How did Pelosi et al Do It?

Foxfyre

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Oct 11, 2007
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Okay, we've discussed the Louisiana Purchase, the Cornhusker kickback, and all sorts of other shenanigans that went on to get the previous healthcare bills passed in the House and Senate, but those bills were too far apart for reconiciliation.

The healthcare reform was proclaimed dead by none other than Pelosi herself. She did not have the votes to go with the Senate version and the Senate wasn't inclined to budge.

So how did Obama and Pelosi raise the legislation from the dead in these last few days and get it passed? What created the triumphal march to the microphones to declare a landmark victory?

ED-AL191_strass_G_20100321183126.jpg


So how did they do it? By demonstrating that the sins of the fathers shall be visted upon the children, even to the fourth and fifth generations:

Excerpt

President Obama flew to Pennsylvania (home to five wavering House Democrats), Missouri (three wavering), Ohio (eight), and Virginia (four) to hold rallies with small, supportive crowds. In four days, Mr. Obama held 64 meetings or calls with congressmen. The goal was to let undecideds know that the president had them in his crosshairs, that he still had pull with the base, and he'd use it against them. By Saturday the tactic had yielded yes votes from at least half the previously undecided members of those states.

As for those who needed more persuasion: California Rep. Jim Costa bragged publicly that during his meeting in the Oval Office, he'd demanded the administration increase water to his Central Valley district. On Tuesday, Interior pushed up its announcement, giving the Central Valley farmers 25% of water supplies, rather than the expected 5% allocation. Mr. Costa, who denies there was a quid pro quo, on Saturday said he'd flip to a yes.

Florida Rep. Suzanne Kosmas (whose district is home to the Kennedy Space Center) admitted that in her own Thursday meeting with the president, she'd brought up the need for more NASA funding. On Friday she flipped to a yes. So watch the NASA budget.

Democrats inserted a new provision providing $100 million in extra Medicaid money for Tennessee. Retiring Tennessee Rep. Bart Gordon flipped to a yes vote on Thursday.

Outside heavies were enlisted to warn potential no votes that unions and other Democrats would run them out of Congress. Al Lawson, a Tallahassee liberal challenging Blue Dog Florida Rep. Allen Boyd in a primary, made Mr. Boyd's previous no vote the centerpiece of his criticism. The SEIU threatened to yank financial support for New York's Michael McMahon. The liberal Working Families Party said it would deny him a ballot line. Obama deputy campaign manager Steve Hildebrand vowed to challenge South Dakota Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin if she voted no. New York's Scott Murphy was targeted as a part of a $1.3 million union-financed ad campaign to pressure him to flip. Moveon.Org spent another $36,000 on ads in his district and promised a primary. Messrs. Boyd and Murphy caved on Friday.

All the while Mrs. Pelosi was desperately working to provide cover with a Congressional Budget Office score that would claim the bill "saved" money. To do it, Democrats threw in a further $66 billion in Medicare cuts and another $50 billion in taxes. Huzzah! In the day following the CBO score, about a half-dozen Democrats who had spent the past months complaining the bill already had too many taxes and Medicare cuts now said they were voting to reduce the deficit.

Even with all this, by Friday Mrs. Pelosi was dealing with a new problem: The rule changes and deals winning her votes were losing her votes, too. The public backlash against "deem and pass" gave several wary Democrats—such as Massachusetts's Stephen Lynch and California's Dennis Cardoza—a new excuse to vote no.

Mrs. Pelosi jettisoned deem and pass. Once-solid Democrat yes votes wanted their own concessions. Oregon's Pete DeFazio threatened to lead a revolt unless changes were made to Medicare payments to benefit his state. On Saturday Mrs. Pelosi cut a deal to give 17 states additional Medicare money.

By the weekend, all the pressure and threats and bribes had left the speaker three to five votes short. Her remaining roadblock was those pro-life members who'd boxed themselves in on abortion, saying they would vote against the Senate bill unless it barred public funding of abortion. Mrs. Pelosi's first instinct was to go around this bloc, getting the votes elsewhere. She couldn't.

Into Saturday night, Michigan's Bart Stupak and Mrs. Pelosi wrangled over options. The stalemate? Any change that gave Mr. Stupak what he wanted in law would lose votes from pro-choice members. The solution? Remove it from Congress altogether, having the president instead sign a meaningless executive order affirming that no public money should go to pay for abortions.

The order won't change the Senate legal language—as pro-choice Democrats publicly crowed within minutes of the Stupak deal. Executive orders can be changed or eliminated on a whim. Pro-life groups condemned the order as the vote-getting ruse it was. Nevertheless, Mr. Stupak and several of his colleagues voted yes, paving the way to Mrs. Pelosi's final vote tally of 219.

Even in these waning minutes, Senate Democrats were playing their own games. Republicans announced they had found language in the House reconciliation bill that could doom this entire "fix" in the Senate. Since many House Democrats only agreed to vote for the Senate bill on promises that the sidecar reconciliation would pass, this was potentially a last-minute killer.

Senate Democrats handled it by deliberately refusing to meet with Republicans and the Senate parliamentarian to get a ruling, lest it be unfavorable and lose House votes. The dodge was a clear dereliction of duty, but Democrats figure the Senate parliamentarian won't dare derail this process after ObamaCare passes. They are probably right.

So there you have it, folks: "How a Bill Becomes a Law," at least in Obama-Pelosi land.

Full story here in the WSJ:
Kimberley A. Strassel: Inside the Pelosi Sausage Factory - WSJ.com

Makes you proud to be an American doesn't it.
 
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Perhaps you could expound on what my location during the Bush administration has to do with the OP?

