44 GOP Senators Sponsor Health Care Repeal Bill

[last_texas_dem]

Source: CBS News

>>>All but three of the Republicans in the Senate have agreed to cosponsor Senator Jim DeMint's (R-SC) bill to repeal the sweeping health care reform bill signed into law last March, according to DeMint's office.

The three Republicans who have not signed on are Sens. Lamar Alexander (Tenn.), Thad Cochran (Miss.) and Chuck Grassley (Iowa).

The GOP-led House passed a bill to repeal the law on January 19th. The vote was seen as largely symbolic, however, since the measure was given little chance to get through the Democrat-led Senate.

If the Tea Party-aligned DeMint were to get every Republican to sign onto his effort, he would still lack a majority in the Senate - let alone the 60-vote supermajority necessary to overcome a filibuster. Even if DeMint were to get every Republicans and ten of the Democrats - an extremely unlikely proposition - he would still not have enough votes to break a filibuster. In addition, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is under no obligation to introduce the measure.>>>

Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20030062-503544.html

---

Here's to pointless, symbolic wastes of time!

Oh yeah, and it's interesting to see how the Repugs are lining up here. What happened to the good ol' moderates-in-name-only Collins, Snowe, & Scott Brown? Looks like they've lined up with DeMinted here. And I fully expect the three who haven't signed on will... (Or maybe Cochran will wake up and realize that he represents one of the poorest states in the union and not want to screw over his constitutents? Yeah, who am I kidding?)

[Angry Dragon]

1. Are they also giving up their tax payer helath care??

Now that would be a cold day in hell ...........

[madmom]

2. How much is this shit costing the taxpayers?

[CLANG]

11. And how much is this GOP mastubation costing the poor, homeless, and unemployed?

[maxrandb]

3. So, Olympia Snowe, Susan Collins and Scott Brown

all so-signed onto this bill?

Didn't they all vote for the bill?

I hope the voters of ME and MA are paying attention.

[karynnj]

8. No Snowe and Collins voted against it

Snowe did vote for a preliminary bill when there was a vote on the Finance committee, speaking of wanting to be on the right side of history. (Apparently, she no longer cares about that and may think that this will preclude a primary challenge. She ignores that many to her right were primaried.)

As to Brown, he repeats often that he was voted in to be number 41 in blocking the bill. He voted against the reconciliation fix, but the main part of the bill was passed before he was elected - and after his election, the House passed the Senate bill. They were able to make some changes - as long as they reduced the deficit - under reconciliation.

What is more interesting is why the other three are not sponsoring it. It would be noteworthy if they were against it, though they may simply not have had time to sign on yet.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

9. Can we all stop pretending that they are "moderates"

Snowe and Collins, particular, have long since ditched any pretense of moderation because they're worried about a teabagger challenge that is likely to happen anyway. Brown's getting in hot water over his more "moderate" votes during the last session, so he may well be facing a teabagger challenger as well. Once the teabaggers start on the march, reason and sanity go out the window. I'm disappointed that Lugar (R-IN) is going along with DeMint on this but, alas, he's likely to be facing a teabagger in the primary as well in 2012.
:nopity:

[lobodons]

4. Only 16 to go

Gee, I wonder where they will those other 16? So hey, where are the jobs..??

[Arger68]

5. Meanwhile, I have been declined in trying to lower my deductible

from $10,000 down to $3000 (w/copay up to $6000). I'm one of those self-employed "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" types the righties always rave about. Hopefully I don't have any more health issues or those bootstraps will snap pretty quick. I guess then I'll just be labeled as lazy.

[Kall]

6. Well hey

It's good to see that Obama's 6 months of bargaining and watering down the health care bill into a pile of crap in a futile effort to appease Olympia Snowe (who was obviously never going to be appeased) bore fruit. She voted against it anyway, and now she just voted to repeal it.

This chess-like strategy probably worked in the eleventh dimension, though. I just can't appreciate that because I'm too dumb to see it.

