Posts Tagged ‘Senate’
Thursday, February 4th, 2010
Toyota’s reputation for quality has been severely damaged by the latest problems with their cars. After decades of gridlock and the resulting inability to accomplish anything, the reputation of Congress can hardly be damaged further. At this point, it looks as though the Democrats, who failed utterly to use the power handed to them a year ago, face a humiliating defeat at the polls next November, probably on a scale to match the humiliating defeat the Republicans deservedly were handed last year. Meanwhile, the country’s problems mount, with no end to this absurd merry-go-round in sight.
Topics: Congress, election, House, incumbents, mid-term, opinion, Senate | 12 Comments »
Wednesday, January 20th, 2010
The Democrats were blindsided yesterday in Massachusetts, and they have nobody to blame but themselves. They have badly misjudged the mood of the American people for months, stringing out the health care debate ad infinitum while ignoring the growing anger over the slow pace of the recovery, the loss of jobs, and the obscene unfairness of the Wall Street bonuses. I don’t know what happens to people once they get to Washington, but they seem to lose the ability to understand anything that goes on outside the beltway. Health care reform is a must, but the long dither and the increasing complexity of the bill, not to mention the pork, special favors and lack of cost controls in the current bill have made it unpopular with the public. I don’t know that people actually oppose the bill so much as they have come to view the single-minded attention to it as an unwelcome distraction from more important things–namely easing the economic pain of so many millions.
The irony of the two-party system is that if the electorate has buyer’s remorse, they have only one place to go–back to the party that created so many of the problems to begin with. The Republicans smell blood in the water, but they shouldn’t be complacent, either. So far they’ve offered nothing but total opposition to anything Obama proposes. It’s still a long way to November, and the mood could shift again if they have no program other than more of the same.
Topics: 2010, Democrats, Massachussets, opinion, politics, Scott Brown, Senate, special election | 26 Comments »
Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009
The Republicans are nothing if not united in their opposition to anything the Democrats try. In the case of health care reform, their stance from the beginning has been to kill it at all costs. It’s an outrage that it takes 60 votes in the Senate to accomplish anything when the minority party is unanimously hostile to the majority party. We can argue the merits of this particular health care bill forever, but that’s never really been the point of the opposition. If it were, the Republican party would have been trying to make the bill better rather than scuttle it. They argue that they’ve been shut out of the process, but that’s not even close to the truth. Little they’ve offered has been constructive, and nothing they’ve proposed even comes close to solving the problems our current non-system of health care presents to tens of millions of Americans. As the old saying goes, if you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem. Sadly, the GOP has indicated that it will fight granting more Americans access to affordable health care all the way.
Topics: death panel, GOP, health care reform, Obama, Republicans, Senate | 4 Comments »
Thursday, December 17th, 2009
I’d like to believe that Senator Lieberman’s about-face on supporting the Senate’s health care reform bill was a principled stance, but I don’t. Either the man loves being the center of attention so much that he’s willing to break his promises, or the health care lobby that’s given him so much money got to him. Perhaps a little of both. The compromise that he originally signed on to was in fact a brilliant way to solve some of the funding issues and to incorporate a much-needed public option, and he was for it before he was against it. Given how erratic he’s been–supporting McCain during the election, then gratefully accepting the Democrats’ forgiveness, and now betraying both the party and his constituents–I’m hoping that his political career ends in 2012, when he’s up for re-election. My guess is he’ll slide over to the private sector instead of risking running again, most likely with a cushy job in health insurance.
Topics: health care reform, Joe Lieberman, Medicare, public option, Senate | 9 Comments »
Tuesday, November 10th, 2009
My first sketch for this cartoon had the health care bill as an adult with an arm and a leg already cut off, hobbling from the House surgical unit to the Senate surgical unit. In some ways it may have been more accurate, given how butchered the plan already is, and how much more will be sacrificed before a bill acceptable to enough to our skittish lawmakers can pass both houses in congress. I finally decided that this was the better approach; after all, it is a major achievement just to get any health care reform bill passed in the House. It’s never happened before, and whatever emerges from the sausage factory that we call Congress will be far better than the broken health care system we have now, even if it needs major repairs later.
