Interesting article from David Frum:
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/03/the-republican-waterloo/520833/
This is an outstanding piece, it's easy to forget what it's like to have a second rational party in this country.
Interesting article from David Frum:
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/03/the-republican-waterloo/520833/
Obama is here care to stay?
After Pelosi placed Wasserman Schultz onstage for a slice of national television time on the night of the party's 2006 midterm elections romp, the Florida congresswoman turned around and penned a "Dear Colleague" letter backing Hoyer, Pelosi's nemesis, for majority leader over Murtha.
An aide who worked in her office at the time recalls Pelosi being privately incensed.
"I elevated you to national status and handpicked you for a committee, and you do this to me?" she fumed to the aide.
A decade later, when Wasserman Schultz was struggling to weather a torrent of calls for her resignation as head of the Democratic National Committee, Pelosi let her twist in the wind.
"She never forgot," the former Pelosi aide says.
As the Obama White House took its shot at health care reform, chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, sensing land mines, suggested a piecemeal approach beginning with insurance coverage for children, which was viewed as more politically palatable.
"The White House was in touch with her about breaking it up into various pieces. She flat-out said no," DeLauro says. "Nancy Pelosi is responsible for passing the Affordable Care Act."
And as the House's initial landmark health care bill approached a vote in 2009, it was Pelosi who opened the door to the delicate compromise of the so-called Stupak Amendment, allowing moderate Democrats to place stringent restrictions on government funding for abortions under the newly proposed system. It was a significant concession permitted by Pelosi – a longtime champion of abortion rights – that held her fragile coalition together and saved the House bill, which cleared the chamber by a five-vote margin.
The early salvo and Pelosi's stalwart shepherding efforts were key to what eventually culminated in Obamacare.
"Nancy Pelosi is a master of finding the right moments to leverage the unity of the Democratic caucus, and during the whirlwind of the Affordable Care Act, she was reaching out to members 24-7, tracking down votes, doing the individual meetings to hammer out the disagreements," says Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, an ally of Pelosi when he served in the House. "It's a moment that captured all of her strengths, and above all, her persistence."
Pelosi allies gripe that while former GOP House Speaker John Boehner was lauded for simply keeping the government open, the magnitude of what she accomplished – an economy-saving bank bailout (with President George W. Bush), the Dodd-Frank financial reform law, even a cap-and-trade climate change measure – hasn't garnered the respect it deserves.
It's Frost – the onetime Pelosi foe – who might be the best example of her power of conversion. When he initially challenged her for the minority leader post in 2002, he portrayed her politics as too far to the left to be Democrats' national standard-bearer. Even now, while Frost respects Pelosi's talents, he says the generation gap plaguing the party eventually has to be heeded.
"She was reelected this time because there was no obvious younger person to step in her shoes," he says. "At some point, you have to have a changing of the guard."
Yet Frost was noticeably averse to criticizing Pelosi personally, at least in part due to the quiet compassion she showed when his wife died during the height of the 2006 campaign. Kathryn Frost, a retired major general in the U.S. military, passed away in late August of that year. Pelosi not only attended the funeral at Arlington National Cemetery, but spent time at the officers club reception afterward as well.
Frost had retired from the House two years earlier; she'd never need his vote again. But in a town full of fleeting relationships, transactional encounters and short-term political calculations, Pelosi prioritized the personal.
"I'd been someone who was gonna run against her," Frost says, pausing as he chokes up while retelling the story. "Members see those kinds of things and say, 'This is a really decent human being.' She took a couple hours out of her schedule when the House hung in the balance. She didn't have to do that."
US News had a lengthy Pelosi article with some anecdotes
https://www.usnews.com/news/article...-trump-and-nancy-pelosis-potential-last-stand
This was a power grab by them and it was completely successful. They own the GOP now.
The Democrats really should put forward their own ACA fix bill, filled with conservative ideas along with actual fixes just to highlight the GOP's hypocrisy. I'm talking all the dumb shit like tort reform, selling across state lines, HSAs, etc..., hell they can even offer to get rid of the employer mandate. In exchange, Medicaid is expanded in all states and subsidies are available to more middle class earners.
Paul Ryan saying Obamacare is the law of the land was what really made my day. Like, wow.
