"Joy and pleasure are as real as pain and sorrow and one must learn what they have to teach. . . ." -- Sean Russell, from Gatherer of Clouds

"If you're not having fun, you're not doing it right." -- Helyn D. Goldenberg

"I love you and I'm not afraid." -- Evanescence, "My Last Breath"

“If I hear ‘not allowed’ much oftener,” said Sam, “I’m going to get angry.” -- J.R.R. Tolkien, from Lord of the Rings

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Health Care "Reform" -- It's Dead, So Bury It

Howard Dean:



I don't have anything to add -- kill it, start over. And maybe he's right -- maybe we should wait for a new Congress so we can dispense with the weak sisters who can't seem to resist insurance industry money.

Update:

Taylor Marsh echoes my take on this whole debacle:

The Senate proving it’s a failed institution if the Democratic majority can only support legislation that does nothing close to what it’s original intent was meant to be. With senators unwilling to stand up on principle rather than the holy writ of getting any win, no matter what it means. But the anger directed towards Joe Lieberman is off by a branch. Where this failure lands is on Pres. Obama’s doorstep; an executive who can’t bring himself to lead.

Marsh was never a strong Obama supporter, but she's pretty much an establishment Democrat. This is devastating.

Health care reform is going to wind up being the biggest black-eye for a president since -- well, health care reform under Clinton, come to think of it.

2 comments:

Piet said...

Do the Democrats actually think they'll be able to maintain their majority at the midterms? Any majority at all? It's not just Obama, although he gets a good share of the responsibility for not using his position to force genuine reform through. The entire damn party seem to be turning into a bunch of weaklings and cowards. I wouldn't have believed it if I weren't actually witnessing it. For the first time in my life, I'm actually thinking seriously about voting third-party, especially when one of my Senators comes up for re-election (and you know who you are, Dianne).

Hunter said...

Newt Gingrich scared the hell out of them and they've never recovered. The irony is, it was the same combination of unmovable Republicans and conservative Democrats that sank Clinton's health care reform and rammed through DADT that have Harry Reid pissing himself now.

And Dick Durbin is about to get a sharp note from me -- he's co-sponsoring one of Dianne's lamer efforts -- the amendment that has the government defining "journalist" on whatever bill that is that is supposed to protect journalists' privilege regarding their sources. It's the same amendment that was voted down in the House.