitol Hill thanks to Senator Olympia Snowe of Maine? Is it a) an annual checkup for every Medicare beneficiary, b) a special health-insurance marketplace in every state that would cater to the needs of small businesses or c) new tax credits to help modest-size firms buy coverage for their workers?

The answer is all of the above. As the only Republican on the Finance Committee still in talks with Democrats on a final bill, Snowe now finds herself with extraordinary leverage as crunch time hits for health reform. Snowe could provide the 60th vote that may be needed for Democrats to overcome a GOP filibuster on the Senate floor. All of which means that pretty much anything Snowe wants, she is going to get — and any bill that emerges from this excruciating process will bear her stamp. (See the top 10 players in health-care reform.)

So what does she want to see achieved under health-care reform? In a word: affordability. With her tailored suits and her refined manner, Snowe gives off a sort of wellborn Northeast Establishment vibe. But her background is solidly working class. She was orphaned at 9 when her father, a Greek immigrant and cook, died of a heart attack a year after her mother succumbed to cancer. What drives her as much as anything else is the perspective that comes from representing a small, relatively poor state where the principal effect of well-intentioned, piecemeal efforts at health reform has been to ignite an explosion in medical costs. Maine, whose insurance market is dominated by one large firm, pays some of the highest premiums in the country, and they are rising nearly four times as fast as wages

(Excerpt) Read more at time.com ...


TOPICS: Front Page News; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: Maine
KEYWORDS: olympiasnowe
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1 posted on 09/26/2009 8:06:27 AM PDT by presidio9
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To: presidio9

Just shuddering at the title.


2 posted on 09/26/2009 8:08:58 AM PDT by cripplecreek (Seniors, the new shovel ready project under socialized medicine.)
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To: presidio9

That headline put a bad image in my brain...pardon me while I take it out for a scrubbing.


3 posted on 09/26/2009 8:09:09 AM PDT by T-Bird45 (It feels like the seventies, and it shouldn't.)
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To: presidio9

Olympia Snowe = useful idiot


4 posted on 09/26/2009 8:09:51 AM PDT by y6162 (uish..)
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To: presidio9

Harry Reid is a braver man than I.


5 posted on 09/26/2009 8:11:48 AM PDT by RichInOC (No! BAD Rich! (What'd I say?))
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To: cripplecreek

Obama called Snowe in to the Whitey House for a private meeting months ago. I swear she has the “hots” for Obama. Obama did the same thing with Collins, but apparently, Collins came out from underneath the ether.


6 posted on 09/26/2009 8:27:18 AM PDT by stephenjohnbanker (Pray for, and support our troops(heroes) !! And vote out the RINO's!!)
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To: presidio9
The Democrats would not need Senator Snow if Bobby Byrd would get off his dead a$$ and show up at work.
7 posted on 09/26/2009 8:37:07 AM PDT by Tupelo
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To: presidio9

Most barf-tastic headline ever.


8 posted on 09/26/2009 8:57:40 AM PDT by Mr. Silverback (We're right! We're free! And we'll fight! And you'll seeeeeeee!)
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To: presidio9
Senator Snowe had better vote the party line. If she screws America one more time, she can wave goodbye to her seat.Its just that simple.

She who must be seduced will be short of her caboose.

9 posted on 09/26/2009 8:59:58 AM PDT by Candor7 (The effective weapons against Fascism are ridicule, derision, and truth (Member NRA)
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To: presidio9

Why would the vote of just one Republican signify ‘bi-partisanship’ accord.

Seems to me it would highlight the opposite view


10 posted on 09/26/2009 9:46:22 AM PDT by wildbill (You're just jealous because the Voices talk only to me.)
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To: cripplecreek
Just shuddering at the title.
+++++++++++++++

Seduce me.


11 posted on 09/26/2009 9:53:58 AM PDT by SeattleBruce (God, Family, Church, Country - Keep on Tea Partiers - party like it's 1773!)
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To: presidio9
Photobucket
12 posted on 09/26/2009 9:56:24 AM PDT by mojitojoe (Socialism is just the last “feel good” step on the path to Communism and its slavery. Lenin)
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To: presidio9

She is a traitor and a constant recipient in their pay to play thuggery. I despise her. Vote her ugly as* out! Words cannot express how much I detest this woman.


13 posted on 09/26/2009 9:58:56 AM PDT by mojitojoe (Socialism is just the last “feel good” step on the path to Communism and its slavery. Lenin)
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To: presidio9

The article’s title has set my mind’s eye to raging. Now I have to go outside and find a stick and poke it out.

Seriously, I call BS on all of this. When (hopefully never) the Senate and House negotiators meet to hammer out the differences between the two bills, all this “feel good” stuff will be ripped out and trashed. And a bunch of really, really bad stuff will be added.


14 posted on 09/26/2009 10:15:09 AM PDT by upchuck (New sign on my pickup: Are you a "Hope and Change" regretter?)
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To: presidio9

How can you find out how much money a legislator or candidate gets from the RNC? I’m not about to contribute as long as someone like Olympia Snowe might get a single penny of mine.


15 posted on 09/26/2009 10:38:37 AM PDT by SWAMPSNIPER (THE SECOND AMENDMENT, A MATTER OF FACT, NOT A MATTER OF OPINION)
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To: presidio9
Seducing Olympia Snowe: The Key to Health Reform

Sex among those who read this title, down 75%.

That in itself is heath reform.

16 posted on 09/26/2009 11:37:07 AM PDT by EGPWS (Trust in God, question everyone else)
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To: presidio9

The Rats can pass this without Yellow Snowe. What stopping them? ... they don’t have the votes.


17 posted on 09/26/2009 12:49:51 PM PDT by VRWC For Truth (Throw the bums out who vote yes on the bail out)
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To: presidio9
... pretty much anything Snowe wants, she is going to get — and any bill that emerges from this excruciating process will bear her stamp.

RINO ain't just a river in Egypt.

When the going gets tough, the Rats can count on the GOP to administer the final stab in the back to the People.

18 posted on 09/26/2009 5:30:26 PM PDT by Talisker (When you find a turtle on top of a fence post, you can be damn sure it didn't get there on it's own.)
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To: socialismisinsidious


Socialized Medicine aka Universal Health Care daily digest PING LIST

FReepmail me if you want to be added to or removed from this daily digest ping list (one ping per day of links to pertinent articles).




19 posted on 09/26/2009 7:31:32 PM PDT by socialismisinsidious ( The socialist income tax system turns US citizens into beggars or quitters!)
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To: presidio9

Just a little throw-up in my mouth. I’ll be ok in a minute.


20 posted on 09/26/2009 7:33:15 PM PDT by Republic of Texas (Socialism Always Fails)
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