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On the Senate floor right now, Sen. Bernie Sanders is speaking after having pulled his single payer amendment from consideration. Tom Coburn had forced Senate clerks to read the entire 767-page amendment on the floor, a delaying tactic which would have lasted long into the night.
The Senate leadership made clear that the obstructionism would directly threaten not the health care bill, where the manager’s amendment has not been prepared yet, but the defense appropriations bill, which the Senate wanted to pass tonight after getting the conference report from the House. Dick Durbin, in a news conference, tried to put pressure on Republicans by saying their delay tactic would stop funding for the troops. But apparently the leadership must have gotten spooked that their timeline was slipping, and pressured Sanders to withdraw the amendment, which even he said was more symbolic than anything. This is more about passing the defense appropriations bill than anything.
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So what if it is about the Defense Bill?
Saunders isn’t even a Democrat. He doesn’t have a gavel (does he?). Why the fuck does Joe Lieberman have a gavel and does nothing leadership wants but Saunders is supposed to bend over backward for leadership?
BAH! I wish Saunders would’ve told leadership to go Dick Cheney themselves, and then let the Republicans make more asses out of their selves by delaying the Defense Bill.
Oh wait, the Defense Bill. The MIC.
Doh. My bad. What was I thinking.
NO SLOWING THAT BABY DOWN! RIGHT????
it’s not just defense appropriations, it’s the bill to escalate the war in afghanistan.
Oh that’s right. The funding for the surge.
Double DOH on my part.
NO SLOWING DOWN THE DEFENSE BILL, ESPECIALLY WHEN IT’S SPECIFICICALLY FOR KILLING SOME MORE BROWN PEOPLE.
Damn, I should’ve had more coffee this morning.
Still, I wish Saunders would’ve told leadership and the Republicans to go Dick Cheney themselves, let them read all 700 pages, and too fucking bad it wasn’t 17000 pages, and then PUT THEM ALL ON RECORD VOTING FOR OR AGAINST SINGLE PAYER.
As much as they like funding the MIC and killing brown people, I think being afraid of being on the record one way or the other on single payer was even a bigger deal than those. THAT’S WHY I wish Saunders would’ve held firm.
Don’t you just see how the script was played?
OK, single payer coming up for vote. Can’t you see the Democrats shaking in their boots? What to do? What to do???
Why, let’s get the Republicans to help us out. Get the Republicans to demand reading the entire bill (something they didn’t even do on the health care bill), then we can get good ‘ol Bernie to pull it back cause we can’t be “delaying funding for the troops” and voila!!!! No need to vote on record for Single Payer. WHEW! That was close.
Thank god for those Republicans. And that Defense Bill. And good ‘ole Bernie.
Assholes.
Gotta keep the killing machine going you know? Can’t have anyone saying we don’t support the troops(who apparently don’t have the common sense to see they are nothing but cannon fodder for political purposes).
He’s going off in the well of the Senate…! Go, Bernie, Go…! *g*
I support Bernie Sanders and wish he did’nt pull his ammendment from the floor of the senate. In my opinion, the insurance companies ARE part of the problem. They’re sucking the blood out of this economy! We don’t live in the same world as we did when this money-pit was started after world war two. The world has changed and this system that was created is obsolete and does’nt work anymore!! We’d be better off with a system where we just pay into it and receive the benefits. A non-profit oganization that is overseen by the federal government and no FATCAT’S to pocket OUR MONEY!!! I say we demand this insurance monopoly be abolished once and for all !!!!