Patterico's Pontifications

11/21/2009

Breaking: Democrats Have 60 Senate Votes for Debate on ObamaCare

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 11:52 am



The AP reports:

Democrats have hit the magic number of 60 to move ahead on historic health care legislation.

Arkansas Sen. Blanche Lincoln said on the Senate floor that she will vote with her party, hours before the 8 p.m. EST roll call.

She said it was important that the Senate begin debate on a critical issue.

I wonder how much it cost to buy her off.

UPDATE: I added the words “debate on” to the headline about five minutes after publishing the post, for accuracy.

38 Responses to “Breaking: Democrats Have 60 Senate Votes for Debate on ObamaCare”

  1. Well, of course they do.

    Even Harry Reid isn’t stupid enough to start debate without knowing he has 60 votes.

    steve miller (81db43)

  2. This probably means they will get the Senate bill passed. Lincoln is toast next year and will announce she is the new ambassador to someplace soon. The growing voter revolt may not be enough to deter these people who are betting they can make it stick even if they lose the Congress next year. The backup strategy is a variation of the catastrophic care debacle a decade ago.

    Mike K (2cf494)

  3. The only way to win is cheat and lay it down before I’m beat and to another give my seat for that’s the only painless feat is what the little president man’s dirty socialist whorebag senators must be thinking as they hang posters featuring superstar slut extraordinaire Mary Landrieu taking it all off this Saturday night one night only just 100 million dollar cover charge.

    happyfeet (b919e7)

  4. […] You can watch the stream live of the debate all day through the vote, but it doesn’t matter so much at this point. Both Blanche Lincoln and Landrieu have caved. Mary Landrieu has been bought off by the $100 million dollar bribe in the bill. This is the 21st century of the Louisiana Purchase! […]

    Democrats have the 60 votes for cloture as Lincoln and Landrieu cave | Fire Andrea Mitchell! (20d20a)

  5. Whatever they promised her for a vote to begin debate, pales compared to what it will take for her vote for cloture.
    If Landrieu can garner $100MM, you’d think that Lincoln is worth at least half that much, if not a matching contribution.
    They’ll probably get it funded by the same source that provided all of those “Michelle Mousse(sic)” contributions to Obama/Biden-’08!

    AD - RtR/OS! (444f28)

  6. i predict the “debate” on this bill will be as open and honest as the one revealed in the “global warming” e-mails…..

    redc1c4 (fb8750)

  7. Getting 60 votes to start debate is different from getting 60 votes to limit debate (cloture). Nothing has happened. This preliminary vote is a useless charade.

    Official Internet Data Office (b3941f)

  8. I disagree. The first cloture vote was the key and it if fails to close debate, it will be much harder to stop it later.

    The one hope is the fact that the Senate bill starts the taxes in 2011 but the health care doesn’t start until 2014, after Obama is safely re-elected. This makes it easier to kill after the next Congress takes office. There will be only taxes to stop.

    MIke K (2cf494)

  9. Yes, $100 million was added to the bill in the form of “$100 million to the state that was named a disaster area in 2003” (or whenever Katrina was).

    I thought the one promised to do away with “earmarks”. How disillusioning.

    MD in Philly (227f9c)

  10. This bill is so popular and so self-evident that the Democrats are essentially holding all the major votes under cover of darkness.

    Seriously, two Saturday night votes in a row?

    Techie (482700)

  11. Lincoln will never be the sole one to kill reform. If Republicans and the tea party crowd are counting on this to happen, they are wasting their emotions.

    First, if Lincoln’s poll numbers are as low as they’ve been billed, voting down this bill will not help her.

    Second, my guess is that both Clintons have been working on their home girl. Lincoln has doubtlessly received calls from the president on down. Even if she loses, she’ll have a future in the party if she does the right thing.

    Third, she is a D. Even Dems who do not have safe votes on the issue support reform in principle. This is true almost to a man (or woman). Lincoln will be reminded, rightly, that this vote is a legacy vote, one for the history books. If she must go out, this is the vote to go out on.

