• May 26, 2012

Public Option Dying For What, 12th Time? 13th?

by Jim Newell  

If the Senate actually wanted to pass a public option through reconciliation, it could be done, without much of a hot fuss. But (according to the easiest path) that would first require Nancy Pelosi to put one in the House reconciliation package, and she’s like nuh-uh: “‘We’re talking about something that’s not going to be part of the legislation,’ she said… ‘We had it,’ Pelosi said. ‘We wanted it. They didn’t have it. It’s not in the reconciliation.’”

Can’t blame her. She knows that this 40- or 41-person public option petition going around the Senate is pure Senate loser ass-covering opportunistic parchment of lies. It seems clear (maybe) that this petition is designed to die around 42 signatures — after the Senators who need it to build up their “liberal cred” have signed on, but before it reaches 47 or 48, at which point by god the Senate might actually be pressured into doing something about it! NEVER.

And so the Senate would find some way to weed it out of their reconciliation package, which would force the House to vote on the package again and send it back to the Senate, where yet another fat, crucial aristocratic bastard would complain about an instance of comma misuse or something and demand that the House fix this and revote again, like bitches.

There are probably three or four Senators who honestly want a public option.

[TPM Livewire]

{ 61 comments }

Gopherit March 12, 2010 at 1:29 pm

Um, senators have a public option. WHY DO THEY SUCK OFF THE TEAT OF THE HOMELAND???

Come here a minute March 12, 2010 at 1:31 pm

Just stick to pubic jokes, as you have proven that talking seriously about this is a waste of time, since nobody in Congress is talking seriously about the public option.

JMP March 12, 2010 at 1:34 pm

Come on, Harry, just ram that option right down the Republican’s throats. Ram it hard and fast, and fuck ‘em if they don’t like it; tell them they’ve been sucking the energy out of the country for two long.

DickTaterPeeNoShay March 12, 2010 at 1:36 pm

kneads mohr massa

proudgrampa March 12, 2010 at 1:36 pm

That’s it. I’m done. We’re through. Stop taling about this. FUCK!

queeraselvis v 2.0 March 12, 2010 at 1:38 pm

Idiots, the lot of them. We are so totally fucked.

proudgrampa March 12, 2010 at 1:41 pm

[re=529575]proudgrampa[/re]: What happened to my “k”? WHO TOOK MY “k”??!!???!1

lawrenceofthedesert March 12, 2010 at 1:42 pm

[re=529570]Come here a minute[/re]: If it were a pubic option instead of a public option, the Senate would be much more interested.

charlesdegoal March 12, 2010 at 1:43 pm

Ha, ha, we not only have a public option but Carla Bruni as well and, even better (look her up), Rama Yade. Suck on that, Yanks!

Monsieur Grumpe March 12, 2010 at 1:43 pm

Get off your as Pelosi, all those babies are not going to abort themselves.

magic titty March 12, 2010 at 1:43 pm

[re=529575]proudgrampa[/re]: [re=529576]queeraselvis v 2.0[/re]: Adding a ‘yup’ seems redundant here.

Snarkalicious March 12, 2010 at 1:43 pm

I don’t know if any of you have ever LITERALLY been beaten about the head and neck with old copies of The Legend of Sisyphus and Don Quixote, but it feels vaguely like the figurative experience.

Aflac Shrugged March 12, 2010 at 1:45 pm

These senators’ reticence is understandable. We can cover all Americans for a small fraction of what we pay for the military or tax subsidies to hydrocarbon extractors, but what will the public option do to guarantee that they drop 21 % of Body Fat In Just 3 Week By Obeying This 1 Anicent Rule?

I’m sorry, I just love the ad to the left.

Lascauxcaveman March 12, 2010 at 1:46 pm

[re=529576]queeraselvis v 2.0[/re]: Not all of them are idiots, 40 have already signed on, including both of my liberal lady senators from the Socialist Soviet of Washington (state).

Here’s the signing statement of Patty Murray, the original “mom in tennis shoes” senator:
“I’ve been consistently supportive of a public option so that Washington’s families and businesses have choices in their health care options and so insurance companies are finally forced to compete for the business of the American people.

That’s the whole point in a nutshell. Ah, you may be getting old and crusty and slightly corrupt, but I still loves ya, “mom.”

