Ok Sen Baucus THANK YOU....

I know this will not be popular but either you, and the rest of the leadership are the most intelligent chess players I have ever met, or your career is over...

Let me explain.

Your bill, chances are. is so damn toxic it might not even make it out of committee... thank you for that. By doing that you have strengthened the hand of the Progressives and proven, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the Republicans will NOT vote for anything. They are the new party of NO. The last time we had a party of NO they went into oblivion, but that's another matter.

Now if the objective was to show that the republicans cannot negotiate in good faith... well played Sir.

On the other hand... I don't know. Yes, these were the kinds of maneuvers used back in the day when Masters of the Senate like oh Johnson, ran the show... but somehow I don't think we are dealing with that.

Anyhow Max, thank you... whether on purpose or by accident, you have done us a favor.

Now I need to call my delegation tomorrow and let them know that your bill better die if it ever actually comes out of committee. As I said, it may not even do that. Oh and at least you can tell Cigna you tried.

:-)

Oh and yes, after readying some of it... what were you thinking man?

I know we need to fund this and if we want universal participation we need a mandate... but man you are talking of over 23% deductions on all paychecks. Are you nuts? (Yes Fica and his mandate... 3-5% I can see it, but 13% that boy needs some of the care he already pays for)

Now to the rest of you horrified about that 13% do me a favor, for those of you WHO HAVE care, do calculate how much you actually spend on it. Given how the system works average of 9% of your income between fees, deductibles et al, would not surprise me at all.

Oh and by the way, if we get something that actually works, I am betting MY cost will actually go up, and that is fine, we need health care.

He sure doesn't act like one...

Read Caro's master of the Senate.

Somehow I doubt this is what is at play... mostly I don't give Reed that much credit.

Now if perchance they did... the three Republicans were had. But that requires the type of backstabbing and arm twisting not seen since at least the 1980s. Tip O'Neil was the last, iirc, to actually try something like this.

So they are proposing to take 13% MORE out of a paycheck, 5x more if you are old. Instead, we could take, perhaps, 5-8% of paychecks and provide a single-payer card (maybe less, but that is not the point). It would be a tax, but you, your family, grandma, everyone would be convered.

Clown Prince Max is proposing taking much more than that. The explanation will be that it is not a tax, that it is the "premium" for your health insurance, like the "fees" for stamps are not taxes, or the "license" for your dog is not a pet tax.

It won't go anywhere, (this is what people in Montana are paying him for?), but if it did you might literally see the people in the streets put down their signs and take up the pitchforks and torches.

Maybe we would finally achieve real Bipartisanship ;)

and thanks for the laugh.

No this thing will not get out of Committee, at least one Senator in the Committee, Jay Rockefeller, has said NO already... and there are rumors of two more. So it will not even leave committee if that stands

Of course the Republicans may vote Yea to get it on the floor to try to scuttle the other two and force conference... in the past they would. Again, we are not dealing with those critters who knew procedure that well. And parliamentary procedure can be fun.

I think he created a plan that will not fly so he can tell the people who really pay his bills, big health care, that he did his best. There are more progressive bills in the Senate that may very well get past the gate keepers. Since Kennedy's replacement should be on line next week, they will have 60 votes for cloture. After that, they only need a simple majority and the VP can break a tie.

Now if this was actually a Johnson like maneuver... a young historian will find about it years from now... and if it was... that will change my view of the leadership...

We have not seen that kind of hard core games since Tip O'Neil and damn it he wasn't as good as Johnson.

Why I agree, this was accidental.

would understand this...

by the way, Caro's book is a most for students of the Senate.

Johnson Master of the Senate.

Since I'm #81 of 317 holds on Senator Kennedy's book, and they don't have any copies in yet, I'll be needing something else to read.

I HAD to read it for upper division US History... my teach had a love\hate relationship with LBJ...