Posted on 12/15/2009 12:17:38 PM PST by ConjunctionJunction
The backlash has begun.
Senator Roland W. Burris, Democrat of Illinois, has vowed that he will not vote for a health care bill that does not include a government-run insurance plan, or public option.
And on Monday, after Democrats indicated that they were prepared to meet the demands of Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, independent of Connecticut, and strip the last vestige of a public option from their bill, Mr. Burris went to the Senate floor to warn that he had not committed to vote for the legislation.
Mr. Burris, however, did calibrate his language: “I am committed to voting for a bill that achieves the goals of a public option: competition, cost savings and accountability,” he said. “I will not be able to vote for lesser legislation that ignores those fundamentals.”
He added: “My colleagues may have forged a compromise bill that can achieve the 60 votes that will be needed for it to pass. But until this bill addresses cost, competition and accountability in a meaningful way, it will not win mine.”
With a dramatic flourish, Mr. Burris said: “As Mohandas Gandhi once famously said, ‘All compromise is based on give and take, but there can be no give and take on fundamentals. Any compromise on mere fundamentals is a surrender.’”
Other liberals are also expected to resist appeasing Mr. Lieberman. But they may have little choice if Democrats hope to adopt a health care bill and avoid a failure to achieve President Obama’s top domestic priority.
(Excerpt) Read more at prescriptions.blogs.nytimes.com ...
Translation: “SHOW ME DA MONEY!”
ROFL
this is starting to get funny !
More of the same game playing.
Just kill the bill.
Burris is a longtime Chicago machine politician. He knows he’s got nothing to lose by being a pain, since the puppetmasters have already decided he’s a lost cause for reelection, and this session will be his last hurrah.
In the end, like a good soldier, he’ll eat whatever sh*t sandwich they stick on his plate - but before that point, he’ll make as big a stink as he can, so that he can get as much as he can for his vote. And I expect the main things he’ll get will be under-the-table, so that he’ll be even more set for life once he retires from the Senate.
There are lines of principle politicians just can't cross. For the left “universal” health coverage isn't just desirable. It's a holy imperative. Just as conservative lawmakers can't agree to public funding of abortions as a legislative bargaining tactic, leftists are going to have a very hard time dealing away the “public option.” That's why Reid had to put it back in the bill after Baucus tried to take it out. Even if the Socialist from Vermont and all the Senate Dems are willing to put the dream of “universal” coverage on hold for the sake of a legislative victory, it is far from clear that they can take the heat that sort of compromise would bring their way.
My guess is that if Reid and Pelosi thought they could ax the public option and the Medicare buy in and still get a bill through both Houses they would have done it in July. Doing that deal has only gotten harder since then.
thats what i was thinking!!! how much will he settle for?
Joe Lieberman has the dems dancing now. Fine work, Joe.
” Ah wants some nice sheeeeit fo ma reetarmint.” Ah wants me a new Caddeelak wid a ahmrest. Sheeeeeit”
He’s Blago’s guy, not Obama’s. Obama tried to keep him out of the Senate and failed. Now it’s payback time...
Anything Burris says or does is mere comic relief. The guy will have gotten to be a Senator for less than two years before he leaves, because he has already announced that he won’t be running for re-election since he’s be unable to raise more than $1.29 in campaign funds.
He’ll definitely vote for the bill, no matter what it is because his vote will be so cheap to buy. If Mary Landrieu’s vote cost $300,000,000.00, I’d say they’ll only have to pay Burris about $50,000.00. Besides, a small-timer like Burris will think that’s a big chunk of change.
Months of crowing and they will get zip on this and cap and trade.
This was my original prediction and I am going to stick with it until the end. At first I was surprised how many of these rats were willing to throw away their careers for this. But now it makes sense. If you are going down, you might as well get the retirement job you want.
They are done. The GOP will take both houses next year and ZERO will be the quickest lamest TOTUS in history.
They are making history alright.
The big question is whether the GOP can make history by growing a spine once it gets power. I will never hold my breath on that one.
It would be funny if not such an imminent catastrophe. Burris isn't going to vote against this regardless of what comes down the pipe. My guess is neither will Lieberman or any of the others. In the end they get a bill no one knows what is in it plus job killing taxes and fascist requirements.
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