Okay. I would now like to extend a hand to my Republican brothers and sisters. Instead of calling tonight's legislation "The 2010 Health Care Reform Act", let's call it "The 2010 Health Care Reform Act That Was Passed Without A Single Republican Vote" -- in perpetuity, shall we? We can agree on that, can't we?

Thank you, Steve. I had your blog open in the window next to C-Span. Tomorrow, we wake to a new world.

Thank you, President Obama, Speaker Pelosi, and the House and Senate Democratic leadership for taking an historic first step toward fixing our broken health care system. As the spouse of a young adult cancer patient, I am especially greatful that my family, and millions of other Americans will not have to worry about being denied coverage due to a pre-existing health condition.

And, thank you Senator Ted Kennedy for passionately fighting for health care reform over your entire career. This victory could not have been achieved without you.

You helped keep the fight alive by promoting the strategy of having the House pass the Senate bill plus reconciliation sidecar. And Pelosi deserves a medal.

They P'd the Damn B!

Passed. The. Damn. Bill!

Steve Benen - thanks for your dedication and your common sense and your pass.the.damn.bill. While I've been very critical of the bill because I want single payer, or at least a robust public option, or at least a public option with an opt-out, I eventually agreed with you that the Dems just needed to pass.the.damn.bill.

And they have.

Congratulations to you, to Nancy Pelosi, to President Obama, to OFA, to the Dems, and to the liberal blogs.

It's not a great bill. All it really does is fix a few of the more glaring flaws of the present system. But it's a first step. A small one. But the first real step we've had in decades.

Pelosi and Obama deserve credit for getting the votes and managing to fight their way past the DINOs and a united Republican Party.

Now the it's in Reid's hands to pass the fixes that will somewhat improve the bill. Given his past performance I'm not holding my breath.

Steve,
A friend recommended Washington Monthly's blog to me about one and a half years ago. I have followed it ever since, and I can't tell you how much I appreciate you keeping me up to date on the happenings of Washington. This debate has been the most frustrating thing I have ever had to follow but being less informed would have been much worse. You provide a great service and I thank you sincerely.
Aaron

Yeeehah! Witnessed history in the making and a moment in which Dems can claim without the audience laughing, that they have a spine! Wonderful to watch, could not be prouder of everyone involved. Will be working to volunteer for their election campaigns again as thanks.

Will sleep soundly tonight with a grin on my face, but tomorrow I will wonder if the Senate will manage to screw it up.

Speaker Pelosi - First woman speaker kicks butt!
President Obama - First black president easily conquers every president since LBJ! And then some!

to all who had the courage to make this moment possible: THANK YOU!

Damn, Pelosi just pulled a baby seal right out of a shark's jaws.

I'd like to think she'd start getting better press, but it might make the Broder types damage their dentures gnawing on the words.

High fives all around.

YAHOO! It is a BEGINNING...without it we would still be fighting to DEFINE health care for all. Now we will be fighting to REFINE it. Yes...in my lifetime. Here's to you Teddy!

I have tears in my eyes. I am happy I lived to see this day. Words fail me. As Obama said,"We are still a people capable of doing great things." Thank you!

A TREMENDOUS achievement, despite its many flaws!

The best thing about this is that, for once, Democrats did not roll over and die when the sh*t hit the fan in January although Rahm Emanuel apparently would have preferred to to just that. Fortunately Nancy Pelosi has balls the size on an elephant although she's a lady:-)

So many heroes tonight... Harry Reid, Pelosi and (this year-) Obama all were hugely important. But I would also like to thank centrist/anti-abortion types such as Bart Stupak, Max Baucus and Ben Nelson. The concessions they demanded may be annoying, but let's not forget this thing could not have happened without their support. In most cases it would have been easier for them to just vote No, but they too wanted to see this thing passed and in the end I think they were as fed up with the GOP's dishonest stalling tactics as anyone.

MARCU$

Steve, thanks from me too for all your work on our behalf.

That was a good statement by Obama. (Have I said enough times lately how much I really, really appreciate no longer having Bush as President?)

Now, how many ways can the Senate screw all this up before the bill gets signed?

One of the commentators on MSNBC said after the vote on the reconciliation bill that the Dems could use the Rs "no" votes on that to say that the Rs must *support* the special agreements (with Nebraska, Florida, etc.) in the Senate bill that were nullified with the reconciliation/fix bill. Yet more ammunition.

Joseph Cao really shot himself in the foot tonight. I assume there's a Dem running against him this fall.

I hope Bart Stupak knows now that you can't reason with the Rs. They will stick a knife in your back if you cross them.

Thanks for keeping on top of this, Steve!

You all missed it if you didn't watch the post-vote remarks by Nancy Pelosi and a large group of House Democratic leaders, including John Dingell, after the final recess.