    Lieberman is the only one in the Democratic caucus who would be perfectly willing to be the last man standing and kill reform. As he has said, there is nothing Dems can do to him worse than what they did in 2006.

    So, call his office, pray, do whatever you need to do. But Blanche Lincoln is not going to be your little Republican on this issue. Take it to the bank, where most of my predictions are stacked up.

    Myron (552f64)

  12. Even if she loses, she’ll have a future in the party if she does the right thing.

    I agree. She knows she is toast and is looking for a job. As long as she hasn’t paid her taxes, she should slide right into a powerful one. The fix is in. But all that is over if the Democrats lose Congress next year. I think they will but Republicans have screwed up before. They had control and decided they would act like Democrats.

    Mike K (2cf494)

  13. Yes, Mike K, I’m sure she will snag one of the plum Commisar jobs in the new Obamacare plan. Head Death panelist?

    Patricia (b05e7f)

  14. “…Even Dems who do not have safe votes on the issue support reform in principle….”

    The term “principle” in this context brings me back to Inigo Montoya’s line.

    The fact is, the majority of these dimbulbs HAVE NOT READ THE BILL. Sorry to shout. But calling blind obedience to what Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi say is hardly “principle.”

    It’s alphabetism.

    Let’s bring back Inigo:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2y8Sx4B2Sk

    Enough said.

    Eric Blair (0b61b2)

  15. Hey, when was Blanche’s last mammogram, speaking of “reform.”

    Eric Blair (0b61b2)

  16. Off-topic, but that LaFell kid for LSU is a playerM. Les Miles should lose his job for basic incompetence.

    JD (d0d3cb)

  17. The votes Reid won’t get in the end are Liebermans and Nelson.

    They will buy Landrieu in the end. And Lincoln will soon realize she is a goner in Arkansas regardless of which way she votes, so the promises made to her will have to do with what her post-Senatorial career will involve.

    But Lieberman presents the anti-Lincoln problem. The only way he can replicate his 2006 Senate win is to re-constitute the same coalition of Dem/Indep/GOP voters that carried him in 2006 as an independent. The liberal Dems will nominate a Dem, they will not give that nomination to Lieberman after he supported McCain.

    Lieberman has staked out a “no public option” position, and has consistently held the view that we need to reform the health insurance system, not the health care delivery system.

    What can Reid offer him to get his vote for cloture? Nothing.

    Nelson has laid down an abortion marker that is pretty unmistakeable — he want’s the Stupak amendment. He’s been pretty clear that he won’t vote for cloture on a bill without the Stupak language, and he’s a lifelong anti-abortion advocate. Reid purposely left all abortion language out so that what ever goes in would be the product of an negotiated amendment. But I don’t see there ever being 51 votes in the Senate for Stupak – and if there is, I’m not sure the liberal Dems would vote for cloture and put Stupak language in both the House and Senate bills with the expectation that it would come out in conference.

    WLS Shipwrecked (3d3fb8)

  18. Speaking of votes for hire…
    How much will it take to buy the Snowe Queen?
    And her junior partner?
    If Reid doesn’t have Lieberman, and perhaps Nelson, he absolutely needs the two Maine Lobsters.

    AD - RtR/OS! (444f28)

  19. The fact is, the majority of these dimbulbs HAVE NOT READ THE BILL

    Eric Blair, Roll Call reported that Tom Coburn was planning to read the bill on the Senate floor. He stated that no matter what, the American public would hear the bill read. It certainly would have benefited a whole lot people hellbent on the bill to know what was actually in the bill. Apparently though, that’s beside the point.

    Dana (e9ba20)

  20. Dana, I hope he does read the bill. And when the Democrats overrule him, it will be an interesting justification.

    Or we could have a rule (which I think would be a great idea) that Senator or Congresscritters could not vote on a bill if they could not pass a test regarding the contents on that bill.

    After all, what’s the rush? It wouldn’t have anything to do with poll numbers, would it?

    Again, calling this kind of thing “principle” is incredibly stupid. What this is, is blind partisan loyalty. Period.

