Posted on 11/21/2009 5:56:28 PM PST by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON – Invoking the memory of Edward M. Kennedy, Democrats united Saturday night to push historic health care legislation past a key Senate hurdle over the opposition of Republicans eager to inflict a punishing defeat on President Barack Obama. There was not a vote to spare.
The 60-39 vote cleared the way for a bruising, full-scale debate beginning after Thanksgiving on the legislation, which is designed to extend coverage to roughly 31 million who lack it, crack down on insurance company practices that deny or dilute benefits and curtail the growth of spending on medical care nationally.
The spectator galleries were full for the unusual Saturday night showdown, and applause broke out briefly when the vote was announced. In a measure of the significance of the moment, senators sat quietly in their seats, standing only when they were called upon to vote.
In the final minutes of a daylong session, Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., accused Republicans of trying to stifle a historic debate the nation needed.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
The conservatives need to throw this culture of decorum in the Senate aside when they start debating this. Somebody needs to make a scene and present the right case in plain English rather than niceties and bland, monotone debate. Nobody listens to that however, if one or more of them acts as though they've got a pair and calls every corrupt RAT Senator out - maybe the sheeple will listen. Some examples:
Call out how Harry Reid allowed over 1100 lobbyists to write this bill. Didnt Obama campaign against this culture?
Call out how the CBO numbers are misleading and uses 10 years of taxes to fund a 7 year plan.
Call out how corrupt the RAT is when it comes to taking monies from the legal lobby - no tort reform whatsover in this bill.
There's more of course and, some have tried to talk about the above but, we need every Pubbie to mention it on every show they appear on in the coming weeks and call the RAT's people out on the Senate floor, rather than the lame argument they've been giving for the past few weeks. They have to do it themselves relentlessly in order to get any MSS attention. If they don't - we're toast.
“Invoking the memory of Edward M. Kennedy, Democrats united Saturday night to push historic health care legislation past a key Senate hurdle over the opposition of Republicans”
Rush said they would do precisely that.
We are so screwed.
Here comes a world of pakistani doctors and dole que lines
When someone gets on the floor of the House and speaks truth “Do you want tyranny or liberty” it is completly ignored, as were the tea parties and the march on Washington....I think at this point actual violence of the opposition is the only thing that would garner attention, and that would be the supreme opportunity for this administration to declare martial law.......Call me nuts, but I see this as a very possible scenario......They are pushing true Americans who believe in the Constitution to the very edge.....The majority do not want this and they are getting it anyway....What do you do?.....Continue to make phone calls that are completely ignored like Bill Nelson’s office does?.........
Barry=Pecker
Again... I thank all the so-called Republicans that fell for 0bama’s BS and voted for him and the so-called Conservatives that could not get past voting for MCMoron... I voted for the lessor of two evils so shit legislation like this would be dead on the White House door step.
I love my country, but I hate IDIOT SHEEPLE voters. Those are the who I blame for this.
Exactly.
There's a disturbing thread of defeatism on FR this morning. Last night's vote meant nothing. The Dems are deeply divided. That's not a show, it's the truth. There probably isn't any bill they could write that could get 60 votes to end debate. From now on every amendment needs 60 votes which means that improving on Reid's pathetic work is going to be nearly impossible. For poor Harry the health care debate is likely to be the Hotel California, he can check in but he can never leave.
There are going to be bruising battles over abortion, financing, and the public option and in the end it will almost certainly be all for naught. Dems keep passing milestones, but they also keep kicking all the difficult cans further down the road. Before they can cross the finish line they'll have to pick them all up, and they can't.
Most conservatives seem to think that the Congressional debate is all a sham to give us hope of stopping the health care train so we can be bitterly disappointed. It's all a sham alright but we aren't the dupes in this scenario. The Dem left is the dupe. Nancy and Harry are trying desperately to convince their base that they gave health care their best shot. If they had any rabbits to pull out of a hat they would have done it a long time ago. They've got nothing and that's what they'll end up with.
Even if they pass something, Republicans will be the principal beneficiaries. Anything the Dems do can be undone with a big win in 2010 before it has time to do any great damage. A Republican House could give Obama a choice between unwinding Obamacare and shutting down the government. Everyone in Washington knows that shutting down the government to make good on a promise to cut Medicare is political suicide. With a good spanking in 2010, Obama won't dare go to the mat to keep his historic victory.
