some would rather have an inefficient private system

To them, there is no such thing as an inefficient private system. The "Market" is always the most efficient way of distributing money (upwards).

with bush/cheney the laws were straight giveaways to the corporations...

with obama/biden they start out looking pretty and nice, make sense, serve the common good, and then go into the rube goldberg machine and come out just like the bush/cheney days...

Steve, Thanks for the tireless weekend blogging. I appreciate the Saturday morning fix.

thanks to Massachusetts

Let's lay blame where it's due. If Massachusetts voters couldn't see through the Scott Brown campaign and appreciate the national implications of the election then no state would have. The Massachusetts debacle was a failure of the Democratic Party, both state and national. They picked a terrible candidate, ran an incompetent campaign, and failed to realize the problem until too late. Total ineptitude at all levels.

People who attend University are often exposed to other people, cultures, and mores. Their world-view typically expands as a result of this.

Too much "book learnin'" amongst the populace leads to intelligent thought, which leads to the capacity for reason, self-reflection, and rationality. Those skills can be applied to scrutiny of politics and politicians. Often, these qualities lead to more liberals and progressives.

Anything that stymies the production of more educated people means more Republican voters.

Why can't we LOSE for once? Bring the damn house bill to the floor and take a vote! Let's get this on record, let's find out which democrats want to cross the line on this issue, and then let's trumpet that fact across the country.

Votes matter.

This defeatist talk makes no sense to me. Weren't reconciliation instructions written for this legislation? It can pass by 51 votes. The problem, if it exists, is Democrats not Republicans. Would you please look into this and get this straight? Spreading mistaken information about what it takes to pass something contributes to defeatism.

P.S. And by the way, the problem was ALWAYS Democrats, not Republicans, Brown or no Brown, because Ben Nelson -- senator from the private loan industry -- was not going to support this. That is what reconciliation was always planned for this, at least if necessary.

Yes, Theda. It would be great if Reid had a whole list of bills that can go through reconciliation and then start passing them. This bill would be a good start followed by the jobs bill and HCR. Who needs Republicans or Nelson?

It's simple, the Repubs and some DINOs want us and our children to be debt slaves for our entire lives.
This is also why they oppose credit card reform and a consumer protection agency. They are scum, pure and simple.
But I'm with Theda--why would this not just go through reconciliation? Seems like a pretty straighforward budget matter.
Oh right, Harry Reid is a worthless cowardly excuse for a leader.

And while they are at it, they should set a cap on all current and past student loan interest rates, even those with "fixed" rates. My student loans are at an outragous 8.5% interest rate and the government REFUSES to lower it or even resign a contract with a lower rate. The interest is hurting me and the loans would have been paid off years ago it it were not for the interest.

This is the most corrupt industry I have every seen. They make pawn brokers look like Tiffany. By comparison bountyhunters are FBI agents.

It's time to delete them from the scene.

Meanwhile,

The stimulus is working and prevented another Republican created Great Depression. When the Republicans say it is not they lie. They are following the advice of Lenin who said, a lie told long enough becomers the truth.

What I tell you three times is true

The stimulous is working and prevented another Republican created great depression.

The stimulous is working and prevented another Republican created great depression.

The stimulous is working and prevented another Republican created great depression.

As Th pointed out the main obstacle within the Democratic Party is that piece of used CORPORATE SHIT PAPER CALLED SEN.NELSON.

Where's the forceful response from the DNC and other leadership organizations?

This is why I prefer to donate to Blue Dog and other activist groups. They'll at least run ads.

You can't refute a theology. Movement conservatism is a cult.

I totally agree with Rhoda and others on reconciliation. It is a failure of the Democratic Party if that does not happen. Speaking of which, and related to the Empty Chairs piece, I wrote the DNC that they need to toughen up their language (as proposed in some of the comments) and put these kind of items on television, not just on the web.

I think Ben Nelson has a hold on this. I assume he wouldn't vote for it because the banks in his state lobbied against it.

Slippery slope... They let Obama cut out the middleman on college loans, next thing you know he'll want no middleman on healthcare. Can't have it! Government doesn't work! Only umpteen layers of middlemen, each with his hand out, will work!

That's all very well, but what got done about it today? Nothing. What got done about it yesterday? Nothing. It's all just talk talk talk, without any action at all, while time keeps slipping away; before you know it, it'll be election time again, and everybody will be so busy campaigning (on what, God only knows) that there'll be no time for getting anything else done. A few more seats lost to the Republicans, maybe, and the obstructionism will only intensify. It won't get any easier telling the people later that the Republicans simply will not let anything get done that requires their cooperation, so start doing stuff. Go around them. What are you afraid of? That voters will say, "The Democrats kicked the insurance industry in the nuts, and saved me some money - Geez, I hate it when they do that: I'm voting them out". Instead, you sit on your hands and let Republicans tell voters who couldn't be trusted to search for lettuce in a green salad that the gubmint wants to make all their personal decisions for them and kill their grandma.

Do something, you bunch of jellyfish.