Steve Benen, if you hear of a transcript, please post a link.

But the most remarkable part was the very end when Nancy Pelosi gave her husband a shout-out and the camera panned over to him standing in a doorway, wearing a suit, no tie, and the top three buttons on his shirt unbuttoned.

Hilarious!

And who knew Henry Waxman was so short? (Not that there's anything wrong with that.)

But if you have time to poke around at C-Span, I recommend finding and watching that part of tonight's event.

Congratulations, America!

And thanks, Steve Benen, for your unstinting encouragement throughout this seemingly never-ending process.

It's wonderful to watch so much bitter cynicism put down, at least for a moment.

I can't believe it. We actually did it. I've been as cynical as anybody during this process, and I wanted Single Payer or at least a robust PO, but all that doesn't matter right now. Tonight I'm a happy man.

steve, i too kept watching wash.monthly as well as your twitter account all day long. thx for being on top of this, for this whole past year as well.

This was all but dead and on it's way to the funeral home a couple of months ago. Even Rahmbo wanted to half-heartedly try for some kind of token piece of shit legislation.

...but Nancy had the balls to tell Rahm to get out of the way while she went to work.

Pelosi Rocks! She is one hell of a tenacious Speaker! Making history over and over again.

Doesn't matter if any Republicans voted for it. They've made themselves irrelevant. The lesson learned is f#%k bipartisanship. Things will get done better and faster without it.

And one of the best things about it is that now Rush Limbaugh has to move to Costa Rica!

"An achievement that seemed out of reach".

It's not an achievement. It was never "out of reach". It's an utter capitulation to corporate America. They won this fight, you fools.

Something for the Republicans to chew on:

The glue that keeps a society joined is empathy. Predatory philosophies, such as those of Spencer or those who redacted Adam Smith, tear societies apart.
We can only be our brother's keeper if we recognize that we are all brothers (and sisters), with equal rights and opportunities.
The disgusting rhetoric offered by the right is self-defeating in many ways - it speaks of a broken nation that has not understood the reason why the U.S. grew strong and wise. They forgot that the founding fathers were clear on the government's duty:
"That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."

And they chose to ignore the origin of that phrase - the strength of a nation is built through showing fellowship and kindship, not through standing before a Parkinson victim and screaming abuse at him, while you throw dollar bills from your wallet.

"If, in reality, courage and a heart devoted to the good of mankind are the constituents of human felicity, the kindness which is done infers a happiness in the person from whom it proceeds, not in him on whom it is bestowed; and the greatest good which men possessed of fortitude and generosity can procure to their fellow creatures is a participation of this happy character. If this be the good of the individual, it is likewise that of mankind; and virtue no longer imposes a task by which we are obliged to bestow upon others that good from which we ourselves refrain; but supposes, in the highest degree, as possessed by ourselves, that state of felicity which we are required to promote in the world (Civil Society, 99-100)."

Conservatives in the U.S. are adrift. And they do not realize that through their actions, they are weakening the nation. To speak in the language they should understand: What is there to fight for, to defend, in a nation where brother is turned against brother, in the manner in which they seem to desire?

Allow me a last quote - from Adam Smith, one that would startle most conservatives who have used the "invisible hand" misquote to justify their predatory practices:

"Markets could not flourish without a strong underlying moral culture, animated by empathy and fellow-feeling, by our ability to understand our common bond as human beings and to recognize the needs of others."

I have not been able to sleep soundly since Scott Brown's victory promised to turn Obama's Presidency sour. Last night I slept the sleep of the blessed.

Lets all send Rush Limbaugh a few moving boxes.

I'm hoping that this will set the seeds for building a new generation of Democrats. The provision allowing people to stay on their parents plans even if not in school will help anyone who is really sick who has to take a leave of absence. And all those kids graduating from college who don't have insurance when they get out of school would be able to keep it.

Plus we're pushing everyone into the direct loan program, and the Department of Education is much easier to deal with than the private lenders.

Looks to me like the Republican Waterloo Ha! In the noozepaper this morning there was an AP photo of the "Protesters" taken from the capital second or third floor. It showed a rag tag collection of maybe 600 or 700 people . Hardly a protest in a country of 300 million. Thank you LIBRUL media for giving the fringe a voice.

Yeah, funny thing about some of those "Spontaneous Grassrooters" protestors - A friend of ours, who is a progressive, moved back to her home area between Scranton and Wilkes-Barre, PA. She was horrified to learn of the extreme right wing views of her family members. One of them is retired and on a small fixed income. In the past few months, she has had a new "career" by being flown across this land and put up in hotels, so she can demonstrate "spontaneously" as far away as California. Whether or not she receives per diem, it is not known, but, she does not "just happen" to show up with pre-written signs handed to her, so she can scream her head off.