Olympia Snowe is going to vote “yea” on health care reform today! She may not vote for it later, or she may use her leverage to gut it even further, or she may get sick of it all and pop off to Tijuana for some junk, who knows! But as of now, the Democratic leadership is ecstatic to have this single Republican vote out of 40. (Can you believe how stupid they think we are? They are doing anything to have this ONE Republican vote so as to refer to it as a “Bipartisan” bill. That’s their actual plan. “Oh look there are Democrats and Republicans for this bill!” “Yeah, one Republican, and she’s a communist.” “Hey shut up, blogger in your pajama pants!” “Unnecessary, Harry Reid. Unnecessary.” etc.) What else? Max Baucus? He’s being insufferable.
Allah bless the brave New York Times liveblogger:
Snowe Will Vote Yes | 12:56 p.m. Senator Snowe has just indicated that she will support the Finance Committee bill, although she withholds support for future iterations of the legislation.
She cited the positives, mentioning insurance exchanges, and the negatives, like affordability. We need to absolutely ensure that all Americans have access to plans that are absolutely affordable. She’s concerned about Medicare expansion. Here is her conclusion: “Is this bill all that I would want? Far from it. But when history calls, history calls and I happen to think that the consequences of inaction dictate the urgency of Congress to demonstrate its capacity to solve the monumental issues of our time.”
So Senator Snowe takes the leap, becoming almost certainly the only Republican, at least on this committee, to support the Democratic bill. But she cautions: “My vote today is my vote today, it doesn’t forecast what my vote would be tomorrow.” She quoted Longfellow, a fellow Mainer, saying that great is the art of the beginning, but greater is the art of the ending. Mr. Baucus is thrilled and tells her that her words will be “long remembered,” perhaps a deliberate summoning of the Gettysburg Address.
We’ll admit, we’re quite moved here by Olympia Snowe’s eloquence. But then Max Baucus butts in and pretends to be Abraham Lincoln. What is that? Oh Max, still shitty, after all these years.
Who knows what Olympia Snowe will end up doing. Probably defeating the whole thing in the end, ha. But that’s so great what she did today. The Republicans don’t take it kindly when a lone member or two breaks the ranks of solidarity. Even for this single vote, in committee, the Senate GOP leadership will probably take away her top committee chairs and never allow her to work on any bill ever again, should the Republicans themselves ever be allowed to work on any bill ever again. So thank you for being a nice lady today, Olympia Snowe, and leaving the room breathless.
Suspenseless Now | 1:18 p.m. It seems safe to say that Senator Snowe’s vote, and her call to history, will be the dramatic high point of this session, even though it isn’t over. The senators who have spoken after her have generally been questioning the budget officers on points down in the weeds, and much steam seems to have gone out of the debate on both sides.
Live Blogging the Finance Panel Vote on Health Care Bill [NYT]
Read More:
- SENATE FINANCE COMMITTEE. BAUCUS BILL. TESTIMONY FROM CBO DIRECTOR DOUG ELMENDORF. VOTE. BOOM. RIGHT NOW.
- Our Long National Nightmare... Will Now Be Merged With Another Senate Bill, Debated On The Senate Floor, Voted On, Merged With An Also-Debated/Merged House Bill In Conference, Voted On In Both Houses...
- Exciting Updates From The Senate Finance Committee Markup!
- Max Baucus' New Bipartisan Bill Despised By Every Single Republican, Dead Or Alive
- Baucus Might Lose Finance Committee Chair, Due To Sucking
{ 63 comments }
NEWSFLASH!! Snowe Votes Yes To Extend The Butt-kissing
Yay?
It amuses me that a senator from one of our more northerly states is named Snowe. I should be ashamed of this, but I’m not. Now we need a Florida senator named Palmettobug.
So, if Bambi get this giant sausage passed, and it’s not his Waterloo, what is it? Jena? Austerlitz?
This reminds me of the Futurama episode where Bender returned to nature and found a snail slowly moving across the beach (complete with dramatic movie music) to be the most scintillating sight ever.
[re=433296]Terry[/re]: For what purpose does the distinguished Senator from Louisiana, Sen. Boudreaux Gator, rise?
