How is that Bipartisanship Working for you Barack?

Filed in National by on August 15, 2009

The media isn’t interested in health care policy because reporting about policy is hard. They are interested in the boxing match. The boxing match is easy.

Republicans are not interested in policy or even in helping the country, they are only interested in the boxing match. The only person in the health care reform debate trying to work in good faith is Barack Obama and that only works when you are working with a good faith partners.

Meanwhile the media reports that the Republicans are winning the boxing match. I only hope Obama decides to lace up his gloves before he gets knocked out of the ring.

When and how Barack Obama decides to put down his bipartisan dream is the question of the next 12 months. My vote is for “now” and “by opening an unholy can of whip ass on the GOP.”

About the Author ()

Jason330 is a deep cover double agent working for the GOP. Don't tell anybody.

Comments (28)

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  1. anon says:

    “by opening an unholy can of whip ass on the GOP.”

    OK, as long as he warms up on the Blue Dogs first.

    Actually, lining up the Blue Dogs would be a fine can of whup-ass to unload on the GOP.

  2. Dana says:

    The problem, Jason, is that Democrats remember just what an “unholy can of whip ass” was released on them following President Clinton’s attempt to socialize health care. I’m guessing that most Democratic congressmen would not like to see a rerun of the 1994 election.

    The part that my friends on the left just don’t understand is that Republicans and other sensible people don’t want the federal government “fixing” our health care system. We don’t trust the federal government to be able to do a good job of it, and we sure don’t want the government having even more access to our personal information.

    President Obama starts from the position that we have to change the system; a lot of us think that the current system is a lot better than any government alternative.

  3. anon says:

    Well put Dana.

    “I think private insurers should be able to compete. They do it all the time. I mean, if you think about, if you think about it, um, UPS and FedEx are doing just fine. Right? The, uh, no they are. I mean, it’s the post office that’s always having problems.”

    -Pres. Barry O

  4. Scott P says:

    And there is an example of why jason is right. Instead of responsibly attempting to solve a problem, many on the right are content to stick their heads in the sand and deny that there even IS a problem (see: Global Warming). Not only does it take “two to tango”, it also takes two to admit there is music playing. Since the GOP has shown over and over again that they have no desire to work constructively, co-operatively towards solutions, I agree it’s time to stop trying. They have shut themselves out.

  5. Mike Protack says:

    Three points you can’t escape.

    The CBO says the Obama/Dem plan would add to future costs not reduce them.

    The Obama/Dem plan was rejected by the Mayo Clinic as not having a positive effect on health outcomes.

    The entire Obama/Dem plan does not need one single GOP vote, not a one.

    Folks, it isn’t the GOP who is fault it is the President’s fault. You keep casting blame where there is no blame.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywZrgCdkhKE

    Mike Protack

  6. The exact opposite is true. The problem is that Democrats imagined they could do something like health care reform without even looking at the Republican or even the bipartisan Bennett-Wyden bill. http://www.delawarepolitics.net/if-democrats-dont-find-a-bipartisan-health-care-solutiondoom/

  7. Tom S says:

    You’d think BO could get his media back in line…hold back on some of that money to GE.

  8. callerRick says:

    Nationalized medicine won’t ‘help the country,’ and the more BO pushes it, the lower his numbers go. ‘Power to the people.’

  9. Perry says:

    Well put, Jason, about the policy and boxing matches. I think you have it exactly right, and I believe Obama knows exactly how to exploit it politically. – Let the opposition hang themselves, then attack!

    So far I like Obama’s “bipartisan” approach, because the continued Republican approach of no, no, no makes them look like fools, as well as providing Dem ammunition for 2010 when they will be correctly characterized as know nothings and do nothings.

    He is beginning to gradually take off the boxing gloves:
    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/15/president-obama-holds-a-t_n_260388.html

    I believe we will be seeing more of this approach as the August recess rolls on, because the Repubs are relying on their fringe to voice their objections; their foolish lies and distortions will bring them down on this issue.

    Finally, you have the “you can’t trust the government” folks like Dana, in the context of the great recession caused by the Wall Street crooks. Rational people will know whom to trust more.

    The one thing Mike Protack got right is that there will be a Health Insurance Reform Law passed this year, no doubt. It may not contain everything we Progressives want, due to the current economy, but will be a foundation upon which we can build.

  10. jason330 says:

    Good point regarding perspective. Also, as you can se from the Republican comments here, it is all boxing match all the time for these guys. The fact that it was conservatism that caused the economic situation we find ourselves in – the fact that we need to fix a free market system rigged to enrich a handful of people never registers on the GOP faithful.

  11. anon2 says:

    A republican using the phrase “power to the people,” as if the GOP has EVER cared about the people. LOL. That might be the funniest thing I have ever heard.

  12. Scott P says:

    callerRick illustrated another problem with trying to work with the GOP. He either is lying or is just ignorant of the fact that neither Obama nor any other Dem official is proposing anything anywhere near “nationalized medicine”. Likely he, like the townhellers, has no idea what nationalized medicine means.