Because you act surprised that this is anything new. When in reality, many of the bills that have passed in the past that you cheered on likely were passed through such means.
 
Perhaps you could expound on what my location during the Bush administration has to do with the OP?

Because you act surprised that this is anything new. When in reality, many of the bills that have passed in the past that you cheered on likely were passed through such means.

Again what does anything that may or may not have been done in the past have to do with the OP?
 
We all know the votes were bought and paid for. But don't expect the Obamabots on here to ever admit it. Hell they don't even believe it. They can't get their heads out of Obamas ass to see anything in the sunlight.
 
We all know the votes were bought and paid for. But don't expect the Obamabots on here to ever admit it. Hell they don't even believe it. They can't get their heads out of Obamas ass to see anything in the sunlight.

Admit it? I can't even get them to discuss it. :)
 
Again what does anything that may or may not have been done in the past have to do with the OP?

Because there is no point in trying to have a discussion with someone on this who subjectively thinks that back room deals are okay when it's for legislation they want, such as yourself.

Whether we like it or not, the reality is this sort of thing occurs with just about every bill that is even halfway important. It doesn't make it right, but Washington has no plans on changing. And if you think the Republicans will change anything if they retake power, I direct you to the "Dracula Congress."
 
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bartering within congress is legal, and has been repeatedly done in the previous and all other administrations.Poison pill: how Abramoff's cronies sold the Medicare drug bill. - Free Online Library

Without seeing a previous outcry AGAINST such negotiations, and only seeing them NOW, serves nothing but a partisan purpose.

though I can understand the concern of the back room deals, I am baffled by the sudden and singular outrage of those on the "right" regarding such?
 
It was arm twisting, deal making, and bribery that got it done.

Pelosi, Reid, and Obama were just better at it than McConnell and Boehner this time.
 
so dummies are cool with 800,000 floridians keeping the healthcare they love aka medicare advantage while the rest get suckerpunched.. I like it when you own it. and condone it.. and make excuses for it.. you are so damn cool.
 
It was arm twisting, deal making, and bribery that got it done.

Pelosi, Reid, and Obama were more better at it than McConnell and Boehner this time.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7g0RLyxP13o]YouTube - The Chicago Way[/ame]

Malone: You said you wanted to get Capone. Do you really wanna get him? You see what I'm saying is, what are you prepared to do?

Ness: Anything within the law.

Malone: And *then* what are you prepared to do? If you open the can on these worms you must be prepared to go all the way. Because they're not gonna give up the fight, until one of you is dead.

Ness: I want to get Capone! I don't know how to do it.

Malone: You wanna know how to get Capone? They pull a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue. *That's* the *Chicago* way! And that's how you get Capone. Now do you want to do that? Are you ready to do that? I'm offering you a deal. Do you want this deal?

Ness: I have sworn to capture this man with all legal powers at my disposal and I will do so.

Malone: Well, the Lord hates a coward.
[jabs Ness with his hand, and Ness shakes it]

Malone: Do you know what a blood oath is, Mr. Ness?

Ness: Yes.

Malone: Good, 'cause you just took one.
 
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I think the best part of this bill so far is watching Willow flip out about it.
 
bartering within congress is legal, and has been repeatedly done in the previous and all other administrations.Poison pill: how Abramoff's cronies sold the Medicare drug bill. - Free Online Library

Without seeing a previous outcry AGAINST such negotiations, and only seeing them NOW, serves nothing but a partisan purpose.

though I can understand the concern of the back room deals, I am baffled by the sudden and singular outrage of those on the "right" regarding such?

Never in our nation's history, however, has any legislation of this magnitude, importance, expense, and with such far reaching consequences been passed not by the conviction of the members of Congress but by fiat, bribes, coercion, and payoffs. And never in the history of this nation has any legislation of this importance been passed in a 100% partisan fashion with zero support from the opposing party.

And I defy anybody to look at the litany of bribes, extortion, coercion, kickbacks, payoffs, and political cover in the excerpt in the OP and tell me that any part of it has anything to do with providing affordable healthcare to Americans.

And then tell me how that is justified.
 
bartering within congress is legal, and has been repeatedly done in the previous and all other administrations.Poison pill: how Abramoff's cronies sold the Medicare drug bill. - Free Online Library

Without seeing a previous outcry AGAINST such negotiations, and only seeing them NOW, serves nothing but a partisan purpose.

though I can understand the concern of the back room deals, I am baffled by the sudden and singular outrage of those on the "right" regarding such?

Never in our nation's history, however, has any legislation of this magnitude, importance, expense, and with such far reaching consequences been passed not by the conviction of the members of Congress but by fiat, bribes, coercion, and payoffs. And never in the history of this nation has any legislation of this importance been passed in a 100% partisan fashion with zero support from the opposing party.

And I defy anybody to look at the litany of bribes, extortion, coercion, kickbacks, payoffs, and political cover in the excerpt in the OP and tell me that any part of it has anything to do with providing affordable healthcare to Americans.

And then tell me how that is justified.

YOU obviously did not read the link I provided Fox?

Medicare Pill Bill was more than half the cost of this program, about $565 billion, that was no small entitlement, to say the least!
 
Hey, Foxy - that's a damned attractive picture you have there of Pelosi. :lol: What I'd like to know is how much that damned gavel cost the taxpayers.

I think we've all known about the "you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours" wheeling and dealing in DC. What I don't think we were aware of is the stunning degree and depth of all the deal making. That has very clearly been brought to the forefront - I mean, blatantly so. It's like being suddenly hit by a Mack truck full of shit - the stench is almost overwhelming.
 

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