More Obama lies....televised healthcare debates

[harold_bush]

Harold. The entire debate in Congress has been on Cspan. It's been on for months. The only portion that will not be are these negotiations between the house and the senate. DO I need to post the stories from Cspan???? We've gone over this a thousand times. I don't really care. It's completely ironic how up in arms the Conservatives are that this is happening to them when this is what they did to the Liberals from 2000-2006. Not allowing them in their chairs for votes, I remember stories about many back room negotiations that were private. What goes around comes around. And yeah, they should be the bigger party, but they're not playing the nice guys any longer. Oh well, boo hoo.

But this was supposed to be the most transparent administration. Both sides were supposed to have a seat at the table. Isn't that what the chosen one promised?

Yes, I do need you to post that articles about how everything has been televised.

[KazDog]

Are you really trying to convince anyone it has been the fault of the repbs that this bill has taken so long in 2009? Did they have opportunities to do something and didn't in the past? Yes, of course. But this piece of legislation, how are the repubs the only party that are being accused of slowing and stalling th is legislation? They don't set the schedule, do they?

Dec. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Senate Democrats, trying to round up 60 votes for health-care legislation, face new challenges to their goal of passing a bill by Christmas as they confront both Republican stalling tactics and other pressing business.

The Senate took up a $636 billion defense-spending measure that includes $128 billion for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. That and Republican delays -- such as insisting that each amendment be read word for word -- mean work won’t resume on health care until the weekend. And the votes needed for passage aren’t yet assured, said Illinois Senator Dick Durbin.

“Members have expressed concern, indecision,” said Durbin, the No. 2 Senate Democrat, adding that talks with the chief party holdout, Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska, continue. “We won’t move forward without knowing we have” the 60 votes that will be needed for passage, Durbin said.

Durbin expressed confidence that Democrats would pass the health bill by Christmas, a goal set by Majority Leader Harry Reid. On the Senate floor, he urged Republicans to work with Democrats for quick approval of the military bill, already passed by the House, so lawmakers could return to health care.

The 10-year, $848 billion Senate health plan is designed to cover 31 million uninsured Americans and curb medical expenses. Like a measure passed Nov. 7 by the U.S. House, it would require Americans to get health coverage, offering expanded aid for the poor and creating online insurance- purchasing exchanges to help the uninsured buy policies.

Read Aloud

Partisan clashes over the legislation broke out on the floor yesterday. Oklahoma Republican Tom Coburn demanded that a Senate clerk read aloud every word of a 767-page amendment by Senator Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent, that would have opened up government insurance to all Americans.

After almost three hours of reading, and as Durbin convened a news conference to complain about the Republican tactic, Sanders withdrew the amendment. Coburn’s attempt to object was overruled, and Sanders proceeded to give a fiery speech in favor of a single-payer, fully government-run insurance system.

Later, Reid and other Democrats took to the Senate floor, to show their support as Sanders demanded that the full Senate vote immediately to shelve a pending Republican amendment by Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas that was designed to delay tax increases in the measure. Her proposal was defeated, 56-41, and signaled the potential for other Republican proposals to be shunted aside.

McConnell Protests

Republicans, who say the bill might crowd out private insurers, raise taxes and widen the federal budget deficit, left little doubt of their intentions to try to stop it.

Republican Leader Mitch McConnell took the floor to defend his party’s right to force a reading of amendments. He protested allowing Sanders to withdraw his amendment, saying “the plain language of Senate precedent” requires that all 100 senators agree before a lawmaker can withdraw a measure.

The Kentucky Republican said public opinion is moving in the opponents’ favor.

“The American people are saying, ‘Please don’t pass this bill,’” McConnell said at a news conference. He said the public is aware of the potential risks of higher insurance premiums and cuts to Medicare spending, which would finance half the legislation.

Public Opinion

McConnell pointed to a Washington Post-ABC News poll that found the public’s disapproval of President Barack Obama’s handling of health care is at a new high of 53 percent. The Dec. 10-13 poll was based on a survey of 1,003 adults and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Some Democrats have been critical of the Senate measure, with former party chairman Howard Dean urging lawmakers to kill the bill because he said it has been weakened too much.

In response, former President Bill Clinton today warned that failure to get a bill now would be “a colossal blunder.” In a statement, he said, “This is a good bill: It increases the security of those who already have insurance and gives every American access to affordable coverage.”

Clinton, whose attempt at health-care reform collapsed in 1994, added, “Take it from someone who knows. These chances don’t come around every day.”

[KazDog]

But this was supposed to be the most transparent administration. Both sides were supposed to have a seat at the table. Isn't that what the chosen one promised?

Yes, I do need you to post that articles about how everything has been televised.

I really feel bad about this. It's too bad what happened to the Liberals for 6 years in congress is what's happening to the Conservatives. It's a shame. It's politics. It's a shame politicians do these things. But that's our political system.