    And, yeah, I won’t even touch the “Power to the people” thing. Unless by “the people” they mean wealthy business leaders and lobbyists…..

  13. jason330 says:

    Good catch. Pretending that lies and distortions some kind of actual contribution to the debate is part of the GOP M.O. The press then faithfully reports the lies as the “while others say” side of a “objective” report.

  14. The Republicans get two wars, tax cuts for the rich, two hard-right Supreme Court Justices and god knows what else. The Democrats, in their first real agenda piece since 2000, look for a measly public OPTION to greedy insurance companies and the GOP has succeeded in getting them to second guess themselves and potentially drop it from the bill.

    Fucking shameless. I will not be voting for Obama in 2012 if he kowtows to these intellectual lightweights who prefer to play on emotion and the ignorance of their Bible-belt moron-constituents who ACTUALLY believe that this is “socialism” when, in fact, most of them probably don’t even know the definition of the word.

  15. anon says:

    Fucking shameless. I will not be voting for Obama in 2012 if…

    Maybe you will be in luck and Ralph Nader will be running again.

  16. jason330 says:

    I get where Mike is coming from. It is tough to keep hoping Dems will wake up and grow spines when Republicans wear their malfeasance on their sleeves like a badge of honor.

  17. anoni says:

    what “Bi-Partisan” approach.

    Major legislation is written without Republican input and the Republicans are blocked from offering ammendments…

  18. cassandra_m says:

    And here’s our anoni AND David lying their butts off again.

    Sen Enzi and Sen Grassley are — for better or worse — still at the table writing with Baucus, so there are repubs providing input to the bill.

    And repubs have been offering amendments (in the House) and this one was a keeper (for now):

    SIREN: Under a Republican amendment approved Tuesday in the HELP bill, every member of Congress and their staffs would be required to enroll in the public insurance option. Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) authored the measure, which has become a rallying point for conservatives opposed to the public option. Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.), who voted by proxy, and Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) called their bluff and voted with Republicans to pass the amendment — effectively neutralizing the issue for now.

  19. jason330 says:

    Brazenly lying is like breathing to these guys.

  20. anoni says:

    a single simbolic ammendment, nice fig leaf.

  21. pandora says:

    Weren’t there approx. 160 Republican Amendments in the Senate’s HELP committee bill?

  22. cassandra_m says:

    That symbolic amendment was enough to make you look like a liar again, anoni.

    Besides, Pandora is right, there was a huge number of repub amendments approved for the HELP bill. And after approving all of the amendments, not a single repub even voted to move the bill out of committee — evidence that they weren’t even serious about their own amendments.

  23. does someone want to tell me what a majority is in the Senate? Because last time I fucking checked, we have a majoriyt and a super fucking majority…

    I’m so tired of this bullshit

  24. anon says:

    A majority in the Senate is:

    41 Republicans or
    75-80 Democrats

  25. anon2 says:

    For anyone who actually believes Obama and the demorats are going to give us a Public Option, think again. He and the demorats are caving to the right wing extremists and all we can hope for now is, if there is no PUBLIC Option, progressives will be joining the right wing to protest against it. Of course our reasons for not supporting it will be night and day. However, we know that Obama made a deal with Big Pharma not to buy our drugs in volume, not to interfere with Medicare part B,(so these for profits can continue to steal our health care dollars) making sure big pharma keeps collecting those horrific profits. There are 90 progressives in Congress who are signed on to Single Payer as the Public Option. If we don’t get a public option, no one should support any bill coming out of this corrupt in the pocket Senate and Congress.

  26. callerRick says:

    I had an elderly British visitor this month who has had a recurring problem with her left hand. At one point it swelled up alarmingly and so we took her to Emergency. They did a CT scan, X-rays, blood samples, the works. In two hours at a small, rural, undistinguished, no-frills hospital in northern New Hampshire, this lady got more tests than she has had in the last decade in Britain — even though she goes to see her doctor once a month.

    He listens sympathetically, tells her old age often involves adjusting to the loss of mobility, and then advises her to take the British version of Tylenol and rest up. Anything else would use up those valuable “resources.” So, in two hours in New Hampshire, she got tested and diagnosed (with gout) and prescribed something to deal with it.

    It’s the difference between health “care” (i.e., going to the doctor every month to no purpose) and health treatment — and on the latter America is the best in the world.…..Mark Steyn, The Washington Times.

  27. Scott P says:

    Actually, that’s a perfect example of the waste in our system. “They did a CT scan, X-rays, blood samples, the works. In two hours at a small, rural, undistinguished, no-frills hospital in northern New Hampshire, this lady got more tests than she has had in the last decade in Britain”. In the end she was diagnosed with gout. Gout can be diagnosed either by history and symptoms alone, or better yet by a simple fluid draw from the joint. I’m not saying the British docs shouldn’t have caught it, but the American doc should have been able to get it without all the expensive tests. But this way, he made more money.

    Also, who paid for all these tests? Does the NHS pay for care abroad? This is not an accusation, I am truly curious. Anyone know?