You might very well think that…
Alas, poor Rachel… She continues to be endlessly bemused and frustrated by the motley assortment of shamelessly dishonest, hypocritical fraudsters and morally bankrupt douchebags that presently constitute the Republican Party.
It’s nice to see the Dems (finally!) taking Dr. Howard Dean’s advice and employing reconciliation to get this bastardized healthcare bill enacted.
Howard Dean on today’s Morning Joe defending his controversial position on the Senate healthcare bill.
It’s difficult to see how any “progressive” Democrats could support in good conscience what’s clearly become a failed attempt at achieving healthcare reform in the U. S. Congress. Perhaps at this stage of the game, the best thing to do would be, as Howard Dean suggests, just killing the present bill and going for the so-called reconciliation process in the House.
A metaphor, if you will…
Update: Great article by Glenn Greenwald in Salon outlining the duplicity of Obama and the Democratic leadership on the healthcare issue.
“The administration is getting the bill which they, more or less, wanted from the start — the one that is a huge boon to the health insurance and pharmaceutical industry.”
Howard Dean responds to a question at the Reston, VA town hall meeting about whether healthcare reform might potentially threaten the privacy of individuals.
It’s interesting to see how Dean turned what might otherwise have been casually dismissed as nothing more than unfounded paranoia into a thoughtful response addressing the much broader issue of legitimate privacy concerns vis-à-vis both the government and private corporations.
Bill Kristol gets busted on The Daily Show.
“Change you can ratchet down your belief in.”
Update: On a more serious note, Howard Dean provides a lot of common sense and straight-talk about this issue in his recent interview with Esquire Magazine.
Oh goody. The wingnuts and free-range loons are going to be out in force today (“Tax Day” for the 17% of Americans that haven’t already filed their income taxes) protesting all of the “reckless government spending” — something they were quite happily oblivious to for the past decade or more, apparently. Anyway, a couple of views on the protests from the left:
Howard Dean — as usual, the voice of reason. Go figure. I know that pseudo-cons will likely never be capable of getting their heads around that idea, but contrary to the ridiculous caricatures of him conjured up by the right-wing during the 2004 election, the guy is a very sensible and moderate fiscal conservative — always was, and still is.
Howard Dean discussing Obama’s proposed healthcare plan: “This is a huge economic boost. We’re losing jobs to Canada right now because their healthcare system doesn’t weigh down their business community like our healthcare system does.”
As noted the other day by the AP: “During Dean’s tenure, Democrats regained control of Congress in 2006, and captured the presidency in 2008 while increasing their numbers in the House and Senate.”
Well, there you go… Vindication indeed. Case closed.
Thank you Dr. Dean for a job well done!
Red Tory v.3.0.3 