President Obama told ABC News today that the Senate will not attempt to pass health care reform before Sen.-elect Scott Brown (R-MA) is sworn in.
"Here's one thing I know and I just want to make sure that this is off the table. The Senate certainly shouldn't try to jam anything through until Scott Brown is seated," Obama said. "People in Massachusetts spoke. He's got to be part of that process."
There you have it. Obama - ever the good bi-partisan.
"The same thing that swept Scott Brown into office swept me into office," he said. "People are angry, they are frustrated. Not just because of what's happened in the last year or two years, but what's happened over the last eight years."
You got that right, Mr President. Many of us are angry, but not all for the same reason. Some of us ARE angry over what's happened over the last two years. Get your head out of the sand, sir. The people of Massachusetts don't speak for me.
UPDATE: From the latest Democratic talking points:
"Republicans have an obligation to the American people to join us in governing our nation through these difficult times and to help clean up the mess they left behind," reads the memo obtained by TPMDC. "It is mathematically impossible for Democrats to pass legislation on our own. Senate Republicans to come to the table (sic) with ideas for improving our nation and not obstructionist tactics."
That tough talk from the Dems will get the Republicans in line, won't it? The Dems have given up. They don't want to lead.
Again from TPM. They're on a roll over there.
And why cant' the Dems shut the Reps up with: Your leadership from 2000-2008 is what left us with this mess.
ReplyDeleteAnd to the Dems I say: You've got an 18 vote lead! The Repubs were able to ram stuff through with a one vote majority.
Yes, get your heads out of the sand. Stop trying to be nice. Stop trying to be bipartisans. The Repubs are not interested and haven't been. WAKE UP.
Caminante, I don't get it. Now that the Republicans have won another seat in the Senate, they will be nice and cooperative? Does Obama want to get legislation passed, or does he just want to claim bi-partisanship?
ReplyDeleteExit polls in Massachusetts overwhelmingly represented voters as still interested in health-care reform. Many noted that Coakley ran an abysmal campaign (Curt Schilling a "Yankee fan"? Refusing to make campaign appearances and shunned standing out "in the cold" outside Fenway Park?) and when she realized that she was trailing in the polls began a mud-slinging fest that alienated voters.
ReplyDeleteI first heard of Coakley in 2008 when she involved herself in the Star Simpson incident at Logan Airport. (This M.I.T. student had a breadboard on her sweatshirt with LEDs in the shape of a star for a Career Day and was then arrested at gunpoint when she went to the airport to pick up a friend on an arriving flight. Prosecutors demanded $5,000 bail; the judge granted $750.) Coakley told the media that the device "had a very sinister appearance. It had a battery behind it, and wires." I realize that the intelligence standard for U.S. Senators is low, but this may have been pushing the envelope.
And besides, she was never a centerfold.
Paul, I wasn't paying much attention to the race in Mass., because I thought the seat was safe for Dems. The more that I hear about Coakley's campaign, the more I see that her effort was pathetic, arrogant, and insulting to the voters.
ReplyDeleteA centerfold in the Senate! And a man, at that! Truly, I never thought I'd see the day.