A five-term Senate veteran with not one, but two, party switches behind him; an able harball player, whether in campaigns or judicial confirmation hearings, Specter will exit the halls of power epitomizing what many citizens have come to resent about federal legislators.
Posts Tagged ‘Politics’
Setbacks for those trying to make
health care reform about abortion
While Rep. Bart “I am a Definite ‘No’ Vote,” Stupak, who’s Catholic, does a slow burn because his gambit to turn health care reform into a vehicle for battling abortion fizzled, a group representing Catholic hospitals is throwing its support behind the legislation. Part of the Michigan Democrat’s chagrin is due to the fact House [...]
GOP health care ‘reform’ plan anemic, toxic
How perfectly Republican: a health care “reform” plan that reduces costs by reducing care, keeps hated pre-existing condition gotcha traps firmly in place, and tells people who need medical insurance to go start a savings account. The Congressional Budget Office looked into the Republicans’ handiwork and found it shifts costs to the elderly and the [...]
Opt-out public option packs nasty side effect
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, came out yesterday for health care reform that includes a public option with an opt-out provision for states that don’t want to participate — a compromise that should get blue dog Democrats on board. However, it seems there’s no pleasing some people when it comes to prodding health insurance [...]
Obama and the 2016 Olympics:
No good deed goes unpunished
The International Olympic Committee decided to hold the 2016 games in Rio Di Janiero, and Brazilians’ triumphant joy was exceeded only by the exuberant schadenfreude of America’s political right. The New York Times heralded the reason: For Obama, an Unsuccessful Campaign. Although Chicago might have lost to Rio de Janeiro for reasons that had little [...]
Ted Kennedy understood, acted upon
truths conservatives wilfully reject
Kennedy understood, in common with Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman . . . that some Americans get rich or grow wealth they already have by doing things that keep others from improving their lot in life.
Texas plans to politicize textbooks
the conservative Republican way
You’ve got your five-star hotels, four-star generals and three-star restaurants. Then there’s Texas, your Lone Star state — and it’s no wonder. Here, from the Houston Chronicle by way of Think Progress, is the latest evidence Texas doesn’t deserve the one star it’s got. The first draft for proposed standards in United States History Studies [...]
Death panel needed for Grassley’s career
It’s a good thing for Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley that nobody’s proposing a death panel to decide the fate of legislators who either can’t comprehend clear and simple language in a bill, or who can but choose to lie about what the bill says. If there were such a panel, Grassley would be a prime [...]
Someone should hoist Republicans
on their own judgmental petard
This is a paraphrase, albeit a close one, of remarks delivered using the Republicans’ patented formula for arrogant, dismissive resentfulness. ” . . . from someone who has never operated a business and has never had to meet a payroll!”
Real health care reform being sacrificed
for bipartisanship that’s not happening
We’ve seen this movie before; it starred the infamous Harry and Louise. Health care reform and congressional Democrats got killed in the end.
