Lemmings running off a cliff.

It is pretty well known that the bill was bipartisan right up to the moment Corker and Chambliss decided they didn't want anybody to know they were parnters with Chris Dodd in it's creation.

"Its creation" not "it's creation." All those years of college and multiple university degrees--you would think I would know how to communicate in English.

Remember, Susan Collins is one of the "moderates" in the Republican Party. In other words, she's ostensibly someone Dems can work with in good faith. So much for that idea.
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For about the billy-kazillionth time. (When do you suppose those zany Dems will pick up the cluephone?)

This is going to be such a good issue for Democrats. The media is not rolling over for McConnell. republicans are going to look like they are completely in the pocket of Wall Street bankers that destroyed our economy. And if they want to lock arms together and be completely against even holding a debate about a reform bill, they are making themselves such obvious targets it will be like shooting fish in a barrel. Bring in on bitches!!

I don't understand how it makes sense to allow a 41 vote minority in the Senate prevent a bill from being debated. I thought that the rationale for the filibuster was that the Senate should have no limits on how much discussion accompanies a bill. But filibustering to prevent a bill from being discussed makes no sense at all.

A bill is bipartisan if it has both Democratic and Republican support. So if Collins votes for it, that makes it bipartisan, doesn't it?

Or maybe she means that she won't be the first Republican to support it, but she would gladly be the second one.

He may be disowning it now but Sen Corker, Republican of Tennessee, was instrumental in developing the bill. Does Sen. Collins not consider him a member of her party?

Isn't bringing the bill to the floor for debate one way to make the bill 'bipartisan?' She is apparently so firmly committed to the idea, she'll do whatever it takes to prevent it from happening.

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Secret meeting with bankers?

What about transparency? What about openness?
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I would like to know what the people in Maine think about Sen. Susan Collins. Is this really what they want in a senator.

Meanwhile. Let's sing a merry tune and flip out all the Repubs in teh audience.

(All Together Now!)

Arise, ye workers from your slumber,
Arise, ye prisoners of want.
For reason in revolt now thunders,
and at last ends the age of cant!
Away with all your superstitions,
Servile masses, arise, arise!
We'll change henceforth the old tradition,
And spurn the dust to win the prize!
So comrades, come rally,
And the last fight let us face.
The Internationale,
Unites the human race.
So comrades, come rally,
And the last fight let us face.
The Internationale,
Unites the human race.

Or maybe she means that she won't be the first Republican to support it, but she would gladly be the second one.

Yep, a real Profile in Courage that Sen. Collins.

"Collins met with Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner about the bill, but told reporters after the meeting that unless the bill is "bipartisan," she will reject an effort to begin consideration of the legislation on the Senate floor."

Quite the Catch 22. If Collins doesn't support the bill, then it isn't bipartisan. And if the bill isn't bipartisan, then Collins won't support it.

Here's a thought. Maybe Collins should make her decision based on the substance of the legislation rather than whether her right-wing colleagues will support regulating their contributors. Otherwise, she's taken the notion of group think to a whole new level.

Administration officials meeting with Susan Collins to quickly produce a bipartisan bill has a long history of success. Oh wait?? Maybe that was Olympia Snow?? Nah. It's incipient Alzheimers, that was Grassley of Iowa.

I now can't remember who that/those Republican Senator(s) was/were. Do you think Geithner and Obama can?? Or are they as delusional as I am about all those successes I can no longer recall??

I continue to be baffled by this whole thing. Republicans HAVE to realize how badly this will play to the electorate. (The Democrats and the White House certainly do.) Going against health care reform was stupid, but they at least had the crazies behind them. But stronger financial regulation is something even my right-wing family members think is a good idea.

I'm sure they'll try to find some way to demonize it so that the crazies get behind them on this as well, but clearly they haven't figured that strategy out yet.

Good.

Somewhere, Frank Luntz is no doubt furiously poll-testing lies to cover these lies. In the meantime, McConnell has obviously been hypnotized to blurt out the words "Kentucky community banks" whenever the subject is brought up.

Nice job on pushback, Leader Reid. In fact, excellent. For a change, it's so nice to not have to sit through months and months of Dems politely "pooh-poohing" the vicious political tactics of their "friends across the aisle." Kudos to the Dem leadership for mincing no words, and for calling out McConnell and Cornyn.

Wait, Sen. Collins and her Republican colleagues won't even allow for a debate on Wall Street Reform?

You mean the same group that passed huge tax breaks, promoted unpaid for wars (2), and passed a pharma bill with no way to pay for it now doesn't believe it owes the American public a national debate on Wall Street Reform?

The same group that passed TARP now doesn't want to reform the very same sector of our economy that worked so hard below the radar to make us a third rate nation?

The Republicans now seem like they owe the Wall Street firms more than their own constituencies. What will be the rallying cry of our modern Republican senators?

How about: All for Wall Street, and none to the middle class!

Or, Screw the common American, I just want to party with money-making scroundrels!

What say ye ol'backroom deal-making Republicans?-Kevo

That story doesn't make it clear, though, is she going to vote against cloture on the motion to proceed, or merely vote no on the motion to proceed?

Bipartisan (as defined by the childish, soiled-diaper-tantrumesque excuse America has for a Republican Party in the 21st Century): When we were in charge, we sold you into slavery to our robber-baron masters. "Bipartisan" means you agree to give our masters everything we want you to give them---without having to beat you with the lash to make you obey.

The truly sad part of this charade is that it seems to be working for the GOP. Republicans lie, deceive, and obstruct with impunity, but instead of being rebuked by the public, they experience resurgence in the polls. By all accounts, the GOP is expected to win big in November as a result of its scorched-earth approach to "governing." The lesson here is that fighting the GOP with reason and facts doesn't work. The Democrats need to go on the attack quickly and often, and craft simple talking points that the public can easily understand. Selling financial reform should be a no-brainer given the public's distrust of Wall Street and the struggling economy, but if any party can screw it up, it's the Democrats.

I watched Hardball tonight. Judd Gregg and Bob Corker were falling all over themselves signalling that they want to make a few minor changes that they and Dodd have been working on and they are ready to go. Those changes didn't sound like they were too serious. Gregg said that he thought there would be at least 70 votes for the final version of the reform package. While the devil is in the details, don't expect the Republicans to hold out too long. After all Dodd did a good job making sure that several Republicans were deeply involved in drafting the darn thing.

Of course, they did claim that Obama was trying to politicize the bill, and their side had to respond in kind, but the signal was crystal clear. They don't want to be tarred with the big bank brush. McConnell totally misplayed this time.

As a Mainer, I hope the Dems beat Collins like a pinata over this (in a figurative sense, of course).

Susan Collins is desperately jealous of her senior Senator, Olympia Snowe. This is her chance to be as pivotal on financial reform as Snowe was on health care.

I'm guessing the Republicans will try to paint the indictment as political, with Goldman just good, honest businesspeople trying to make a living despite the Federal government.

Republicans never cease to rip at the fabric of our society.

Here we go again with Ms. "moderate" R's taking center stage when all the framing of issues takes place. Watch the silver-tongued Senator's maneuvering to get face time, then she'll slither away and join her buds in their badmouthing of the impending legislation. We never get tired of this dog and pony show on the teevee tubes.

Maine has a working budget of 6.8 Billion for FY 2010/2011 and a projected budget shortfall in excess of 500 Million.

That's a big budget crunch for a generally low revenue state.

keep an eye open for potential back door deals. Remember, red states are, in general, revenue drains.

And here's the numbers....

http://www.state.me.us/budget/filespdfbudgetinfo/fy1011pdf/Overview.pdf

This is how they are bought.