[re=433296]Terry[/re]: Sandy Beach
I never want to hear the word “bi-partisan” again, eva.
Buchanan’s on MSNBC saying this bill is the “least offensive to Republicans” of all possible bills. That was always my fervent hope: that no Republican be offended.
This bill is terrible not only for the doctors and the insurers, but also the burgeoning industries dedicated to processing the newly dead into a viscous protein paste, replacing the fish stocks we’ve harvested or poisoned into non-existence.
Soylent Green isn’t just made of people. It’s made of the American people!
Yeah, so Olympia Snowe’s mother had watched Leni Riefenstahl’s movie Olympia the night before giving birth & thought it was a swell name for a girl.
Austerlitz — also the name of a great book by W.G. Sebald.
When can we expect Olympia Snowe’s face to show up on the Heroes of the GOP page? Alternately, how would P.B.S. Pinchback have voted?
[re=433296]Terry[/re]: Is it just me or has Huffpo become unreadable? Their headline on this is “Snowe Melts”. Gawdawful.
[re=433302]Lazy Media[/re]: “The Chair recognizes Rep. Lester Fetal Alcohol Syndrome of Arizona for five minutes.”
Oh, and completly OT and unspeakably filthy:
“When Liz Cheney, Debra Burlingame, and Bill Kristol Get Together Awesome Happens”
http://www.redstate.com/erick/2009/10/13/when-liz-cheney-debra-burlingame-and-bill-kristol-get-together-awesome-happens/#comments
[re=433327]user-of-owls[/re]:
Unless it’s a three way car crash, I can’t think of anything (and that includes a threesome.)
“Affordability” is a negative? Isn’t that the whole point of this exercise?
[re=433318]hobospacejunkie[/re]: “The chair now recognizes the honorable Senator Triumph-Of-The-Will Snowe”
[re=433327]user-of-owls[/re]: Three rightists. One brain cell. What could go wrong here?
[re=433324]freakishlystrong[/re]: You’re just noticing that now? The last couple of times I visited that site it made me ashamed to be a liberal; avoid them like the plague.
Well, that certainly was worth six months of total legislative contortionism.
I think Baucus’ new title should be “The Insufferable Max Baucus”.
[re=433302]Lazy Media[/re]: Does the Senator from Tennessee, Mr. Jack “Fatass” Daniels yield his time?
[re=433327]user-of-owls[/re]: Leave Meaghan McCain alone!
or she may get sick of it all and pop off to Tijuana for some junk
All the way to Tijuana to get high? But New York is relatively close by & has access to the best heroin in the world, or so one would think, it being a major port city and all.
[re=433332]Naked Bunny with a Whip[/re]: No, but it sounds better than “directed insurance company windfall.”
[re=433330]ManchuCandidate[/re]: Um, suicide pact?
[re=433327]user-of-owls[/re]: An awesome happening, yes … in the sense of a volcanic eruption, a tsunami, or how sick I was when I had the pig death.
literally, all of the slashing and debating of this bill was to get this one person to vote for it. literally. LITERALLY.
hey! guess what this means! we might get JIM DEMINT as head of the Commerce, SCIENCE, and Transportation Committee, since Snowe was next in line after Kay Bailey Hutchinson and she just lost that honor due to her dastardly vote. But hey, Jim DeMint as head of Science in the Senate.
— Senator Schumer salutes the chairman, Mr. Baucus, saying his work has been a “tour-de force,” the likes of which have rarely been seen in the halls of Congress. —
Wrong, Chuck. Think: Missouri Compromise.
“Great is the art of the beginning, but greater is the art of the ending.”
- Longfellow
I wonder if I can get that Longfellow fellow to come over my place and help me finish the carport I started building this summer. C’mon, buddy, a chance to prove yourself a great artist. Those joist hangers aren’t going to hang themselves, y’know.
According to Leading Health Care-ologists, if Snowe signs onto a bill, the Democrats will be so overjoyed to have their one Republican on board that they’ll pass whatever Snowe wants and also an IOU from Evan Bayh for two deep-tissue massages. Which means Max Baucus is King of Healthcare!!!!!!!
[re=433327]user-of-owls[/re]: Yeah, endless War and Death, Awesome!
