The Good Guys Win One, Sort Of

OK, Let's review:

The Dems passed Healthcare Reform last weekend. I watched hours of the "debate" on C-Span. The Democrats, knowing that they were going to win, were pretty happy go lucky and non-confrontational. The Republicans, knowing that their dreams of a Waterloo for Obama were turned into his Austerlitz, reverted to vituperation, essentially practicing their 2010 Fall campaign rhetoric.

It got pretty ugly, and in a "world turned upside down" vignette, Bart Stupak, that glory-seeking, control-your-bedroom throwback jerk, played the role of hero as he was viciously attacked while making his speech in support of the bill, Since then he has continued to be the target of scary threats from the Friends of Rush.

Verbal, bodily fluid and even more sinister attacks have continued to be the order of the day, perpetrated on the majority party while the minority stands by, cheering on the thuggish actions and decrying what they perceive as the "socialist" activities of the Democratic party for having provoked those actions. Seriously, the Democrats of today are more like the Republicans of the fifties than they are like any truly progressive organization.

And of course, media pundits continue to blame the inflamatory behavior of "both sides". I would really like to know what the Democrats have done or said that could be construed as inflamatory, particularly when compared with Republican talking points. Any instances of them saying that one who voted the other way would be "dead", or that they should be put in the cross hairs, that they should prepare to reload, or that their opponents should be crushed? Days after the worst of the outrages John Boehner finally pronounced a tepid denunciation of the hatred, but only to say how it had been justified. Meanwhile, Democratic congressmen and women are receiving scary death threats daily, directed at them and their families.

Then, in a Rovian twist, Eric Kantor claied that someone shot through his office window and left mean messages on his voice mail. Of course, he refused to release the messages because he didn't want to stir things up, and later police said that someone had shot into the air nearby his office. Hmm. How do you make a mistake like that? Remember in his first campaign as an advisor, back in Texas, when Karl Rove saw that his guy was trailing in the polls? He planted a listening device in his own office, called the police, and claimed that it had been placed there by the Democratic opponent. The tide turned and his man won. Later, the police found that the device had been installed just 15 MINUTES before they were called. I think that the cops should check Kantor's weapons to see of any of them had been field recently.

Finally, the next strategic move by the GOPs is to have Republican governors attempt to declare this new federal law unconstitutional. That is called nullification, and here is a very brief history lesson on the subject. In the first half of the nineteenth century southerners were worried that their rights (read: slaves) might be taken away from them by government fiat. South Carolina led the charge to defy the assumption of federal primacy, and announced their intention to exempt themselves from the Tariff law. This was called nullification, meaning that the states did not have to follow laws created by Congress. Andrew Jackson disagreed with this

contention, pointed out the lack of constitutional support for nullification, and threatened to invade the state with the federal army if they did not stand down. They did, for nearly thirty years, until they tried it again with a little thing I like to call the Civil War. You know how that turned out.

This latest attempt has all the constitutional credibility that those other ones did. It's time to tone it down and move on to other issues that need attention, such as immigration reform. Now there's something that should pass quietly.

Can It Really Happen?

For almost a year now, I have thought that the finish line was in sight. I was wrong. It has taken this long to get to the point where we are ready to vote on Healthcare Reform, and we are ready to pass that motherfucker.

Now, I've likened this thing to a shit sandwich in the past, and I've not really changed my mind on that. It's a really flawed bill, with its gift of additional members to the insurance industry, its lack of significant restraints on those same companies, and its utter lack of a public option.

But when Bernie Sanders, the only avowed Socialist in the Congress, says that he will support it, then I have to consider its merits, such as they are. And when Dennis Kucinich, that brave iconoclast, says that he too will vote in favor, then I have to reconsider my position. The fact that it will stick it up the ass of a bunch of recalcitrant Republicans only sweetens the deal.

The overriding fact is that it will allow some 21 million (depending on who you talk to) currently uninsured Americans to obtain coverage. For me, that trumps every other consideration.

And as Bernie says, as soon as we pass it, we immediately begin to improve it. Now, I personally feel that this is a generational thing, and that it will probably take another 20 years for further change, but who knows? Maybe a collection of concerned elected officials will continue to work for the good of the American people and we'll get to see some real reform. Note, for example, that Rep. Grayson is pushing for an amendment to open Medicare to all comers who want to pay to play. A good idea that deserves some attention.

And oh yeah, the OBM says that it WILL save $billions, almost a $1 trillion over the next 20 years.

So there you have it. By this weekend we may have the first impactful social legislation to pass in decades. My only question is: what crazy, damn-the-people-who desperately-need-help strategy in the eleventh hour will the Republican haters spring on us this time?

This Was the Week That - um - Was

Let’s review, shall we? Recently I said that, in the wake of Joe Stack’s suicide plunge into an IRS building and resulting attention to his rambling political memo, there would soon be imitators. Now, scant days later, we have John Bedell, shooting up a metro stop outside of the Pentagon. He leaves behind writings full of anti-government bile. Now do you believe that there will be another? And another? Glenn Becks and Rush Limbaughs of the world take notice: your responsibility is becoming clearer every day.

What else? Exaggerated importance has been given to Sarah Palin’s stand up routine on Leno. Since we first saw her at the Republican convention in August 2008, has she ever given a speech that was anything other than a collection of one-liners? Wouldn’t you think by now that she would be better than the halting, unsure performer we saw the other night? Everyone seems pretty giddy over a bit that was short on real wit and long on amateurism. Since she abandoned the governorship for the green pastures of punditry I have said that she is so much less interested in public office than she is in making a buck. See anything that’s changed?

Logan Airport in Boston got a set of the new body scanners this week. Any bets on how long it will take before someone leaks images of attractive females?

Speaking of leaks, that powerpoint slide of Republican donation strategies has gotten the media pretty excited. Seems like some over eager planner described how they should go after regular folks vs the wealthy, by stoking fear and reactionary panic among little folks like you and me, while stroking the rich while handing them cheap, GOP-branded souvenirs. That they suggest doing these things is not the scandal of course, only that they were stupid enough to put it in writing. These are exactly the talking points they have been following so effectively since the good old days of Lee Atwater in the 1980’s.

Barack Obama finally told the Grand Old Party that he was going to move ahead on Healthcare Reform, without them if necessary. He enumerated how many items on their wish list had made it into the bill, and not surprisingly it’s still not enough for them. I guess he finally realized that they’re just not that into him. Maybe he should take the ones who got him there (progressives, that is), to the dance. And since they really want the public option, maybe that could be their corsage. Okay, this metaphor is starting to creep me out.

Finally, Karl Rove has just released a book in the same week that Alice in Wonderland came out. One of these is a fairy tale complete with unbelievable characters acting weirdly. The other one was written by Lewis Carroll.