Posted on 12/20/2009 3:59:30 PM PST by pkmaine
December 20, 2009
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine) released the following statement today on the status of the health reform legislation currently pending before the United States Senate: “Having been fully immersed in this issue for this entire year and as the only Republican to vote for health reform in the Finance Committee, I deeply regret that I cannot support the pending Senate legislation as it currently stands, given my continued concerns with the measure and an artificial and arbitrary deadline of completing the bill before Christmas that is shortchanging the process on this monumental and trans-generational effort.
(Excerpt) Read more at snowe.senate.gov ...
It’s a sad, sad day when Republicans opposing a massive government expansion is considered headline news. :(
I’ll believe it when I see the list of votes and they are
on the “no” side!
Clap on! Clap off!
They are getting cover on this vote because the democrats supposedly have enough votes without them.
But as you and others point out, when the democrats needed a vote to get this out of committee Snowe was there for them.
What would she do if they really needed her vote tonight?
There is no doubt in my mind that both Snowe and Collins could be bought off.
Not that it matters much, but I won’t believe it until I see it.
I’ll wait and see.
How big a pile?
Agreed. Snowe already did her devil’s work. Neither have anything left to gain by supporting this going forward.
Yes. A bill can't proceed out of committee without a member of the minority party voting to send it to the floor. That's supposed to protect against dictatorship by the majority.
Snowe and Collins used to be good RINOs, and I defended them here for years.
A good RINO comes from a liberal state, where a conservative simply can’t be elected. Good RINOs are allowed to talk liberal talk, the more the better, and they are allowed to vote with the Dems on most issues most of the time, so they can boast how great they are to their constituents. But when a key vote arrives, and their votes are absolutely needed, then they must vote as the leadership instructs them. Maybe only one of the two votes with the leadership, if that’s all they need to barely pass or defeat a bill, but they must come through at those key times.
The problem is that we no longer have real leadership—someone who will ensure that these guys vote with the leadership when it is demanded of them, or else suffer the consequences. Why should Snowe do what the leadership tells her when she knows very well that there are no consequences for disobeying?
That happened with Lincoln Chaffee earlier. He was responsible for losing ANWR by one vote, and then the stupid leaders turned around and supported him big time with lots of campaign funds in the next primary, before he lost the election. Why? They were rewarding him for disobedience and treachery. That’s not how you run a party or win elections.
It added legitimacy to the whole charade.
She NEVER should have gone along with it on principle.
Yep. Amazing that we have to encourage people, much less appluad them, for not trading their liberty and ours for tyranny anyway.
Good point. But ultimately, it's not out-of-staters who voted Chafee out of office - it's GOP primary voters on Rhode Island. Sad, but true.
They don’t have to vote “yes”. The 60 is there so they can safely vote “no”. I wonder what they’d do if Leiberman switched. Not that that would ever happen.
Hooray for them. Who gives a shit now. If it wasn’t for them the bill would not have gotten out of committee. the damage has already been done.
You’re not going to get an argument from me. I was happy to see Arlen switch parties for the very reasons you outlined. I think we both know he would have supplied vote number 60 last night, and he would have done it with glee.
I'm talking about New England here...not any other state/region of the country.New England is a special case.As I said earlier,New England (with the possible exception of NH) is *****LOST******!!!!!!! We Republicans should be thrilled when any New England state (again,with the possible exception of NH) sends a RINO to DC rather than the likes of Kerry,Dodd,Sanders,Lahey,Reid,Whitehouse,Frank,etc,etc.We should be thrilled because that RINO is likely to vote correctly occasionally.When was the last time any of the New England RATS mentioned above voted correctly? Eh????
Having lived here all my life I ***KNOW*** New England politics.I cannot,OTOH,claim any particular expertise regarding the politics of any other state/region except *this* one.
You tell me everything you know about New England politics and then *maybe* we'll talk about my need for a brain transplant.
I'm talking about New England here...not any other state/region of the country.New England is a special case.As I said earlier,New England (with the possible exception of NH) is *****LOST******!!!!!!! We Republicans should be thrilled when any New England state (again,with the possible exception of NH) sends a RINO to DC rather than the likes of Kerry,Dodd,Sanders,Lahey,Reid,Whitehouse,Frank,etc,etc.We should be thrilled because that RINO is likely to vote correctly occasionally.When was the last time any of the New England RATS mentioned above voted correctly? Eh????
Having lived here all my life I ***KNOW*** New England politics.I cannot,OTOH,claim any particular expertise regarding the politics of any other state/region except *this* one.
You tell me everything you know about New England politics and then *maybe* we'll talk about my need for a brain transplant.
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