And again for millionth time. These final negotiations between the house and senate are the only ones being left out of the broadcasting process.


THIS IS FROM ABC NEWS....

C-SPAN CEO Brian Lamb last week wrote to Congressional leaders asking that they "open all important negotiations, including any conference committee meetings, to electronic media coverage" as the House and Senate work to reconcile the differences between the House and Senate health care reform bills.

"The C-SPAN networks will commit the necessary resources to covering all of these sessions LIVE and in their entirety," Lamb wrote. "We will also, as we willingly do each day, provide C-SPAN’s multi-camera coverage to any interested member of the Capitol Hill broadcast pool."

Lamb reminded the leaders that "President Obama, Senate and House leaders, many of your rank-and-file members, and the nation’s editorial pages have all talked about the value of transparent discussions on reforming the nation’s health care system. Now that the process moves to the critical stage of reconciliation between the Chambers, we respectfully request that you allow the public full access, through television, to legislation that will affect the lives of every single American."

Specifically, then-Sen. Obama said on the campaign trail that "we'll have the negotiations televised on C-SPAN, so the people can see who is making arguments on behalf of their constituents and who is making arguments on behalf of the drug companies or the insurance companies."

Last month President Obama told PBS about this final reconciliation between the House bill and the Senate bill, "we hope to have a whole bunch of folks over here in the West Wing, and I'll be rolling up my sleeves and spending some time before the full Congress even gets into session, because the American people need this now."

So, with that in mind, when I substitute-anchored This Week with George Stephanopoulos last month, I asked White House press secretary Robert Gibbs if president would take this final opportunity to open up the doors for this last negotiation. After all, the president will be in charge of it and it will be taking place at the West Wing.

Gibbs' response: "Well, Jake, first of all, let's take a step back and understand that this is a process legislatively that has played out over the course of nine months. There have been a countless number of public hearings. The Senate did a lot of their voting at 1:00 and 2:00 in the morning on C-SPAN. A lot of this debate -- I think what the president promised and pledged was so that you could see who was fighting for their constituents and who was fighting for drug and insurance companies…"

But he was talking about negotiations, not voting, I interrupted. About the bill being put together.

"Well, but the bill gets put together on the floor of the Senate," Gibbs said. "That's where the bill got augmented. And I think if you watched that debate -- I don't know -- I wasn't up at 1:00 or 2:00 in the morning for a lot of those votes, but I think if the American public had watched -- has watched the committee process play out in both the House and the Senate, watched the process play out on both the floor and the -- the floor of the House and the floor of the Senate, you'd have seen quite a bit of public hearing and public airing, and I think quite frankly, people have a pretty good sense of who is battling on behalf of thousands of lobbyists that are trying to protect drugs profits and insurance profits, and who's fighting on behalf of middle-class Americans hoping once and for all to have access to affordable insurance and removing insurance company restrictions like discriminating against people that are sick."

[jordanrules23]

did ur Nazi Pelosi friends send you this in ur hate mongering email??

[Jamaicanman]

I have now seen some of the stupidest cut and paste postings ever. The repubs were stalling b/c a 767 page amendment was asked to be read aloud? You do know that amendment was NEVER going to pass as it was essentailly a form of Medicare insurance for EVERYONE. NO CHANCE AT ALL of passing. So to even introduce it was a stall tactic and the Senator's bluff was called. What other amendments were asked to be read aloud? Search google and I await your cut and paste since you can't have a thought of your own.

[KazDog]

I have now seen some of the stupidest cut and paste postings ever. The repubs were stalling b/c a 767 page amendment was asked to be read aloud? You do know that amendment was NEVER going to pass as it was essentailly a form of Medicare insurance for EVERYONE. NO CHANCE AT ALL of passing. So to even introduce it was a stall tactic and the Senator's bluff was called. What other amendments were asked to be read aloud? Search google and I await your cut and paste since you can't have a thought of your own.

Much like your postings that come from the internet? Sausage making? Like you came up with that?

I'm not googling shit for you. There have been plenty of stories written about the Republican's doing whatever they can to block this, including stall tactics such as that written in Bloomberg, which wasn't good enough for you. Yep, all those stories written about the republican's stalling this are inaccurate.

Too bad you asked for one and got it and now it's not good enough? Nice try in trying to make yourself look right. Can't stand having it shoved back in your face I guess. Keep trying to polish that turd, but it's still just a piece of crap in the end.

[Spark]

I'm glad you enjoy reading both sides, but to say that the Libs are so much more passionate about this than the Neocons here, is not really seeing who is writing what. It is the Conservatives here who are up in arms and going on and on about not having the health care negotiations aired on Cspan and what a bad job Obama has done. Asking question after question about how he reneged on his promise. Not the other way around. I don't see photo after photo after photo being posted of Bush or any other Conservative on here.

