I say, go completely "nuclear" and get rid of the filibuster. Then pass lots of progressive legislation. It will ensure a Democratic ascendency that will last a generation.

Is it a sandal or a flip flop?

You mean they may pass something with a **GASP** MAJORITY?!?!

OMFGONOEZ!!!11111!!eleventy!!!!1

I hate to sully the comments section, but you know what?

F*** YOU, GOP.

You stole $1.2 trillion from the American treasury through reconciliation, helping less than 1% of the population get richer in the process.

Spending that much to ensure the health of your fellow Americans is a f***ing bargain. Not that you actually care about your fellow Americans, but some of us do.

So go ahead and be on the wrong side of history. No one will ever remember the roll call vote, anyway.

They'll only remember that you stood in the way. Assholes.

The First Rule of the Right Wing is that Rules Are For Other People.

In short: Calvinball.

The liberals are using their majority to ride roughshod over all established democratic principles. The American people will remember.

sjw is right - if even the Today Show is framing reconciliation as the 'nuclear option' anyway, then there is no point holding back now - what are they going to say if the filibuster is done away with? The Plutonium option?

Sept 13th: www.marchforhealthcare.com

The phrase will surface during future conversations with progressives. The response should be quick, brief and consistent. "This is NOT the nuclear option. It is a process known as reconciliation. Both parties agree to the rules and have used it. But of course you know that. Or at least you would if you had done your homework."

First: STOP Negotiating with Chuck Grassley

Is there ANY DOUBT that Grassley will vote to filibuster HCR ?

Is Obama secretly trying to dump the 'Public Option' ?

Second: Use Reconciliation to ram through a Democratic HCR plan
How many votes does Reconciliation take ?
Do we need Blue Dogs ? (worthless Bayh, Nelson, Lincoln)

Third: FIRE TIM KAINE and BRING BACK HOWARD DEAN as DNC Chairman

Fourth: Recruit candidates to challenge Bayh and other Blue Dogs and get some REAL MONEY behind them
Knock Crooked Bayh out of the Senate
How can your wife earn $2.1M in two years if you're not crooked ??

I get the sense that some Republican official woke up sometime this week, and announced to the GOP world, "Never mind what we said before, let's start calling reconciliation the 'nuclear option.'"

And history proves, that with the help of their friends at Fox and the mainstream media, the nuclear option will have always meant reconciliation (which sounds dangerously close to appeasment anyway).

I think we need to take Republicans at their word.

They're not part of our society, they're not part of our country.

We need to find some other place for them to live.

We are seeing constant redfinition of terms and catch phrases for spin purposes. Another example is the current huffiness over Obama appointing so many "czars." Well, what has happened is that the definition of "czar" has changed. Before it was applied to a very specific case - someone who was appointed to carry out a high-level coordination function over diverse segments of the bureaucracy (e.g. the drug czar). Now it just means anyone engaged by the White House for a specific task, regardless of whether it has any bureaucratic coordination function. Naturally, the number of "czars" has increased.

I would not care if it was a nuclear option. When opponents of health insurance reform embraced lying as their main political tactic, they forfeited any right to demand 60 votes.

Third: FIRE TIM KAINE and BRING BACK HOWARD DEAN as DNC Chairman

Let's move that up to first.

From the desk of Evan Bayh:

I must address the serious charge made by a commentor on this web site.

MSierra wrote "Knock Crooked Bayh out of the Senate
How can your wife earn $2.1M in two years if you're not crooked ??"

First, I should clarify that the $2.1M in two years EARNED by Susan was not her total income. That represents only her income from being a corporate director for the medical insurance corporation and the biotech corporations.

Susan, my wife, is a super-duper, hunky-dory lawyer who deserves all of this income. Just because she was never a corporate director before I became a senator is no reason to link the two unrelated events. After all, Susan earned substantial income as a lawyer before I became a senator. She became, during my time as governor of Indiana, a very high paid lawyer on the payroll of Eli Lilly.

To imply that Susan receiving income (only about 1/3 Million per year) from the Wellpoint (Anthem/Blue Cross/Blue Shield) medical insurance giant will have any impact upon my votes relating to the so-called reforms that would create undue public competition for Wellpoint is unfounded and unfair.

Now that I have set the record straight, I await your apologies!

The only reason Baucus and Conrad have the power over reform that they have is that Reid allows it. Reid needs to just move the votes forward, get Kennedy in there (my guess is that as long as he draws a breath, he will do what he can to make that vote) and dare Baucus, Conrad, and Nelson to support a Republican filibuster. They can vote against final passage, but I think it is unlikely that they will support a filibuster. They are bluffing because they know they can get away with it.

I don't care what they try to call it. I'm supposed to care about 'nuclear' when they've already tried "Nazi"? No.

Use whatever process you have to get some health care reform. They've stopped caring even a little about the good of the republic, so if they want to cry and try to call names, I don't care. Pass some damn healthcare reform and tell these whiny ass babies to shut the hell up.

As to the real nuclear option, it seems the current filibuster process has been broken because the two sides no longer share the same rules, but I'm still not convinced that the filibuster should be ended.

The Republicans do this kind of Orwellian redefinition of terms because it works. Other than Jon Stewart, almost no one ever plays the old videotape.

I get the sense that some Republican official woke up sometime this week, and announced to the GOP world, "Never mind what we said before, let's start calling reconciliation the 'nuclear option.'"
Does the name Frank Lutz sound familiar?

smiley beat me to it