PS. Confirmed, looked into it. Its definitely Rahm Emanuel -

Hey, where's Dean in all of this?

PS

Blow smoke up the publics ass  to see whether they buy it. You an the rest of the party have just burned yourself in ways you will not recognize.

Like you ever were.

And the alternative was....

yes?

Wait... this is the end?  Did I miss the part where someone guarantees "just give in to Lieberman and there will be no more obstacles"?

This instantaneous reaction from the White House is not the sign of an administration that has it all under control.  I hope there is something inaccurate in the reporting, frankly.

is there ANYTHING that the White House and Dem Congress can do that you would criticize?

Seriously, Obama gets a lot of crap for stuff he shouldn't, that's for sure. But this kind of thing deserves it.

I agree with you on the hand wringing and emotion (and blaming Obama), but I think a consensus is building that the word was given from the WH to proceed to negotiate with Lieberman to get the bill finished by Christmas.

I am inclined to believe the story because I simply don't see any realistic alternatives at this point.

Personally, I am very sad, having been involved in a fight for a public option since Obama took office on January 20. And I am worried for the country if we get a suboptimal bill.

I'm equally disgusted, but what were the options?  The messaging from the White House could have been better, but would that have gotten us to single payer?  Would it have gotten us a meaningful public option?  Would it have gotten us a Medicare buy-in?  Who was the 60th Senator to vote for these things?

I was at best cautiously optimsitic on all of this.  The Medicare buy-in seemed a little to easy to game by the insurance industry (i.e. drop anyone over 55 and let the taxpayers pay for them).  I was not terribly optimistic on the late-round public option (i.e. if your health is so bad that you can't afford insurance, you'll go to the Public Option).  In either case, we give the expensive cases to the government and the easy cases to the insurance companies (plus subsidies).

This sucks.  This all sucks.  But what were the alternatives?  Who was going to be the other Senator to vote for this?

This is a repeat post, that occurred something like seven times in this thread.  The easiest way for the GOP to spam this blog - is to simply find a meme and go with it. Here are some good ones.

Disillusionment - make everyone think there is no real change along the path we're walking.

Attack against leadership - let everyone believe that the leaders are really screwed up, fracture unity.

Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc - pose other questions in-thread and argue about them, and not the real issue. See also. Flame wars.

You may be sincere, but you are also running a GOP playbook. And lets be honest, the only reason the GOP wants HCR dead is because they already stated that this was going to be Obama's "Waterloo" - their undoing of his presidency.

They want reform dead at all costs, and believe me the money is flowing now. It was up to 2 Million dollars a day , in lobbyist funds - to the Senate - last time I checked.

But maybe somewhere a still, small quiet voice mentions that billions. Not millions. Were raised online and that the next election might - just might - be one in which the blogosphere dominates.

Seriously, lets put the issue on the table that the Senators and the Legislative branch really care about. This is an off-year election, in 2010 - and guess what? Seats are up for grabs and the incumbents aren't all safe.

And everyone knows that in an off-year, its the activists, the energized, the primary voter types that make all the difference in the world.

IF the GOP can knock out the key issue in the heart of the Dems (IE, Healthcare REAL REFORM ) then they can knock the Dems out of power.

And whats even more pathetic is how the GOP is alive at all , given the corruption of the past 10 years - my vote is to see the GOP completely dissolved by a landslide victory powered by the Blogosphere.

Obama, I have no problems at all with - he has telegraphed his intention to represent us, our needs - our issues - but the legislative monkey business has to stop.

I say. Lets run some serious youtube clip / ads that show how ridiculous it is, to have health care reform without any meaningful reform.
Billions of dollars in a bill that will deliver.

"Child's Pay"

I was naive to believe they were not this stupid.

Liarman "changed his mind".

"the White House didn't want a bill to pass?" That's ludicrous (sp?).  If anything, the White House wanted any bill to pass.  But even at that I'm skeptical.  They were in a box with this.  The Dems had "60" votes, but one of those votes was Joe.  And one was Ben Nelson.  What were they supposed to do?

Oh, and to those who say they are done with democrats.  

Good riddance.  GTFO, and don't let the door hit you directly on your anus.

Don't come back here.

yeah, I can't imagine these guys capitulating. will never happen.

Mandatory insurance with no price controls or public option is worse than nothing.  It's not incremental progress.  It's harmful.

But now comes time for Obama and Democrats to speak up and say that this is an ongoing process.

People act like this is a one shot deal.

As someone with a pre-existing medical condition who is legally discriminated against by private insurance companies, I ask you to reconsider. This bill will mean I never have to fear that if I lose my job I won't have coverage. This bill still means a lot to me.

You got to give him his due, he did get almost all of those billions back from the bankers. And ofcourse the war in A'stan is OUR war, as a country.

Yes Connecticut does have shitload of DOD contracts and shitload of unioon employees who work on them. Killing them wont juts mayeb hurt Lieberman, it will be cutting off your nose to spite your face. You think those union members wont forget if they suddenly become unemployed becuase congress or the President killed funding for the programs that keep them employed?