Healthcare and Massachusetts

Posted on 01/19/2010 at 9:09 pm by Bob Cesca

Doesn’t anyone anywhere have any solid proof that Scott Brown’s impending victory has anything whatsoever to do with the healthcare reform bill?

Once again, like Virginia, this is all about an incompetent Democratic candidate and an impatient electorate which, like the idiot townspeople of Springfield on The Simpsons, have been easily herded into thinking the Republicans deserve another shot — even though it was the Republicans that royally screwed us in the first place.

The Democrats need to pass this bill in any legal, constitutional way possible before Brown is seated. To fumble now would be political suicide. As Paul Begala said on CNN today, not passing the bill would mean inevitable Republican majorities in November. And a Republican Congress pumped up by the teabaggers will investigate the bloody hell out of the Obama administration an they would absolutely try to impeach the president. No doubt in my mind.

Pass this bill, Democrats. Pass it. Find your balls and do this thing.

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  • GOVCHRIS1988

    Sad news. The next senator of Massachusetts is Sen-elect Scott Brown. Massachusetts, of all the muthafuckin places. Damn!

  • Allonfla

    I actually don’t feel as horrible as I thought I would. I guess its my eternal optimism or….delusion.

  • Alan4s

    Well, I’m embarased.

  • Lexaburn

    No bullshittin’ tonight, Bob.The Dems have failed miserably. Not only were they defeated by the charlatan getting prepped to give a victory speech, they were defeated by their own hubris. That’s not speculation; it’s fact. I just looked at the latest John Stewart clip being passed around, and one answer Coakley gave to a inquiry reminded me of the Hillary campaign – something about shaking hands the hands of voters in the cold. Good lord! Did it ever dawn on the woman just how chilly that response was?Soak it up and keep up the fight, everyone. The night is done for sensible folks, so let the senseless celebrate a great victory for a spell.Night.

  • GOVCHRIS1988

    In 10 seconds, expect our Republican friends to gloat for years. For the rest of us, well, to the victor go the spoils.

  • eve

    What a HUGE embarrassment for we dems. Senator Kennedy’s seat goes to this lame brain. In the bluest of states.Senator Kennedy. A man who worked decades for health care reform and this is what we do with his seat in the Senate.After all the hard work of getting this far with a bill and we punt on SENATOR KENNEDY’S seat!gd-dammit

  • NaturallyConservative

    (In 10 seconds, expect our Republican friends to gloat for years. For the rest of us, well, to the victor go the spoils.)Well, if you insist……

  • GOVCHRIS1988

    The question is, now that this has transpired, do we have the votes for passing this bill in the House? The senate is a non-starter, and I’ll be damned if a kill-biller could tell me otherwise how its possible now. You wanted it, now you got it.

  • http://edmigper.wordpress.com _emp_

    Coakley, Reid, Baucus, Leiberman, Nelson, Fox News, and the DSCC should all take proud credit for Coakley’s loss.

  • eljefejeff

    So now there are 57 democrats in the Senate. How disappointing. The republicans have what, 41? That’s a 16 seat edge. I’m sure the dems will be just as ineffective with a 16 seat majority as they were with an 18.I’m actually fine with this. The seat is up again in 2 years. They’ll get it back then. They still have a sizable majority in both houses. They’ll get this done, and if they don’t, then they don’t deserve to be in charge.The only thing that really sucks about this is that Ted is rolling over in his grave.

  • roxsteady

    No!If Coakley went on vacation when she was 20 points ahead, she has to take the blame. Of course, the idiots in MA, who voted for a dick who voted 96% of the time with Republicans will get what they deserved! MA has joined the teabagers states and is now the joke that the peopple of CT are and they can’t wait to get rid of that douchbag. FUCK YOU MA! When the Dems pass healthcare without this nudie model not able to stop them, then, the Dems pick up Bunning’s seat of Voinovich’s seat and get 60 votes AGAIN in November, then the idiots of MA will ask themselves “WHAT CAN BROWN DO FOR YOU? NOT A FUCKIN THING!