There's no narrow mindedness. Both sides are just as passionate as the other. imo

KAZ

Kaz I have a very open mind to this ... I am not that dumb to be blaming all of this on OBOZO ... but damn stop the lying dude ... stop trying to take full control over everything ... and I agree with Dimer 100% as far as the handouts ...

HE might be a smart man but I am not sure if he that wise anymore ... there is some stupid stuff going on here ... I mean I am hearing about a kangaroo court for the underwear bomber but I am wondering when a person who isn't a US citizen tries to blow up American citizens over the city of Detroit ... Why within a day he is in our court system getting all the rights accorded to us US citizens ... That is what confuses the hell out me ... what they should do is threaten him to tell us what we want or we will put those undies back on him and blow his ass up ..

HE has presented himself to the public as a guy that is very concerned about the rights of the terrorists ... I honestly think HE would say that right out that he is concerned about their rights .. Now we have had 3 attacks in the last 6 months .. now I am saying hmmmmmm, maybe we should not be so concerned about their rights but be more concerned about staying alive ..

[Jamaicanman]

Much like your postings that come from the internet? Sausage making? Like you came up with that?

I'm not googling shit for you. There have been plenty of stories written about the Republican's doing whatever they can to block this, including stall tactics such as that written in Bloomberg, which wasn't good enough for you. Yep, all those stories written about the republican's stalling this are inaccurate.

Too bad you asked for one and got it and now it's not good enough? Nice try in trying to make yourself look right. Can't stand having it shoved back in your face I guess. Keep trying to polish that turd, but it's still just a piece of crap in the end.

Please show me a post where I had to cut and paste to make my point. You cited ONE example and I explained to you why the amendment was asked to be read. If that is all you can google, b/c you don't have your own ideas or thoughts or knowledge on the subject (which is obvious imo), then I think that speaks volumes for your insight on the subject.

[KazDog]

Please show me a post where I had to cut and paste to make my point. You cited ONE example and I explained to you why the amendment was asked to be read. If that is all you can google, b/c you don't have your own ideas or thoughts or knowledge on the subject (which is obvious imo), then I think that speaks volumes for your insight on the subject.

Just Google Republican stall tactics and several come up. You asked for them and you got them. Keep trying to act like you didn't or they haven't. Polish away at that turd.

[musclemann]

great to hear MM...
have a good New YR!

hey thanks for the well wishes jordan. You have a great 2010 as well.

[Spark]

hey thanks for the well wishes jordan. You have a great 2010 as well.

Good seeing you MM ... Hope things are well

[Jamaicanman]

Just Google Republican stall tactics and several come up. You asked for them and you got them. Keep trying to act like you didn't or they haven't. Polish away at that turd.

This is why I don't like cut and pasters like yourself who don't have their own thoughts or enough intelligence on a subject to comment. You cited ONE amendment that was asked to be read aloud. If the repubs were going to use this as a stall tactic (like you said) then why not have all of them read aloud? Why just the one that was an amendment to change the entire bill to a single-payer/Medicare like system that had ZERO chance of passing. I am confident since you have no knowledge on the subject yourself, you can google and cut and paste a response to this right?

[KazDog]

This is why I don't like cut and pasters like yourself who don't have their own thoughts or enough intelligence on a subject to comment. You cited ONE amendment that was asked to be read aloud. If the repubs were going to use this as a stall tactic (like you said) then why not have all of them read aloud? Why just the one that was an amendment to change the entire bill to a single-payer/Medicare like system that had ZERO chance of passing. I am confident since you have no knowledge on the subject yourself, you can google and cut and paste a response to this right?

What part of.....such as insisting that each amendment be read word for word --

Didn't you get? Of a 767 page amendment?

I'm not searching Google for you. You got it shoved in your pie hole now you're trying to act like it wasn't.

Keep polishing that turd. Guess it doesn't help you read when it's in real big letters. Try the voice reply on your computer, maybe it will help if you hear it read back to you.

[KazDog]

This is why I don't like cut and pasters like yourself who don't have their own thoughts or enough intelligence on a subject to comment. You cited ONE amendment that was asked to be read aloud. If the repubs were going to use this as a stall tactic (like you said) then why not have all of them read aloud? Why just the one that was an amendment to change the entire bill to a single-payer/Medicare like system that had ZERO chance of passing. I am confident since you have no knowledge on the subject yourself, you can google and cut and paste a response to this right?

You don't like cut and pasters because you asked if they were stalling and it was and has been exactly what they've been doing. So when it's written by a reputable source such as Bloomberg.com, you have no reply but to question it. It's exactly what you asked for. You're a real beauty!

[Spark]

I swear I was just watching Obama with his comments on Security review ... this guy look like he aged 10 years already ...

Damn, I would not want his job right now .... I did like when he said "We are at war" ... Good to hear him speaking that way