    Eric Blair (bc43a4)

  21. dana reading the bill comes next.

    WLS Shipwrecked (3d3fb8)

  22. How has universal child health care worked out in Hawaii?

    Michael Ejercito (6a1582)

  23. I’ve been reading Myron’s trollish partisan posts for a long time here. So when he writes…

    “…Take it to the bank, where most of my predictions are stacked up….”

    …it gave me quite a laugh.

    I’m sure the bank has an awful lot of bizarre things written on pieces of paper by this character. No account numbers, no checks, and certainly no royalties or dividend checks. Just a lot of fevered prose speaking Troof to Powder. Maybe condemnations of the Trilateral Commission and Freemasonry.

    But something tells me that he ain’t precisely Bill Gates in terms of his market acumen. Maybe he is lighting Cuban cigars with hundred bills. I mean, based on his prior commentary and deep analytical skills regarding economics, the national scene, and geopolitics.

    As Dr. Evil would say: “Riiiggghhht.”

    Eric Blair (bc43a4)

  24. This is very depressing and I’m going back to watching The Avengers on Netflix On Demand.

    nk (df76d4)

  25. WLS said: “But Lieberman presents the anti-Lincoln problem … What can Reid offer him to get his vote for cloture? Nothing.”

    Unfortunately, you are correct on both counts. The hope for Lieberman is that he’s bluffing on the public option or will go for the trigger or opt-out. I can’t profess a high degree of confidence he’ll go in either direction.

    Myron (63564c)

  26. AD: I actually think a Maine sister might be more bend-able than Lieberman.

    Myron (63564c)

  27. Eric: Do you ever have anything to say beyond insults? How about one original idea? Just one.

    Myron (63564c)

  28. Moryon scribbled: “this vote is a legacy vote, one for the history books”

    — Why yes, it is more important to be on the ‘right side of history’ (whatever the hell that means) than it is to just simply be right.

    Icy Texan (565b5d)

  29. Lieberman is the only person in the Dem caucus operating on principle. The rest of these idiots couldn’t find principle in the OED.

    Have Blue (854a6e)

  30. Have any of you wondered why we need insurance to pay for health care, but not to pay for food and gas? It is because the price of health care is insanely high.

    When food and gas prices go down, people tend to use food and gas more often. By contrast, when the price of chemotherapy goes down, people do not get cancer more often.

    We should use price controls to make health care affordable.

    Michael Ejercito (6a1582)

  31. There are a multitude of ways to lower costs, make health insurance affordable, etc, blah blah blah. In order to do those things, however, we MUST rid ourselves of the entrenched political class. They have so many special interest rectal ticks that they no longer HAVE any need for principles. Or chairs.

    I’m dead serious, vote those bums out. Clear out that building. Fire the staff, start over. Institute term limits, strip the Federal books of all it’s stupid/moronic/self-serving laws, institute a flat tax, and allow citizen politicians to serve and then go home when their term is done.

    The founding fathers always meant for politicians to have a bloody day job, dammit.

    Vivian Louise (643333)

  32. 30.Have any of you wondered why we need insurance to pay for health care, but not to pay for food and gas? It is because the price of health care is insanely high. by Michael Ejercito

    One reality is that health care is costly. The food we eat can be produced in ways going back centuries, if not it is because new methods are more productive and efficient. Same with clothes. But, much of the high cost of health care is the burden of catastrophic injury or illness, and insurance is a method for spreading out the cost, just like car insurance or homeowners. People don’t pay for their own car liability costs proactively by putting it into a savings account, they pay into a shared pool so most pay more than they would have needed to in order to limit the possibility of being wiped out by one bad incident.

    Medical care, is driven by the desire to conquer illness and suffering as much as possible. No one wants to see a 6 yo child die of ALL, so lots of man hours by educated people using expensive equipment go into research and now we expect a child to be cured of ALL most of the time, and worry about second cancers that turn up 20-30 years later that make us continue to do research to find safer forms of treatment.