  • GOVCHRIS1988

    You ought to just love this.Less than 15 minutes after the race was called for Republican Scott Brown, the first of what could be many conservative Democrats asks for leadership to put the brakes on health care reform.Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA)”In many ways the campaign in Massachusetts became a referendum not only on health care reform but also on the openness and integrity of our government process. It is vital that we restore the respect of the American people in our system of government and in our leaders. To that end, I believe it would only be fair and prudent that we suspend further votes on health care legislation until Senator-elect Brown is seated.”

  • http://radicalsahm.blogspot.com/ Radical SAHM

    Such an ignoble end to an era. What a foolish waste of momentum and squandering of opportunity.

  • eve

    FU Jim Webb

  • GOVCHRIS1988

    We said it. We TOLD THEM. Don’t expect Congressional Democrats to veer left if Brown loses. We said it. Stay home, your ass is grass. We said it. Did they listen, fuck no. DLC formed in 1985 after 1984 election. Blue Dogs formed in 1995 after 1994 election. Did they listen. Fuck no.

  • Lexaburn

    Listen, eljefejeff, I don’t think Teddy is rolling in his grave. I think he’s smiling up at us with a knowing wink.We know what to do. Will we do it.No fighting the truth tonight, people.This is a setback, for sure, but it can also serve as a lesson to not take ANY moment for granted, especially when dealing with the borderline criminally insane party we’re up against.However, I must take my hat off to the charlatan, Scott Brown. He snuck in and decaffeinated her. It was a wrap.

  • Alan4s

    I really hope the media keeps track of Brown’s actions once he’s sworn in. Despite being on the Republican ticket, he billed himself exclusively as an independent. His record says otherwise. I suspect his votes in the future will follow his record.He is a charlatan.

  • NaturallyConservative

    Hey bob the lib, one last rant before I leave you for the night. Please!!!!I have to get back to msnbc. Great show tonight!

  • http://politicalpartypooper.wordpress.com/ Political Party Pooper

    Alright, Bob. It’s official.Now let’s see if your party has any balls.I’m betting they’ll scrape ONE pair up, and it will come from the White House.

  • http://watergatesummer.blogspot.com/ enigma4ever

    This is enigma4ever….everything U said is so true…the dems NOW need to act quickly -find their balls..their courage…and pass the HCR for Teddy…this Loss to a Charleton is not a good sign..ALL dems need to step up..and the prez sadly should have gone to Mass sooner..but Coakley did not work hard enough..she took a win for granted..

  • jhw22

    I think Jim Webb is mis-reading the message. I don’t think people are saying to slow down, I think they’re saying PASS THE DAMN BILL and get on with things. They want jobs addressed and think that as long as the health bill is in limbo jobs aren’t on the front burner because they don’t see how jobs and health are tied together.I throw Kill Billers into the blame pot for adding more shit to juggle and fight. We deserved this tonight. Our party has been pathetic and we’ve created more problems for ourselves with near-sighted, single-aspect, self-defeating drama. I think I am as angry at unproductive Dems tonight as I am at Lieberman and the Republican’ts for all of the distraction and pettiness they brought to the table.Now, I have read everything about reconciliation and I do not see how we can do that yet folks are still yelling for it. What IS possible?Jennifer

  • GOVCHRIS1988

    I must have a headache. God would be too kind to give me a stroke tonight. I’m so enraged, I’m listenin to Al Jarreau trying to calm down.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5TmTGkdjpE

  • http://extremeliberal.wordpress.com/ Jim in Michigan

    I don’t think its a big deal. It’s one special election in one state with a bad democratic candidate and an angry, selfish electorate….at least enough of them to swing the election to the right. People who make a big deal about things like this are the same ones who make a big deal about everything. Some people are so freakin dramatic. We can get the bill passed before he is sworn in, there are ways. And we really never had 60 votes anyway…Joe Lieberman, Ben Nelson, etc. Budget Reconciliation is the new buzz word.