SayItWithWookies March 12, 2010 at 1:48 pm

This is like being trapped in an elevator with a nymphomaniac — it seemed pretty fun when this all began, but dammit, now I’m just tired and want it to be over.

Extemporanus March 12, 2010 at 1:49 pm

The public option is the Jason Voorhees of legislative bogeyman.

Monsieur Grumpe March 12, 2010 at 1:49 pm

[re=529582]Monsieur Grumpe[/re]:
Excuse me. I meant Pre-Born Republicans, not babies.

Extemporanus March 12, 2010 at 1:51 pm

[re=529578]proudgrampa[/re]: [re=529591]Extemporanus[/re]: Probably the same asshole who replaced my “e” with an “a”.

President Beeblebrox March 12, 2010 at 1:53 pm

Our Correspondent Lady Noonington reports, that of late there hath been a large Quantity of fnorkelling amongst the Republickans in the United-States Senate, which hath delay’d the Vote on this interminable Bill whilst they engage in divers purfuits of Eros.

Chickensmack March 12, 2010 at 1:55 pm

What’s REALLY going to suck later on? When the Republicans can turn their “snide sprayers” on during primaries and the G/E, touching themselves in their approved ads, declaring how they DEFEATED THE DEMOCRATS AND DESERVE RE-ELECTION.

It’ll just be a bunch of hypocritical prattle that will make me hate my TV… clearly, a fuckup of this magnitude doesn’t need Republican blockage, as much as it needs Democratic pussiness.

Chickensmack March 12, 2010 at 1:56 pm

[re=529597]President Beeblebrox[/re]: I want that font!

TGY March 12, 2010 at 1:56 pm

This just in: we’re still fucked. And in further news…

Aurelio March 12, 2010 at 1:57 pm

[re=529575]proudgrampa[/re]:
What happened to my “k”? WHO TOOK MY “k”??!!???!1

Never mind the “k.” Just don’t say anything about it. Otherwise we’ll have to send your amended post back to the House for another vote.

Tommmcatt March 12, 2010 at 1:57 pm

[re=529584]Snarkalicious[/re]:

Actually, my experience of politics since Regan has been an all-but-literal beating about the head and face with of copy of Ayn Rand’s fucking masturbatory manifesto The Fountianhead, which I blame for everything but Michelle Obama.

Joshua Norton March 12, 2010 at 1:57 pm

The public option has suffered more sudden deaths than all of Spinal Tap’s drummers.

Mr Blifil March 12, 2010 at 2:01 pm

Now I wish that truck that maimed Mrs. Harry Reid had hit Schroedinger’s Cat instead.

Aurelio March 12, 2010 at 2:02 pm

[re=529606]Joshua Norton[/re]: Yep. I thought it was already dead a buncha times. It’s like a zombie. They have to shoot it in the head to kill it, but they keep missing, and it keeps trundling around aimlessly, arms suitably extended, trying to bite Republicans.

Mr Blifil March 12, 2010 at 2:04 pm

Oh and public option wouldn’t be necessary if we simply removed the anti-trust protections on insurers, the end. How ’bout we take away all anti-trust protections, as every single entity ever granted this special status immediately starts searching around for partners in crime to begin colluding with. You and I may fear God and the Constitution, but actuaries at the insurance companies fear lawsuits more.

Aurelio March 12, 2010 at 2:06 pm

[re=529610]Mr Blifil[/re]:
Now I wish that truck that maimed Mrs. Harry Reid had hit Schroedinger’s Cat instead.

That would have put the truck, along with the cat, in the superposition of being and non-being, just like the public option.

Aurelio March 12, 2010 at 2:08 pm

[re=529615]Mr Blifil[/re]:
How ’bout we take away all anti-trust protections…
That would be s-soc-socia…. Can’t say it.

snideinplainsight March 12, 2010 at 2:12 pm

“I think of Glenn Greenwald, I even think of Old Glenn Greenwald the father we never found, I think of Glenn Greenwald.”

JMP March 12, 2010 at 2:12 pm

[re=529612]Aurelio[/re]: The public option’s not dead.
Well, it will be soon.
It’s getting better.
No it’s not, it’ll be stone dead in a moment.

