I love the smell of conservative FAIL in the evening. This should be a good night. Still, I have compassion and find myself wondering what Jane and Grover are drinking as they watch the vote and dine on crow.SuzyKhimm:
Tea Partiers now clanging bells at Capitol Hill protest. Pro-HCR guy shouts, “Needs more coooowwwbelllll!”Atrios:
The abortion issue is also regularly presented by the media as an issue of "conscience." My conscience tells me that having more poor women die of stupak is a bad thing, but the media will never portray being pro-choice as a "conscience" issue.Matthew Yglesias:
I’ve spent a while trying to figure out what it is Bart Stupak got in the course of his executive order “compromise” on abortion, and as best I can tell the answer is nothing. Or as Athenae < href="http://www.first-draft.com/2010/03/bart-got-what-he-wanted.html">puts it he got attention. I think what primarily happened is that with his bloc dissolving, Stupak cut a face-saving deal that mostly gave him an opportunity for “walking back from some of his past arguments”.
The problem with Stupack’s position in this has been that current law already reflects what he wants and the proposal he was objecting to also already reflects what he wants. If I wrote the laws, abortion would be treated like the bona fide medical procedure it is, and there’d be no reason that government-subsidized insurance plans couldn’t offer it. But I don’t write the laws, existing law reflects unjust discrimination against abortion services, and Obama’s proposals have always included a commitment to maintain the status quo. The political judgment that revisiting the Hyde Amendment in the middle of a giant fight about the overall structure of the insurance market was a bad idea strikes me as correct. But as a result of that, Stupak has been spending all this time huffing and puffing over basically nothing. In the end, Obama agreed to issue an executive order that basically amounts to pinky swearing that the Hyde rules are still in effect, but that’s always been his position. In exchange, Stupak agreed to acknowledge that the proposal actually does what everyone’s been saying it does, but he gets to walk away without admitting that he’s been wrong about this for a while now.
Evan McMorris-Santoro (TPM):
John Cole: McMeltdownSpeaking with TPMDC's Brian Beutler shortly after I chatted with him, Frank recounted a story of an anti-reform protester in the House viewing gallery who had to be led off by security after the protester became disruptive.
Frank said that as the protester was being led away, Republican members on the floor began cheering him on loudly. Frank said the scene was a shock.
"I've never seen members of the house cheering on a guy resisting being kicked out of the chamber," he said. "It's a dangerous situation and The republicans are cheering him on."
Frank told me that the Republican tactics are not just limited to protesters. When I asked him when exactly he'll know the final tally of Democratic votes for reform. Frank said he didn't know, and wouldn't until much later in the day thanks to the GOP
"See, the problem is, I think they're planning to kill their parents and claim they're orphans," he said of his Republican colleagues.
"We were hoping to have the vote in the early evening, but they're going to delay and it's going to be late when we have the vote," he said, "and they're going to denounce the fact that the vote was taken in the middle of the night."
"But if they delay it," he said, "that's...I mean, that's just a Republican plan to slow it down."
We are but an hour away from death panels and killing granny, and Megan McCardle is in full-fledged meltdown mode:
One cannot help but admire Nancy Pelosi’s skill as a legislator. But it’s also pretty worrying. Are we now in a world where there is absolutely no recourse to the tyranny of the majority? Republicans and other opponents of the bill did their job on this; they persuaded the country that they didn’t want this bill. And that mattered basically not at all. If you don’t find that terrifying, let me suggest that you are a Democrat who has not yet contemplated what Republicans might do under similar circumstances. Farewell, social security! Au revoir, Medicare! The reason entitlements are hard to repeal is that the Republicans care about getting re-elected. If they didn’t—if they were willing to undertake this sort of suicide mission—then the legislative lock-in you’re counting on wouldn’t exist.I’m beyond snark. Just go point and laugh.
We need to take up our pitchforks and torches and sort out the mad scientist who is removing eight years of these poor saps’ memories.
If you don’t find that terrifying, let me suggest that you are a Democrat who has not yet contemplated what Republicans might do under similar circumstances.Did she not live in this country between the years 2000 through 2008?
I have a brick in my backyard that is more aware of what’s going on than she is.
Marshall: No Heart In It
From TPM Reader LW ...
It's fascinating to watch the debate. All of the Rs have very long, very disappointed, very glum faces. None of them seem able to even conjure up a bit of good old-fashioned outrage for a decent rant. They know what's coming. They know they can't stop it. They look defeated.As a decades-long C-SPAN junkie, I don't think this debate will have nearly the kind of fireworks that we might have been expecting. After all of this, I believe this is going to end with a whimper. There's just no heart in the Rs for a fight anymore. I wonder if the same is true with the tea partiers. Will they be angered or deflated?
For what it's worth, I strongly suspect LW's comments will be prescient about the Senate debate.
Marshall: Sigh
From a short time ago, Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) on the House floor. By passing health care reform, Democrats "will finally lay the cornerstone of their Socialist utopia on the backs of the American people."
"For most of the 20th century people fled the ghosts of communist dictators. And now you are bringing the ghosts back into this chamber."
As the reality dawns, the Crazy (tm) intensifies.
It occurs to me that House Republicans are some of the stupidest people in the country.
Heather (C&L): Marsha Blackburn Attacks Social Security
Marsha Blackburn apparently thinks it's a good idea for Republicans to be attacking Social Security. There's a whole lot of projection going on during this fear mongering rant. They weren't too worried about our children's future when they were passing those Bush tax cuts for the rich or approving of invading countries that weren't a threat to us. I don't expect the hypocrisy and unhinged rants from Blackburn to be ending any time soon. She's got the theatrics and feigned indignation down pat from lots of practice.
BLACKBURN: My colleagues are celebrating the birth of a great new entitlement program today. Only they see dependency on the Federal government and the death of freedom as a cause for celebration. My colleagues celebrate this day as being like the day when Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid were passed. They forget that today those programs are insolvent and will likely crush our children under their debt. My colleagues are overjoyed that soon their goal of having Americans dependent on the Federal government for mortgages, student loans, retirement and health care will be realized.
That is a chilling goal. My colleagues cheer that this bill is paid for. They ignore the fact that it is our children who will pay for their greed. My colleagues shame us for scaring the American people about the contents of this bill. We know the consequences of this bill will be frightening and horrible. Freedom dies a little bit today, unfortunately some are celebrating and I yield back.
Benen: 'DEAD OF NIGHT'
Over the course of the afternoon, we've heard quite a few floor speeches from opponents of health care reform, most of them repeating tired, cliched talking points. I haven't checked, but it stands to reason that some GOP lawmakers are just using their remarks from November, only now with more Soviet references.
But there's one talking point that's new, and unique to the circumstances: Republicans are now saying Democrats intend to pass health care reform in the "dead of night."
Seriously.
Now, my first thought is to remind GOP officials that when House Republicans voted to pass Medicare Part D under almost-comically corrupt circumstances, they did so after 3 a.m. If they want to talk about passing health care bills in the "dead of night," we can talk about passing health care bills in the "dead of night."
But that's not really the best response. The better retort is to note that they're the ones delaying the process. House Dems would almost certainly welcome the chance to approve vote right now, in prime time, for all the world to see, and then everyone could go home. The people complaining about voting in the "dead of night" are the ones pushing the vote into the "dead of night," with pointless procedural delays.
I don't really expect sincere and honest arguments at this point, but c'mon.
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