Meanwhile, there are signs that the senate bill itself is setup with little spiderholes for hidin' little delights for the medical insurance corporations...

There's just something inherently wrong with a system that allows a few people to not only have the power to deny debate of a bill, but to also have the power to thwart the will of a clear majority in denying a vote for cloture (i.e., a vote to allow a vote).

There's got to be a better way or, more correctly, a way to get there that doesn't require the very people who comprise the body in question to vote against their own power to make things right.

The Honorable Senators on the left side of the aisle need to be reminded a vote to carry out debate in the highest legislative body of our nation is a vote to reinforce more than 200 years of our representative democratic heritage. A vote with the Republicans at 8:00 eastern time on Saturday is a vote against small r and small d reprentative democracy.

The party of No needs to be challenged in the same way: Republicans need to be shown the wisdom of allowing a debate so they can articulate to the rest of us in the nation from the well of the Senate what their ideas are to fix the broken status quo!

This may be an insurmountable challenge as most Republicans have no ideas save the ones delivered to them in talking points form from the insurance gianst who are grotesquely profiteering on the fear and anxiety of common Americans of all strips! The world will be watching! -Kevo

Let these attention whores vote against cloture. They'll get lots of attention, all right, and it will all be negative. If they truly want to see what a shitstorm feels like, then bring it!

I'm tired of hearing about these a**holes.

Where is Lieberman on this. I haven't seen his committment, but I'm assuming from the 60 count here that he is for cloture to introduce.

1. The fact that Collins and especially Snowe are in the party of no camp says volumes about how ultimately craven they are. Snowe voted a bill out of committee, and now she doesn't want a floor debate? What are they supposed to do - keep it in the hallway?

2. And, does all the angst mean that for some future bill, if some R wants a debate, on anything, the D's cannot hold a 60 vote group together to restrict their bills? That is, the D's cannot threaten a quid pro quo in the future a block on some R-supported piece of crap? OR do the R's even bring bills forward? It it because Lierberdork, or Nelson, cannot be whipped on a vote to prevent other bills?

Snowe voted a bill out of committee, and now she doesn't want a floor debate? What are they supposed to do - keep it in the hallway? -- bigwisc, @ 15:04

Bathroom; keep it in the bathroom.

Joe Lieberman isn't really a mystery. His name says it all.

Liebe: A German word for love, if memory serves.

r: "R" stands for republican.

man: Man, or men (plural).

If you put it all together, you have Joe loves republican men (like John McCain or George Bush, which explains the kiss). It all makes sense in a Glenn Beck kind of way.

At this point, I can only conclude that Reid actually supports the GOP. I really don't think he is so stupid that he doesn't understand how to use parliamentary tactics to undercut the obstructionists, or to support his party's agenda. He couldn't have become the majority leader if he didn't know how to work the rules.

He could put an end to this with just a bit of effort, and he must know that. Instead, he lets it continue. The only reasonable conclusion is that he supports it.

Now, Blanchie is in a bit of a quandry. On one hand, the people and common sense are telling her to vote for health care reform and are threatening her job if she doesn't.

On the other hand, Arkansas Blue Cross and every other big medical interest in Arkansas is telling Blanche that she had better not vote for health care reform or she won't get her dream job as a lobbyist.

What's a girl to do!

Thank you, Broken Arrow. The Name Game has truly outed Joe the Blow(hard).

Lots of talk tonight from Mary and Blanche about "exchanges."

And re small businesses being able to buy from exchanges.

Funny, but I'm kind of with them. Requiring businesses to buy health insurance, and NOT allowing them to buy from a "public option" is BAD.

Allowing small businesses and the self-employed to buy from exchanges would, it seems to me, to make many, many customers available to exchanges.