[Donnachaidh]

7. welcome to DU Kall!

Glad to see fresh faces here!

[CLANG]

12. Don't you need those red/green eyeglasses to see the dimensions?

[Kall]

19. Maybe

I think you need a targeted substance of the War on Drugs to see the dimensions. Or I would think that if not for campaign contributions.

[CLANG]

10. Too bad that's not enough to win a cloture vote.

:puke: :mad: :banghead: :rofl:

[alcibiades_mystery]

13. Too bad they need 60

Quel dommage...

Fuck you, GOP Senators!

[road2000]

14. I'm all for pointless, symbolic wastes of time.

Because they could be doing some real damage... getting spineless DINOs to sign on to something even more batshit that could end up seeing the light of day in a Reid-controlled "bipartisan" Senate.

[Control-Z]

15. +1 n/t

[rasputin1952]

16. DeMint is a piece of crap...

as are at least half of the GOP Senators, (some have at least some saving grace), but they just fall into line with whatever insane notion comes along.

Most people don't take notice of things like this, but when it gets out that millions of people will go with untreated diseases and often die from them, to include children and the elderly, the true "Death Panels", the R's, will be hammered. Once the smoke cleared from the "debate" over HCR, most citizens found some good in it, not enough but the R's were so bombastic they occluded anything else good that could have come from this; but the R's will be more than happy to toss people into the street, dying, just to prove to the nation they are the true "Death Panel".

When,(if), this hits the mainstream, the GOP will be cut to pieces, and the Teabaggers will be seen as the fools they are. "Patriots" my ass, they are nothing more than hedonistic assholes.

[last_texas_dem]

17. Update: According to @jaketapper via Twitter, all 47

Repugs have now signed on as co-sponsors.

http://twitter.com/jaketapper

Hoping all of the Dems will stand together & absolutely no DINOs sign on... Is there anyone to worry about besides, perhaps, Manchin?

[Joanne98]

18. They need 60! Too fucking bad!

[JohnnyRingo]

20. They're fighting a losing war, just like every war they've chosen to fight.

As Jerry Springer pointed out last week, liberals have won every war they've fought in the last 100 years. We passed Social Security, Medicare, civil rights, women's liberation, equal rights, and every other issue the right has so adamantly opposed throughout our history. They've foisted the notion that the country is "center right", but our history tells a different story.

Someday there will be gay marriage, living wages, and single payer health care in all 50 states. The battles are won and lost, but victory is always ours..

[sulphurdunn]

21. I believe that the former Republican Party

should henceforth be referred to only as the John Birch Party.

[road2000]

22. I believe "the former Republican Party"

is a pretty good name as it is!

[pampango]

23. That would be pretty accurate. Wiki on JBS:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Birch_Society

Values

The society says it is anti-totalitarian, particularly anti-socialist and anti-communist. It seeks to limit the powers of government and defends the original intention of the U.S. Constitution, which it sees as based on Christian principles. It opposes collectivism, including wealth redistribution, economic interventionism, socialism, communism, and fascism. In a 1983 edition of Crossfire, Congressman Larry McDonald (D-Georgia), then its newly appointed president, characterized the society as belonging to the Old Right rather than the New Right.<9>

The society opposed aspects of the civil rights movement in the 1960s because of its concerns that the movement had communists in important positions - for instance, in the latter half of 1965, the JBS produced a flyer titled “What’s Wrong With Civil Rights?”, to also be used as a newspaper advertisement.<10><11> As published, one of the answers provided by the JBS was: “For the civil rights movement in the United States, with all of its growing agitation and riots and bitterness, and insidious steps towards the appearance of a civil war, has not been infiltrated by the Communists, as you now frequently hear. It has been deliberately and almost whollycreated by the Communists patiently building up to this present stage for more than forty years.”<12> The society opposed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, saying it was in violation of the Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution and overstepped the rights of individual states to enact laws regarding civil rights. The society is against "one world government", and has an immigration reduction view on immigration reform. It opposes the United Nations, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), and other free trade agreements. The society argues that there is a devaluing of the U.S. Constitution in favor of political and economic globalization, and that this trend is not an accident. It cites the existence of the Security and Prosperity Partnership as evidence of a push towards a North American Union.<13> Stuart A. Wright has said, their political racism however was no different from both Republicans and Democrat politicians of the time.<14>

