I hope Bernie Sanders and a few other 'sane' Democrats join them. I cant believe the house passed this junk.

This crop of Republicans would filibuster a sunrise. The fact is they have dropped out of the legislative process. Pay them no mind. The only "Republican" the Democrats need is Traitor Joe and they can squash him like a bug if he joins the Republican filibuster.

This crop of Republicans would filibuster a sunrise.

Too true. Didn't they even manage to accidentally filibuster one of their own bills last year?

the opposition party is supposed to oppose

Do you have a macro for this phrase, Steve? You do love it.

The opposition party is not "supposed to oppose" every single action of the majority party regardless of its merit and even when said action directly advances the opposition party's stated goals and principles.

I blame Max Baucus for letting Grassley and the gang slow walk things so that nothing was done in time for the August madhouse. People blame President Obama for not getting anything done. How can he get anything done with the Democrats we have in congress? With President Obama in the White House and Democratic majorities in the house and senate, the healthcare reform bill should have been a cake walk. It's just embarrassing.

"the opposition party is supposed to oppose"

Agreed with shortstop and Ron Byers: eff that noise. The opposition party is supposed to have different governing priorities, and to attempt to help govern the country in a way that reflects its different priorities. But it's supposed to help govern the country. To mindlessly oppose and obstruct every function of the government, which is what the GOP does, is unpatriotic.

What Gregg is "threatening" is simply to exercise his First Amendment rights to warn Americans of the dangers of obamacare.

I come back to what I said in the previous thread, the "health care reform" being proposed is a mess. I have yet to be convinced that if the senate bill is anything like the house bill, it shouldn't be opposed on grounds that it will hurt working class Americans. Hurting working class Americans might be just what we expect from Republicans, but in the long term caving to the insurance industry damages the Democratic party.

Why not "threaten" Republicans with a single payer plan?

Why aren't sane dems working, not just on what will be a near impossibility to remove the stupack stain, but on other amendments that might help either make lemonade out of lemons or to poison pill the stupack stain? Lemonade--an amendment that states if congress is going to make moral and personal decisions for over half of America then congress will ensure some sanity by requiring all picies must cover every type of birth control in existence, including morning after, and that all pharmacists must dispence them regardless of moral hesitancy. PoisoN pill--prohibit coverage for risky activities such as any hunting accident or self inflicted gunshot wounds, injuries from off road recreational vehicle use, ED and similar pills and treatments of any kind (if god wanted you to have sex he would give you morning or evening wood), and things like that.

Maybe it's time to set aside the public option, get a bipartisan bill, then go back and pass the public option as a budget reconciliation measure?

The senate can pass a bill without a public option and then reinsert it in conference. The problem isn't the public option or the Stupak side show, it is the rest of the damn bill. We really need to expand coverage and control costs. You know, achieve the goals discussed during the campaign.

Why not "threaten" Republicans with a single payer plan?

Because threats are only effective when there's a chance in hell they can be carried out.

What Gregg is "threatening" is simply to exercise his First Amendment rights to warn Americans of the dangers of obamacare.

The reason we're laughing at Gregg - and at you too now, Al - is that the thought that Gregg and the rest of the Senate GOP caucus wouldn't attempt a filibuster never even crossed our minds.

Memo to Harry Reid:

The Republicans are going to oppose everything you try to do, every step of the way. So, to hell with them. Move ahead with your legislative agenda without regard for those assholes.

NYT becomes Fox News -- headline on the frontpage of nyt.com: "Democrats Raise Alarms Over Costs of Health Bills". The main objections discussed in the article come from.... Susan Collins.

Senator Gregg - Again?!?

Can you believe that the Obama Administration once offered a Cabinet position to this bozo?

Were they thinking if he was in the Cabinet, he'd be under adult supervision, and they'd look "bipartisan"? Surely it wasn't because of any confidence in his judgement or abilities?!

It is as predictable as the sunrise -- the left wing of the progressive movement will end up joining forces with the GOP to try to gather votes against the Health Care Reform Bill. Dennis Kucinich, the one that claimed to be the only true liberal in the race, voted against the bill.

They do this, not because of this or that provision of the bill, but because it is their form of self-justifying triangulation -- they actually despise "incrementalist" Democrats more than they care about building a governing majority. Kucinich will never be a Waxman, or a Ted Kennedy. His only claim to fame is that he is further to the left than all the Democrats, and so he ends up with the GOP.

It seems to me that there have been only threats of a filibuster, but I haven't seen any of those threats come to full fruition.

Can anyone point me to an instance this year in which the GOP ACTUALLY FILIBUSTERED?

The impression gleaned after all these years from the drumming , C/O the ever responsive knee jerkarama echoic chamber , was for all purposes intended to , with maximum effrontery , clearly and loudly cry wolf at the first hint of government .
That seems at odds with a moral obligation to oppose . Knee jerkers or responsible opposition ? If you need to think about that , you are , or will soon be , a target .

I think this is potentially unfair to Collins. She's the sort of Republican, rare enough, who's actually capable of persuasion on the merits; and the public option does stand on the merits. If she can be persuaded of it, and the voters of her state can, then she becomes a potential way around Snowe or Lieberman, and also gives Ben Nelson Republican cover. Indeed, she gives Snowe cover too, and her consitutency is Snowe's. Talking to Collins could well get two for the price of one, and if I was on the DNC I'd *strongly* consider a heavy advertising hit on it in Maine.

Well, that or larding the bill with lobster-fishing subsidies.

They can't very well primary her either, and she knows it. Not in Maine.

Steve, I wish you'd stop using this sentence: "There's nothing especially wrong with that -- the opposition party is supposed to oppose"

Why?

Congress critters are supposed to vote on what is good for the country NOT what their party's ideology requires.