Ducksworthy March 12, 2010 at 2:20 pm

[re=529582]Monsieur Grumpe[/re]: Actually, as many as 35% of human zygotes fail to implant. For years, I have tried to interest the Catholic Church in financing my program for giving these little people a funeral mass and a descent burial but collecting them presents difficulties.

queeraselvis v 2.0 March 12, 2010 at 2:22 pm

[re=529588]Lascauxcaveman[/re]: I know, and I’m trying to keep the faith (which is doubly hard when you live in the dirty, meth brewing, knuckle-dragging, negative-IQ sporting, moran-infested South).

comicbookguy March 12, 2010 at 2:22 pm

[re=529619]Aurelio[/re]: Schroedinger’s Cat is going to need health insurance when it finally gets out of that box.

the problem child March 12, 2010 at 2:23 pm

[re=529578]proudgrampa[/re]: Oh, sorry, I was just gathering up all the k’s for later. When I have enough of them, I’ll be able to trade them in for a white hood. Or a q.

gurukalehuru March 12, 2010 at 2:27 pm

Are there no true Democrats in Nancy Pelosi’s district?

Snarkalicious March 12, 2010 at 2:29 pm

[re=529605]Tommmcatt[/re]: It’s a funny story, actually. When I was in 4th grade, somebody from church(!?) gave me a copy of The Fountainhead, saying “You’re a smart kid. Read this…” blah blah blah. I’m sure he said much else, but I was out of Ritalin that day. The world was in great peril, then. Fortunately, I had recently discovered an alternate use for Jergens lotion, and humanity was saved by me never getting around to reading it. Sat on top of my desk for three years, just to the left of my ‘focus spot’. The point is, every time somebody mentions that book (now for instance), I get an uncontrolable, perverse urge to jack off to the sounds of a bell choir.

thesheriffisnear March 12, 2010 at 2:32 pm

[re=529606]Joshua Norton[/re]: …actually, more deaths than Wile E. Coyote, if that’s possible.

Army of None March 12, 2010 at 2:32 pm

Who is going to play the role of Senator Lieberman in the dramatic film that they make about this debacle 5 years after the fact, like the fabulous Matt Damon film that opened today about how there were no Weapons of Mass Destruction? Like I really want to pay $12 to relive that thrill.

Decker March 12, 2010 at 2:33 pm

As we slide toward palinocracy, I have the comfort that my Senator, Sherrod Brown, if one of the coolest DFHs in Washington. Unlike Voinovich, who is just some sad vampire.

GOPCrusher March 12, 2010 at 2:34 pm

In November, I wonder how many Republiklans will claim to have been for the public option before they were against it. Or that they were for it, but their vote was taken out of context. Or they thought Nancy Pelosi said “Should we remove the public option from this health care bill?” and they voted a resounding “NO!”
I realize that this is a short list of excuses, I don’t have a lot of practice in denying basic human rights to other people.

slappypaddy March 12, 2010 at 2:35 pm

“Measured by classical liberal standards, this is not a pleasant spectacle.” — Arthur Koestler, Darkness at Noon

snideinplainsight March 12, 2010 at 2:35 pm

I don’t blame Speaker Pelosi – the fact is, money talks. If you get the signatures of 50 senators, I bet Nancy would do it (like in a heartbeat). Lots of senators (like, fifty-something) were happy to be for it when they had the cover of the looming filibuster to hide behind. Now that reconciliation is going to happen, well, where did that majority who were for it go to? For reals you guys.

Tommmcatt March 12, 2010 at 2:38 pm

[re=529649]Snarkalicious[/re]:

It’s terrible how adolescents had to live before the time of the intertubes and universally available fetish-porn, isn’t it?

Joshua Norton March 12, 2010 at 2:38 pm

Schroedinger’s Cat is going to need health insurance when it finally gets out of that box.

“Good Lord, Edwin, what happened to the cat? He looks half dead.”

-Mrs. Schrödinger”

Crank Tango March 12, 2010 at 2:41 pm

[re=529590]SayItWithWookies[/re]: an ass-rapey nympho maybe. This shit hasn’t been fun since barry got sworn in. fucking none of it.

thesheriffisnear March 12, 2010 at 2:48 pm

[re=529606]Joshua Norton[/re]: BTW, I’m still tryna figure out how someone chokes on someone else’s vomit.