    AIDS happened. The first protease inhibitors that came out not only took time and resources to be developed, but then they took 20+ step organic chemical synthesis processes on a commercial scale to make them.

    One of our professors back in the early 80’s asked the question as to why should people expect advances in medicine to be less costly? Once dialysis for kidney failure was developed, further refinements would generally be focused on making it safer and more effective, not necessarily cheaper.

    In addition, any advancements, in efficacy or cost savings, etc. in medicine comes at huge research costs, including all of the liability, liability, liability.

    I would like to see the cost of health care calculated as a function of percentage of income, or percentage of “spendable income”.

    All of that is not to justify the way things are, but to clarify expectations. I think much needs to be done to make the situation better.

    But there is one big problem with the cost of insurance and health care. If a person does not take responsibility for the upkeep of their car, it breaks down and they are out of luck. If a person does not take responsibility for their or their child’s health, they end up in an ER. While they have the major responsibility of their situation (at least a sound-minded adult does), rare it would be for someone to say, “You’re having an asthma attack because you let your meds run out two weeks ago. Here are new scripts. If you go into respiratory distress and die before you can get them filled, that’s your problem.” So health care is a situation where an individual does not bear the burden of their own irresponsibility, but society does. I’m not saying we should let people suffer and die, I’m just pointing out how their are huge issues in the cost of health care that make it unlike most other things we purchase, and solving them is hard.

    MD in Philly (227f9c)

  33. If this travesty ever comes up for a final vote, and it’s apparent that it will pass, then every Republican – assuming(!) they have the cojones – should stand up when it’s time to vote, or at some point in the proceeding when they are recognized to speak, state the following…

    “To honor our current President, Mr. Obama, I vote present.”

    and then sit down…

    The ensuing outrage by the Democrats and the MSM would be a joy to behold.

    Horatio (55069c)

  34. By contrast, when the price of chemotherapy goes down, people do not get cancer more often more people can avail themselves of chemotherapy.

    Your point holds, but that phrase was just begging to be fixed.

    In general, the normal paradigm of supply and demand has been grossly altered by govt machinations across the globe. With currency shenanigans by virtually every issuer being the norm at present, and with political interference the de facto policy obvious in practically all markets and currencies alike, the inter-relationship of supply and demand still exists, but in a very Frankensteinish manner. Thus, one finds themselves bewildered by “price” fluctuations without apparent fundamental rationales. For today’s consumers and providers to traders and investors, the name of the game is agility. Meaning if one does not stay of top of breaking news both political and economic, your ass is just plain hanging out waiting to get whacked.

    political agnostic (6219fe)

  35. My three biggest problems with this bill:

    1) This should not be considered at the federal level; this issue should be handled by the individual states.

    2) Even if an identical bill were considered in the California state legislature, I would oppose it because it does not exclude sex offenders who are out of jail or prison.

    3) There is nothing that restrains costs.

    Michael Ejercito (6a1582)

  36. …Tom Coburn was planning to read the bill on the Senate floor…

    Given the length of that monster, I believe that might continuous reading would qualify as a filibuster equivalent. Though he may have to go tag team unless he’s equipped with leather lungs. That is equivalent to around 6 or so novels.

    political agnostic (6219fe)

  37. 36.…Tom Coburn was planning to read the bill on the Senate floor…Given the length of that monster, I believe that might continuous reading would qualify as a filibuster equivalent. Though he may have to go tag team unless he’s equipped with leather lungs. That is equivalent to around 6 or so novels.
    Comment by political agnostic — 11/22/2009 @ 11:10 am

    I would be nice if he could have “designated reader” volunteers

    MD in Philly (227f9c)

  38. This is from the earlier thread, from Myron:

    Your lying was the “small” part.

    Myron posted this, but said on this thread earlier…

    Eric: Do you ever have anything to say beyond insults? How about one original idea? Just one.

    F-ck you and the horse you rode in on, Moron. F-ck you and everyone who looks like you. But hey, it’s not like anyone wishes to insult anyone.

    F-ck off and die, Moron.

    Dmac (a964d5)


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