Open Left

Well, we need 51.

 She's not as critical as she would be in most circumstances.

  She remains a loathsome human being, but hopefully her sociopathy won't hurt Americans this time.  

"We judge ourselves by our ideals; others by their actions. It is a great convenience." -- Howard Zinn

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by: Master Jack @ Tue Jun 09, 2009 at 15:57:06 PM CDT

Kent Conrad says no

He was on with Ed Schultz tonight and discussed reconciliation and the health care reform bills. He said we'd end up with "swiss cheese" because parts would be omitted from the legislation plus a payment schedule comes into play with reconciliation - something about six years.

He wasn't given time to explain everything in depth, but as the Budget Committee chairman, he must know the problems.

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by: Books Alive @ Tue Jun 09, 2009 at 22:34:15 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

He's also opposed to reconcilation

but he's mostly right. Reconcilation doesn't just mean 51 votes and nothing else. Huge parts of the bill would have to passed separately with 60 votes and it would create a lot of problems making it a sustainable program longterm.  

John McCain: Beacuse lobbyists should have more power

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by: Populista @ Wed Jun 10, 2009 at 01:57:01 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

You know how you fail to get 51?

One defection at a time.  We saw this same thing happen on EFCA.  Each time someone defected, people said 'don't worry, we only need them for cloture, it's just one vote.' And that kept happening. Whether we need her individual vote or not is irrelevant.

There is only one way to deal with this - you go after the first person to defect, and so that they next person decides not to. That makes our foes more cautious and our allies more courageous. You don't let the other side march to the goal line before you put up some defense.

Support a Pennsylvania Progressive for Governor - Joe Hoeffel

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by: David Kaib @ Wed Jun 10, 2009 at 11:21:49 AM CDT

[ Parent ]