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Friday, December 18. 2009
What a Bunch of ...
Sometimes you just want to say, “What a bunch of pussies.” It’s all about the votes, 60 of them in the U.S. Senate to get a bill to cloture. Not even to pass a bill, which only needs 51 votes. But, one shouldn’t use a term like “pussy” because it’s a pejorative with feminine connotations.We men like to use terms like that. We go to strip clubs, like Cheetah’s which is totally nude, see a dancer and say, “Nice …” err … you get my drift. Same when we’re viewing photos and videos of hot models. Men like that sort of thing. We of the heterosexual bent anyway.
Gay men, I assume, have the same sexual turn-ons as women: broad shoulders, chiseled chest, square jaw, nice butt, six pack abs, oh, and lets not forget a sense of humor. Really? You women are turned on by a sense of humor? I’m a funny guy! Why aren’t you lining up at my door?
But seriously, I’m trying hard not to use such pejorative terms. A few years ago I was talking to Playboy Cyber Girl Danielle Richardson about that word, specifically why she didn’t like it and asked that we not use it when chatting. So, ever since I’ve been trying to stop using it. Okay, once in a while I may mention “eating pie.”
Better to say, “What a bunch of cowardly assholes.”
This defeat of health care reform goes back to the president who insisted on bipartisanship when he took office. The Republicans weren’t going to get on board anything put forth by the Democrats, especially a program pushed by President Obama. Republicans couldn’t flip-flop fast enough to get on the other side of issues from the president.
There wasn’t going to be any bipartisanship with the Republicans because they were marching in lock step against anything the president proposed. These were the people who wanted to see the Big Three automakers fold so they and their corporate sugar daddies could do away with one of the most powerful unions in the country.
Senate Democrats have been particularly spineless. They and the president backed down and gave in to Independent Senator Joe Lieberman. Single-payer was taken off the table before negotiations for the health care bill even got under way and now they’ve caved in on the public option and expanding Medicare to people as young as 55. The insurance companies have declared victory in this debate.
The current bill in the Senate — which still won’t get one Republican vote — is nothing more than a financial bailout for health insurance and drug companies. In it American citizens will be forced by law to buy health insurance, a product so flawed Americans rank at the bottom of nearly every health care barometer. In the industrialized world we are the unhealthiest nation.
The Republicans don’t even want to expand Medicare, one of the most popular, no, the most popular, government program created since Social Security. And the Republicans would really like to do away with both.
As wonderful as Medicare is to those who have it, the program still allows insurance companies to make money, yet Republicans and Joe Lieberman are against it. But a month ago Lieberman was for the expansion of Medicare to the age of 55. He’s been lying in the weeds waiting for payback.
It wasn’t bad enough he came out and stumped for Republican John McCain in the general election last year. No, not at all. The Democrats welcomed him back into the fold, even though he had clearly left. Lieberman was allowed to keep his senate chairmanships and seniority. Not even this latest betrayal is bad enough. Two days ago when the president gave a little press conference in front of the White House with Senate Democrats standing behind him, there was Joe Lieberman as if he belonged in that group.
Now Lieberman is lying. He claims his words from a month ago were taken out of context. Bullshit! It was all about payback. Lieberman, who represents the insurance industry and gets millions in campaign contributions (many of the biggest insurers are headquartered in Connecticut), has been against health care reform from the beginning. He just played along until he could perform the coup de grâce.
Revenge is a dish best served cold and Lieberman’s double cross was a satisfaction served over ice.
Just a month ago Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid thought the Curmudgeon from Connecticut was on board with the Democrats and the health insurance bill. Lieberman even went on record as supporting the expansion of Medicare. Then, at the last moment, Lieberman decided he was against it.
Senator Lieberman is pissed. In 2006 Democrat Ned Lamont ran against Lieberman in the Connecticut Democratic Primary — and won. Democrats, honoring that state’s primary system, supported the Democrat elected by the voters, not Lieberman. So the Curmudgeon From Connecticut ran as an Independent and won in the general election. Lieberman apparently felt betrayed by the Democrats who selected him to be Al Gore’s running mate in the 2000 Presidential Election.
Lieberman though hasn’t been the only voice heard in this debate. Former Vermont governor and chairman of the Democratic National Committee Dr. Howard Dean, a recognized expert on health care, spoke up and said the Senate Democrats should kill the bill and fix it in reconciliation. Reconciliation allows both Houses of Congress to submit a bill without threat of filibuster, for budgetary reasons. The Republicans used the process three times in the Senate when they, along with President Bush (43), controlled the government.
Man! Did Dr. Dean get shit from his own party for speaking up, but he’s been the only national voice speaking for those of us on the Left who want actual health care reform. Howard Dean represents all progressives in this country and the leadership of the Democratic Party fears his influence.
Senator John McCain on the other hand applauded Dr. Dean on the Senate floor — and then twisted the good doctor’s words by claiming Dean wanted to scrap the entire bill and start over. Man! No old man, that’s not what Howard Dean said, you fuckin’ liar.
The good doctor may hold they key to the next two elections for Democrats. It was Dr. Dean and his 2004 presidential campaign that showed us the power of the Internet to organize, not Barack Obama. The Obama campaign just did it better.
It isn’t all lost. The Senate vote isn’t the final word on the bill. It will then have to go to conference committee with the House of Representatives, led by one of my heroes, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. My guess is there will be some form of a public option when the bill exits that committee. There are more than 30 House Democrats who said they will not vote for a bill that doesn’t include a public option.
People are amazed when I tell them I prefer the V.A. health care system over the private, health insurance-controlled, for profit system most Americans are saddled with at the moment. The providers, doctors and nurses, don’t have to check with a health insurance bureaucrat to decide which procedures, medications and services I need and receive. Everyone in America should have access to that type of health care.
The bureaucracy of the V.A. is a whole different matter, a real can of worms. That needs a lot of work. Most, if not all, of V.A. employees are grossly over-worked. Adding just 25% more employees would go a long way in fixing the logjams many vets experience when dealing with the bureaucracy.Still, the V.A. health care system is far better than what most Americans get from their private health care providers. At least in my experience. Actually, independent studies say the V.A. health care system is far better than the private health care industry. Vets who use the V.A. for their health care are 40% more likely to live longer than those enrolled in Medicare.
There is a light at the end of this tunnel, but right now the news media isn’t focused on it. The drama (and melodrama) of the moment takes precedence and right now it’s Senator Joe Lieberman against his own caucus or the White House against Dr. Howard Dean. In the end, both will be merely sideshows once the bill is passed. We can have some confidence our allies in the House of Representatives will correct this monstrous bill.
But the Senate Democrats and the president are still a bunch of pu … err … cowardly assholes.
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