[re=433337]Smoke Filled Roommate[/re]: It isn’t already? Huh…you learn something new every day.
[re=433349]S.Luggo[/re]: Seward’s Folly?
[re=433351]Lascauxcaveman[/re]: “Great is the art of the beginning”
Are they trying to tell us that Jon McNaughton will be painting Genesis next?
Btw, back in the day, Olympia Snowe was a hottie. I would’ve shagged that like a rug back in the 70s….assuming I had been alive then or whatever.
This officially marks the nicest thing I’ve ever said about a Republican. YOU’RE WELCOME, OLYMPIA.
[re=433313]freakishlystrong[/re]: Verily, to the dumpster of useless conceptual frameworks I would add “slippery slope” and “agree to disagree”
There’s no business like Snowe business. What?
[re=433317]Aflac Shrugged[/re]: Watch it with that made in Murca stuff. Could spark a trade war with China. Losing access to their dead would then have the same effect on our food supply as being honest about Saudi Arabia would on our fuel stocks.
She looks like she could have played a supporting role in the Sopranos. Guidance counselor ‘Carlotta Fellini’ or something.
I’d hit it. Today, I’d hit it.
[re=433347]PabaBritannica[/re]: You should be so lucky to have me as president of science. I will fix all the errors in science that Kepler started–celestial physics? WRONG! Not enough Jesus.
[re=433361]assistant/atlas[/re]: She’s still attractive. Just wish she’d set aside the black shoe polish and hie herself to professional hair colorist already. Dimensionality, Olympia! Dimensionality! Or at least a few highlights.
Vote+ 14 to 9 passed
Yayyyyyyyyyyy it’s over (not really). Out of Finance Hell forever.
That took long enough…
[re=433386]MzNicky[/re]:
Frugal Yankees color their hair themselves at home from a nice inexpensive boxed color purchased at the discount store.
[re=433313]freakishlystrong[/re]: Seriously. Also, I’m almost bored of the idea with healthcare. I have to say, Republicans are very good at what they do, which is to talk so much about something that you no longer care about it.
[re=433386]MzNicky[/re]: Highlights, and a layer or two.
Senator from Maine? I didn’t even know that Rowan Atkinson was a U.S. citizen.
Regardless, jolly good show on the vote Mr. Bean!
[re=433296]Terry[/re]: Do we get a New York senator named Rudefellow, or Inyerface?
Finally, only about twenty years after everyone else finished their homework, little Maxie finally hands in a half-eaten looseleaf piece of paper with those ragged edges from a spiral notebook, tomato sauce stains, and a big “HELF KAIR” scrawled on the top in highlighter. F-, Max!
[re=433313]freakishlystrong[/re]: [re=433314]V572625694[/re]: are suffering post-partisan depressions.
[re=433404]AnnieGetYourFun[/re]: Highlights fer sure. But I kinda like the all-one-length-pulled-back ‘do. It works for her. Most of us, um, women of a certain age can’t really pull that off so well.
I hear Cape Kennedy, Houston Mission Control, the CDC and Everglades National Park are all in the process of being moved to Bangor, Maine as we speak.
[re=433465]MzNicky[/re]: But does she wear mascara? That is the important issue. And rogue.
[re=433471]geminisunmars[/re]: Rogue rouge! The mavericky blush.
Squinty lady eyes legislation squintily and sourly approves with faint praise.
[re=433324]freakishlystrong[/re]: Huff Po’s stupid headlines were at least tolerable, but their obsession with guano faucet and media-whore Glenn Beck is unforgivable.
Now I’m frightened!
[re=433327]user-of-owls[/re]: Love how all their mediocre websites bite off Hopey’s.
[re=433574]Jim89048[/re]: God, Taintz has enough mascara for both of them plus the Rockettes.
So does this mean I should run for an Arkansas congressional seat?
I mean, Iona Trailer and all.
[re=433337]Smoke Filled Roommate[/re]: I’m sticking with MAX TARDCORE.
[re=434035]Long Form Def Certificate[/re]: Stop making fun of Trig, now. No need to do that. Bleep Blorp.
Corky!
(I apologize, I’m drunk.) G’Night!
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