  • http://politicalpartypooper.wordpress.com/ Political Party Pooper

    Jennifer,The one thing I KNOW is possible, something I’ve been wanting the Dems to do for two years, is to clear the Senate Schedule, and force the Repubs to talk. Force this issue to the front, and make the repubs stand their ground. That’s what you do. That’s what FDR would have done, and it’s the absolute right thing to do. Make them talk, make them tell the American people how America does not deserve HCR, and then make them fight Dems on Lobbyist and PAC reform. EXPOSE them. The Dems have been too soft. It’s time to play the way the big boys play.If your enemy is a Hypocrite, you MUST give him the rope. He’s just waiting to hang himself.

  • Lexaburn

    I’m listening to Brown’s speech, actually. Not bad. Very…familiar.Oh, the crowd is co-opting “Yes, we can!” now, by the way.Soak it up and HOPE that the Dems get their shit together, because this victory for the other side is as stunning as they say it is. I’m not one to cop to media hyperbole. Brown WON this. He can in at the right moment and took. her. out. I can see how people perceive him as persuasive, but it’s all smoke and mirrors when reading of his voting record and some of his more recent comments in public.He ramping them up with latent teabagger rhetoric.Ah, they’re chanting “U.S.A.” now, too. This is like a replay of that infamous “green background” speech McCain gave, but with a younger, more charismatic individual.Fight the pain, Cescans.

  • JackDanieL
  • JG

    This is a direct result of the “liberal media” pounding away at Obama and Dems since day one. Every, and I mean EVERY, single BS right-wing talking point was the debate of the day. Amnesia of the last 8 years is epidemic.Th other problem is, per usual with the Dems, they listened to the villagers. Bush got everything except Social Security reform. The Dems can;t do anything with this new anti-democratic 60 vote super-majority. You can bet if the Dems ever tried this whne they were in the minority it would be called out by our corproate village media.Lastly, Obama needs to be a stronger leader. The above the fray tactic has really backfired, TWICE. I understand there is only so much he can do 9and I mostly blame congress).His lack of string leadership has demoralized the Dems and it has not led his opponents to cease the lies and hostile rhetoric (socialist, communist, fascist, Nazi, et al.). You turn on Fox Propaganda for two minutes and you wonder who this man “Obama” they are talking about.I still admire and support Obama, but it is now crunch time. He needs to start calling out congress–and maybe pressure Reid into changing the anti-democratic 60 vote filibuster rule.

  • J M Ashby

    Never underestimate the ignorance of the voting public.Do so at your own peril.

  • Sprocket

    If I hadn’t made my peace with the inevitable stupidity and harshness of modern society I’d be dead by now.Suffice to say, my sister, who took days off work to campaign for Coakley, does not appreciate my realism.

  • MrBrink

    What the fuck’s wrong with those people?Conservatism is a fraud movement led by corporately owned religious fanatics using a neighborhood friendly off to glory face to sell you a hybrid religion with planks, commandments, and toxic undercoating.Conservatism– deregulated markets with little or no consumer, labor, or environmental protections and low taxes for the wealthy with no governmental safety net is tried and true poison.Conservatives are phony Constitution Originalists and prison industrial complex accomplices who because of the systemic stench of conservativsm allowed to pass as a viable and successful model for governance over the past 30 years, the low-level appointments and a God-fearing white man’s cult-like adherence to a draft of a worn and played simpleton’s ideology will be roaming the dark corridors of justice, manipulating law to better conform with Biblical interpretations and free-market dipshitheadedness for years.What was it MA? The promise to cut taxes for the wealthy? Split the safety net? Scrap environmental protections? Keep the Gays out of your divorce rate? It must be the Republican party’s war-based foreign policy and the ubiquitous propaganda machine that promises to keep your dumb asses safe from some nut that goes apeshit in a shopping mall, kindergarten, church, or Federal building?Whatever it was, you should get that checked out, MA. It could be an anti-government-labor-consumer/pro-big business virus.Teabag fever! It’s the stuff idiocracies are made of.Know this, slackers. The conservative nuts in the trenches NEVER sleep. Politics is their Foxhole and they defend stupid to the death.You lower your defenses, for whatever reason– community, pity, better human being– and they attack like a redo of Cemetary Hill.Conservatism, as a political movement, is poison in the water supply.But I know. I know. The party of Dick Cheney and Rush Limbaugh will get it right one of these times if you only believe in conservatism strongly enough to hope the biggest prick the world has ever known will come along and finally finish the dirty work of evicting America from itself.This could be the one, MA.Fingers crossed for you.

