Democrats SUCK!

First the House of Representatives passed a bill that I did not believe would make it and now the Senate has voted 60-39* to allow debate on a different health care bill that includes a public option. Historically, most bills that make it to debate on the Senate floor are ultimately passed into law. I’m still hoping that this one is one of the few exceptions. There are many aspects of these bills that could derail health care reform yet. The public option and abortion are contentious, pitting the more moderate and fiscally conservative Democrats against the more rabidly liberal ones.

It seems that the Democrat’s trouncing in Virginia and New Jersey did nothing to scare them. They are still delusional and believe that they will not be voted out for passing (or even trying to pass) a bill that is largely unnecessary and that is soundly rejected by the majority of voters. Senator Joe Lieberman (D-CT) voted with the other 59 Democrats to move the bill to full debate. He had been one of three Democrats that had considered stalling the bill. The other two were Senator Mary Landrieu of Louisiana and Senator Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas. In this video, Senator Lieberman discusses his vote and his feelings on the health care reform issue:

It is not clear what was offered to Senator Lieberman to vote in the affirmative, but there is speculation that he was threatened with loss of his influential chairmanship of the Homeland Security Committee if he did not vote with the majority.

Senator Mary Landrieu was given about $300 million for her state in the bill to assure her vote. Republicans have rightly called these provisions in the bill, the “Louisiana Purchase.” It is not clear what was offered to Senator Lincoln, but she also folded and voted for the bill. She faces reelection next year in Arkansas and will have to pay for her vote sooner than her other colleagues.

The good news is that there are still Democrats that say they will not vote for the final bill in the House or Senate if it doesn’t specifically exclude abortion funding. There are also Democrats who say they will not vote for the final bill if it contains the public option of a government run health insurance. There are also more radical leftist Democrats who say they will not vote for it if it does not include abortion coverage and a public option. This discord amongst themselves gives Republicans and people with common sense hope that the socialist takeover of our health care system may yet go away like it did during Clinton’s term. Let’s hope so.

* One Republican did not vote. His name is Senator George V. Voinovich (R-OH).