El Pinche March 12, 2010 at 2:55 pm

[re=529681]thesheriffisnear[/re]: Just ask every under-aged tranny crack hooker Rush Limbaugh tried to deep french kiss.

Monsieur Grumpe March 12, 2010 at 2:57 pm

[re=529635]Ducksworthy[/re]:
That sounds like just and mighty crusade. I will put a “Save the Zygotes” bumper sticker on my car immediately.

Holy Cow!! March 12, 2010 at 3:00 pm

Nancy and Harry lord over Congress with all the vitality of a wet biscuit and the brilliance of an inbred month. How much longer can this charade go on?

Joshua Norton March 12, 2010 at 3:05 pm

[re=529681]thesheriffisnear[/re]: It was obviously before the advent of DNA analysis. Today it would make an great CSI episode.

rottenart March 12, 2010 at 3:44 pm

I keep having this dream where all the hand-wringing and intrigue and obstructionism and kabuki are all part of some masterful 11¹¹ game of chess and when the vote happens, Nancy, Harry and Barry jump and scream, “GOTCHA MOTHERFUCKERS!”

Then I wake up.

thesheriffisnear March 12, 2010 at 3:53 pm

[re=529707]Joshua Norton[/re]: You can’t dust for vomit.

EdFlinstone March 12, 2010 at 4:32 pm

In zombie public option part 59, Bernie Sanders fillibusters it.

Autoo March 12, 2010 at 4:40 pm

[re=529681]thesheriffisnear[/re]: Have you ever been with your GF, when she’s had WAY too much to drink, and you’re snogging, and she’s nearly passed out, almost in a coma, and you’re so drunk that *you’re* almost passed out and you’re getting into the heavy snogging and groping thing and she starts to spew, just as you pass out?

Uh… neither have I.

Oldskool March 12, 2010 at 4:54 pm

The public option is like those styrofoam peanuts you can’t throw away. Just when you think you got all of them in the garbage can, there go half-a-dozen bouncing across the yard.

Magnus Maximus March 12, 2010 at 8:36 pm

[re=529619]Aurelio[/re]: they should vote on it to collapse the wave function, or something

zhubajie March 12, 2010 at 8:50 pm

[re=529588]Lascauxcaveman[/re]: No, not all are idiots. Some are morons, some are cretins, some are imbeciles. Some are sadists who enjoy their wealth all the more because they know that people like me will suffer.

loupgarous March 15, 2010 at 12:57 am

Pelosi: “‘We’re talking about something that’s not going to be part of the legislation,’ she said… ‘We had it,’ Pelosi said. ‘We wanted it. They didn’t have it. It’s not in the reconciliation.’”

What’s this “we” shit, old skank?

According to the Rasmussen polls (which predicted the One would bullshit just over half of us into voting for him in 2008), 53% of likely voters don’t want health care at ALL, much less the government trying to pretend it can be better at running a health insurance company than it is at running a railroad.

Look, I’d favor a reasonable middle ground – one Max Baucus couldn’t get paid $6,000,000 by Big Insurance to put in a health care bill, like making abusive refusals to pay benefits a Federal felony. What’s wrong with THAT? And expand Medicaid if you have to, but the minute somebody who’s not supposed to be here shows up at an emergency room for free care, I want the ward clerk calling ICE, not Medicaid customer relations.

I have cancer. It’s spread around a bit. I know what it’s like to have health care bills you can’t pay.

And having worked in Louisiana’s government health care system (one of the better ones in the country, after Bobby Jindal fixed it), I also know that we just THINK we have crime and corruption in public life now. Just let the Democratic Party have total control over 1/6th of the national economy and see what happens.

CorkPopper March 15, 2010 at 10:03 am

[re=530158]loupgarous[/re]: Ummm…Google this little thing called Medicare, dude. Maybe “Tricare” too. Check out how much people fucking love government-run healthcare, and how cheap it is, and how relatively good the outcomes are. Oh, and about a third of the population is already on government-run or government-subsidized healthcare already…the olds, the poors, and the military/vets. It’s just the rest of us who are bending over for private insurance.

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