  • outofline

    History has many things to teach us – if only we could just take the time to look back…Brown got elected because Moakley came off as an entitled Democrat – who did not have to do anything to get elected.Remember Jon Lovitz as Dukakis on SNL debating GHWBush – “I can’t believe I’m losing to this guy.” (Yes, it is sad in a way that SNL counts as “history”.)This same “entitlement” mistake happens repeatedly in Massachusetts. Senator John Kerry is the next one to go unless he starts reaching out and fighting for his constituency.It made me remember Senator Edward Brooke – the first African American Senator elected in Massachusetts or anywhere in the US as a Republican.His Wikipedia url is this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_BrookeI'm not trying to say that Scott Brown would ever be in the same league as Ed Brooke. Brooke was very well liked by everyone. I remember Brooke first as an Attorney General. He didn’t just own a truck (Brown commercial).But the potential power of the Democrats with their majorities is being squandered everywhere by the very sense of entitlement that got them wiped off the map for the last 30 years.Edward Brooke was a very noble and honorable Senator for many years until he retired. In Massachusetts, and in that time period, it didn’t matter so much if you were Democrat or Republican. If you were doing a good job – that mattered.I don’t ever remember a Cosmo shot of Ed Brooke.

  • econeywaaa

    The right is all over this as a rebuke of Obama and his policies. Of course they don’t mention Mass voters sick of one party rule based on the last 3 Speakers of the Mass House resigning on ethics charges, State Senators going to jail, and the raising of the sales tax in the middle of the recession. Add to that an overconfident and weak Coakley, and Mass got exactly what was sold to them.

  • grcratty

    So naturally someone has now got to write: “What’s the Matter with Massachusetts?: How Conservatives Won the Most Liberal State in America”

  • Allonfla

    @grcratty: yes, it will be as relevant as A bound Man: Why We Are Excited About Obama and Why He Can’t Win.

  • flatiron

    Of course Coakley’s loss is all Obama’s fault (per FDL anyway)….http://firedoglake.com/2010/01/19/classy-dnc-throw-martha-coakley-under-the-bus/

  • Allonfla

    FDL has no shame. Accusing someone else of throwing people under the bus. They should know.

  • ceu

    I don’t get why MA is constantly referred to as the most liberal state in the US. Prior to Patrick’s taking office in 2007, they had 16 years of GOP governors. How is that “most liberal”?

  • ec

    No one. And I mean no one. Not Coakley, Obama, Kerry, or anybody else came out and explained to the people of Massachusetts why the health care bill would improve their lives. No one.We already have mandatory health care. To voters, this looked like a chance for costs to go up with no benefit. That may not be true but no one bothered to explain it.Also, people really care about jobs and no one addressed this either.The Democrats seemed to think that Massachusetts is the only state that votes consistently on ideology. It does not.

  • ec

    Also, Bob. Brown ran on a platform that promised to kill the health care bill. Coakley said, “he will kill the health care bill”.It was about the health care bill. If you will notice, Brown got 53% of the vote and 55% of people polled lately don’t like the health care bill.Obama needs to start kicking some butt.

  • jaleh

    I am depressed. What is going to happen to this country when voting population is stupid? How can they forget the last eight years? However, I don’t know much about Coakley, she doesn’t seem to be all that with it politically. Brown is packaged to be sold. Romney packaged Brown and sold it to the people of Mass. What next? Re-packaging of Palin? I have a foreboding feeling she is going to win in 2012. What is the difference between Palin and Brown?