The Republicans blocking every effort for a public option has absolutely NOTHING to do with the mess this bill is in? Wow.
I'm not sure how many times this has to be said, but the Republicans have no power to block anything. The Democrats can't even get their own party on board with this thing. Has a lot more to do with it being a bad bill than it does with some evil Republican conspiracy to block it.
__________________ I am in love with Montana. For other states I have admiration, respect, recognition, even some affection, but with Montana it is love." - John Steinbeck
The Republicans blocking every effort for a public option has absolutely NOTHING to do with the mess this bill is in? Wow.
It might have something to do with it.
But its certainly not stopping this bill from being passed. The Democrats are screwing up big time.
Then again, with all the closed door meetings about the damn bill I'm not surprised at all that the people are outraged and a lot of moderate Democrats aren't going for it.
The approval rating isn't as bad for him as it appears. Because of the watered-down healthcare reform, a lot of liberals are unhappy with Obama. This is also why "the current version of healthcare reform" polls so badly, is that nearly all Republicans vote against it, and a lot of liberal Dems as well.
So while these far left folks aren't happy with Obama at the moment, they're not about to vote for a Republican. Green Party or stay home is another issue...
I honestly don't think the approval rating is fair. Sure the fact that its going down is a concern especially with the 2010 midterm elections coming up, but once the economy picks up I think you'll see his approval go up again.
Far as I'm concerned, he's done a very decent job in Iraq and Afghanistan(although it took him a while)....and he deserves full marks for that. Especially considering those were two areas we all knew he was inexperienced at.
I also think people are WAY to willing to blame the Republicans for what Congress can't accomplish. Not surprising I guess, as the Republicans have been acting like idiots the past year. But, so have the Democrats, and lets place the blame where it belongs.
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Now correct me if I'm wrong in this as I'm a relatively young canuckistani that's only recently starting to get into American politics. Its pretty interesting but some of the rules are a bit confusing.
The senate needs 3/5th majority to break filibuster which if I understand things correctly means that the republicans could hold up 'debate' of the bill indefinately. At the start of the healthcare debate proceedings, the Democrats did not have their 60 seats required to force the bill to a vote and therefore, in reality, weren't able to make it happen. This started some negotiations and concessions. Despite giving the republicans basically everything they asked for the bill could still not reach a vote.
Now the Democrats have their 3/5ths majority (?) but the bill is so managled and is a shell of its former self because of the effort to appease the Republicans that some on the further left parts of the Democratic party are no longer satisfied.
The not being as open with the public part and c-span issue and such aside, is that a relatively accurate description of what has gone on? Again, its a complicated system that I've only recently really started to get into and who knows about the impartiality of the news sources, etc.
During the entire process the Dems had 58 seats plus 2 independents. The negotiations started with the Blue Dog Democrats (right leaning democrats) where several of the Democrats would not support a government run public option. This resulted in changes to the bill to appease these Democrats. Again, this wasn't the result of appeasing the Republicans as much as trying to appease member of the Democratic party. The Dems have 257 of the 435 seats in the house and as I said before 58 of the 100 in the Senate with 2 independents voting with the Dems. The Senate is pretty much filibuster proof right now and the Republicans can only use parliamentary procedure at there disposal to slow things down.
Sarah Palin reads crib notes off her hand during the Q&A after her speech at the Tea Party Convention in Tennessee. The words "Energy," "Tax" and "Lift American Spirits" are clearly visible on her hand, as well as "Budget cuts" with Budget crossed out.
Honestly, she couldn't remember Energy, Tax cuts and Lift Americans Spirits?