Be of good cheer.
dmartin: “These initiatives will give the left a permanent majority and there will be no pause in their rush to extinguish what remains of our rights and freedoms.”
I differ from many folks on the right in that I don’t attribute evil motives to people on the left. Do I think some election fraud goes on? Of course. Do I think there’s enough fraud to change the outcome of tight races? Certainly. However, there are still millions upon millions of good folks left in the USA, and we can still win if we get out the vote. We need to win by large margins, but we can still win.
As for politicians, there’s no doubt they want to be reelected. Who wouldn’t? However, I also think many would sacrifice reelection if absolutely necessary to achieve their goals. Plus, they know from experience that the odds (of reelection) are decidedly in their favor, and even if they are tossed out, there are plenty of lucrative jobs waiting for them. Say what you will about professional politicians, but have no doubt these folks (both right and left) generally know how to stay in office.
Finally, I want to make the point that most leftists think they are doing good. In fact, someone is always on the receiving end of wealth redistribution, so it isn’t right to say immigration amnesty, nationalized health care, and cap and trade won’t help some folks. Say what you will about Social Security, but millions of elderly are now dependent on it. For every person who is taxed more, there is someone else being helped, and I think this is what motivates many leftists. They see the immediate effect—someone is helped, and they don’t see the downside. I have to be honest here, and say they have largely gotten away with this freebie stuff for some time now. Why should they think they can’t get away with even more of it?
BTW, I oppose all government wealth redistribution schemes on moral principles. It is simply wrong to steal from one person to give to another, no matter how effective. Once you get away from the morality, or lack thereof, all discussions devolve into arguments over the effectiveness of various wealth redistribution schemes. Our leaders never talk about the morality of forcing people to share wealth—private property that they have worked to earn. No, our politicians are focused on whether a particular plan works or not. Yet, there’s not one socialist program in government that couldn’t be voluntarily (and morally) performed by private organizations using voluntary participation.
If even one dem or independant votes against cloture (which is required to end the debate and move to a final vote) then this bill will not pass. It is the cloture vote that will come in a few weeks that is our best chance of killing this bill. I actually think we still have an excellent chance of stopping it if we work very hard and tirelessly over the coming weeks.
Most of the bills that get to debate are noncontroversial bills - things like renaming a federal building in someones honor. So, the statistic that you are quoting is utterly meaningless.
Yes - it needed sixty votes to begin debate (which it got last night) AND it will also take 60 votes to end debate (which is where we have a good chance of defeating this bill sometime in the next few weeks). Only after getting 60 votes to end debate can they move to a final vote which will only take a majority to pass.
On a vote to proceed it doesn’t matter how many people vote no. The democrats had to get 60 yes votes to proceed. In this type of vote a non vote and a no vote have the same result. So, Voinavich’s non vote had the same effect as if he had voted no.
Absolutely, even though Sherrod Brown is a communist and I knew it would be a wate of time. He is about four years away from seeking a second term so he thinks we sill forget.
We thought the Repubs were bad for increasing the national debt. They do not hold a candle to the DemocRATs. The DemocRATs are actively seeking to destroy this country. I just hope we can stop or slow this madness until the next election. At that time I would like to see each and every one of these bastards thrown out of office and tried for treason. Elections do have consequences and every vote does count!
Regards.
Thank you for your clarification and my apologies to Sen. Voinovich, however a NO VOTE certainly appears much stronger! Under your logic, the NO VOTERS really wasted their time and could have already been winging their ways home for Turkey Day! I still believe he owed it to AMERICA and his own Ethics to VOTE!
Pakistani Doctors will seem wonderful after you see what we really end up with! I heard Somalia has just opened up a new Medical School on one of the Pirated Ships.....Axelshaft is rumored to be the Silent Partner!
It is my belief that it is ok to despise that which is evil. Obama in evil. Those who support evil are evil themselves. I would like to be optimistic about this. I'm trying really, really hard to not be fatalist. It does however, get harder every day.
Is there a Constitutional Basis for Mandatory Health Insurance?
I would change to the debate during commercials. One thing that flabbergasts me is the GOP does not seem willing to lay down the constitutional arguments against this atrocity. This needs to be done now. Hopefully it will never get to a court challenge, but an informed dissent could help Court Challenges later.
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