Topics: health care, House, reform, Senate | 6 Comments »
Wednesday, August 26th, 2009
Ted Kennedy, the third longest-serving senator in history, left behind an unmatched legislative legacy. He helped craft some of the most important bills of the last half century, and his influence changed this country for the better. Medicare, voting rights, family leave, civil rights, immigration reform, greater access for the disabled, all bear his mark. He particularly embraced the cause of the little guy, the under-represented, the disabled, the poor, the elderly. Despite being the favorite liberal whipping boy of the far right, he was adept at reaching across the aisle to achieve a bipartisan consensus on many of his landmark achievements. Yes, his personal life was often grist for the tabloids. He was hardly a model citizen for much of his career. Still, it is proper to recognize his great success as a senator, and to celebrate the ways in which he made this country a better place for so many of its citizens.
Topics: Edward M. Kennedy, Senate, Ted Kennedy | 4 Comments »
Tuesday, July 28th, 2009
We finally know the answer to the question, what’s the dog going to do with the car if he catches it? In the case of health care reform, bury it. Republicans who want to hand Obama a major defeat are jubilant that the blue dog Democrats are doing their work for them. I know these guys think they’re helping craft a better bill, but what they’ve done so far is disastrous. The only hope is that Obama can crack the whip hard enough to get their attention (boys, you’re not going to get a lot of help from me if you ever want a bill of your own passed, and I sure won’t be there for the photo op during your tough re-election campaign, and good luck getting any money from the party), or we’re going to miss this latest best chance at getting anything meaningful passed. If so, Obama’s agenda will be wounded, perhaps fatally, and millions of Americans will continue to suffer needlessly for lack of a rational health care system. The dirty dogs.
Topics: blue dog democrats, Congress, health care, health care reform, House, Obama, Senate | 28 Comments »
Wednesday, April 29th, 2009
One of the last remaining moderate Republicans, Senator Arlen Specter finally called it quits and joined the other party. One could hardly blame him. Facing a strong conservative challenger, he was likely to lose in the primary to a man far to his right, who then most likely would have been defeated in a Democratic-leaning state. Specter has been increasingly isolated within his progressively more extremist party for his willingness to cross party lines, and finally found the Democrats more to his liking. Once Al Franken, the apparent winner in Minnesota, is finally seated, Specter will become the 60th Democrat. In his new position, he will wield immediate power, as his vote will be the one that makes any bill filibuster-proof. He never voted the strict party line as a Republican, and he is unlikely to as a Democrat. This gives him the ability to be a moderating influence on his new party. Ironically, by switching parties, he may actually be doing the Republicans a favor.
Topics: Arlen Specter, Democrats, GOP, plantation, Republicans, Rush Limbaugh, Senate | 20 Comments »
Thursday, April 2nd, 2009
Justice Department prosecutors evidently ran amok in their zeal to convict Alaska Senator Ted Stevens of wrongdoing. The prosecutorial misconduct was so great that new Attorney General Eric Holder decided to drop all charges. This doesn’t mean, of course, that Stevens was innocent. We’ll never really know how extensive his abuse of office might have been. One has to wonder if the Bush administration’s politicization of the department and lax oversight didn’t create an atmosphere in which prosecutors felt empowered to cut corners in their efforts to gain convictions. Remember, this happened in the waning days of the Bush era, after the blatant attempts replace skilled attorneys with political cronies created a scandal that destroyed the morale of the department as well as a number of careers. In this case, the disregard for professionalism may well have backfired on Republicans; one of their own fell in the process.
Topics: Alaska, Attorney General, bridge to nowhere, Eric Holder, Justice department, prosecutorial misconduct, Senate, Ted Stevens | 3 Comments »