Characterizations and Criticism

It has been described as "ultraconservative",<15> "far right",<16> and "extremist".<17> The Southern Poverty Law Center, lists the society as a "'Patriot' Group". Its definition of patriot groups includes: "Generally, Patriot groups define themselves as opposed to the 'New World Order' or advocate or adhere to extreme antigovernment doctrines".<18>

[sulphurdunn]

25. Sure enough sounds like the JBS

BASIC PRINCIPLES AND BELIEFS OF THE JOHN BIRCH SOCIETY

We Believe
Limited Democracy under a Constitutional Republic with a "Bill of Rights" to protect the minority from the majority
Government of "law" - Constitutional Republic
Individual Freedom
Individual Responsibility
Voluntary Charity
Patriotism to national sovereignty - Americanism :

Translation: No one will publicly admit to not believing this stuff, except maybe for the Americanism BS.

We Oppose
Pure Democracy (mob rule)
Totalitarianism (total government)
Anarchy (no government)
Government of "men" - Monarchy, Oligarchy, and Democracy
Group Compulsion
Group Responsibility
Forced Welfare
Destruction of national sovereignty - One World Government:

Translation: We oppose government of, by and for the people. We really hate the UN.

We Believe
Private ownership and control of property
Free enterprise, capitalism, and competitivism
are Government's sole function :

Translation: Government exists solely to protect the privileges of property ownership. Fuck everything else. Fuck the entire US Constitution.

We Oppose
Government ownership or control of property
Socialism, Communism, and Collectivism

Translation: We oppose public ownership of anything. Fuck Article 1 Section 8.

We Believe
Basic unit of society is the "Family"
Free association of people
Humanitarianism - through surplus of capital in a free society:

Translation: White protestants with big families are top dogs. The poor can beg from the rich. Fuck the Declaration of Independence.

We Oppose
Basic unit of society is the "State"
Forced association of people
Humanitarianism - through "legal plunder" by government in a welfare
state/collective society:

Translation: Civil rights bad. Taxes bad. Unions bad. Social services bad. Fuck the 14th Amendment

We Believe
Judeo-Christian ethics
Morality based on the "Ten Commandments" and the "Golden Rule"
God is source of "Rights":

Translation: We really believe in a chauvinistic sort of propertied theocracy like in the Old Testament. Fuck Article 6 and the Establishment Clause.

We Oppose
Situation ethics - no God
Humanism - no absolutes
Absence of morality
Government is source of "Rights":

Translation: We oppose freedom of conscience. Fuck the 1st Amendment.

We Believe Individualism & Morality
"Less government, more individual responsibility and, with God's help, a better world."

Translation: Who needs a Constitution when you have the Bible.

We Oppose Collectivism & Amorality
"More government, less individual responsibility, and a completely amoral world."

Translation: We damn well know what's best and what's best is that you live a moral life by our lights, be thankful for whatever your betters are willing to give you, remain loyal and keep your damn mouth shut.

[w8liftinglady]

24. interesting part of this article

"A January 20th CBS News poll found that 40 percent of Americans want to repeal the health care law, down slightly from November. A larger percentage - 48 percent - want to keep it. In addition, just 18 percent of Americans said health care is the most important issue for Congress to focus on. Forty-three percent said jobs.


But support for repeal remains strong among Republicans, 73 percent of whom favor repeal, and GOP lawmakers campaigned in the midterm elections on a vow to "repeal and replace" the law."


Sooooo... they are acting in their constituents best interests?


.