Pelosi is awesome. Sadly, she doesn't get a lot of credit where credit is due. Is she the most charismatic politician? No, but a Speaker shouldn't have to be.
The Democrats really should put forward their own ACA fix bill, filled with conservative ideas along with actual fixes just to highlight the GOP's hypocrisy. I'm talking all the dumb shit like tort reform, selling across state lines, HSAs, etc..., hell they can even offer to get rid of the employer mandate. In exchange, Medicaid is expanded in all states and subsidies are available to more middle class earners.
The purpose of selling across state lines is to race to the bottom but I'm not convinced it's even feasible anymore. The individual health market is just too dependent on networks that are set up. Most people agree that nothing would even happen if it were passed. States could probably pass some laws mitigating the damage too like charging a tax on all healthcare but then providing tax credits for policies sold in state.Yeah, no. Fuck that. Caps on non-lethal malpractice awards are bullshit.
Idiot surgeon paralyzes you from the waist down during routine back surgery? Here's 45k for your trouble!
And the whole state-lines bullshit would just cause a rapid race to the bottom and effectively deranged any meaningful state-owned regulation.
Yeah, no. Fuck that. Caps on non-lethal malpractice awards are bullshit.
Idiot surgeon paralyzes you from the waist down during routine back surgery? Here's 45k for your trouble!
And the whole state-lines bullshit would just cause a rapid race to the bottom and effectively deranged any meaningful state-owned regulation.
Cut my bill into pieces. I've reached my last resort, suffocation, no breathing. Don't give a fuck if I cut my whip, bleeding. Do you even care he dies bleeding?He just wishes somebody would tell him he's doing just fine. He also never realized that he was spread too thin. Till it was too late and he was empty within. HUNGRY! Feeding on chaos and living in sin. Downward spiral where does he begin?
Hey, buddy, who do you think you are Amy Schumer? Stop stealing from Ronaldus Magnus's set about the Soviets.I'm reminded of this again today...
We're extremely fortunate that the leaders of the current authoritarian administration are so astonishingly incompetent, from top to bottom, or America would have been entirely fucked by now.
Get through college, dont cut off the gravy train, get a job and out on your own and THEN you can draw the line in the sand.So I just went out on a college visit to University of Louisville, and when we were on the introduction, they mentioned their LGBT studies which in my mind was like "cool". My parents then had a conversation with me later and saying that believing LGBT action is right will condemn me to hell. What should I do?
The funny thing about the Hastert Rule is he didn't come up with it, Newt used it first to hold the Contract with America coalition together...and it started usage way earlier, at least back to McCormack, except the House Democrats were usually split in a such a way that a chunk of them were willing to go along with Nixon or Reagan depending on the legislation. Democrat majorities in the House weren't all that different from in the Senate in terms of being in name only.As long as there is a Hastert Rule, these guys will have veto power. OTOH, if that rule were abandoned and actual bipartisan laws were drafted....
Yeah, I'm dreaming.
I mean technically law before DeathObamaRyanCare "allowed" for selling across state lines just only a handful of states* allowed people within their borders to purchase coverage from outside it.Doesn't the ACA already allow for selling across state lines, but no states or insurers are actually interested in taking advantage of it?
So .. the WSJ is reporting that Flynn had secret talks with Turkey to extradite Gulen illegally to Turkey.
http://www.wsj.com/video/wsj-exclus...lan/1A0EF9E8-2FAA-45BC-954E-0355E12263CD.html
the source is former CIA Director Woolsey.
What the fuck.
Nod and smile until you have the freedom to not have toSo I just went out on a college visit to University of Louisville, and when we were on the introduction, they mentioned their LGBT studies which in my mind was like "cool". My parents then had a conversation with me later and saying that believing LGBT action is right will condemn me to hell. What should I do?
Probably. Manafort too.C'mon Flynn, roll over. You willing to go to jail for Trump?
Alright I did just that thank you it's hard cause they tebd to be so nice to everyone it's sad.Nod and smile until you have the freedom to not have to
Being nice and being kind are not the same thing. Important life lesson, unfortunately.Alright I did just that thank you it's hard cause they tebd to be so nice to everyone it's sad.
"When the devil wants to get something out of you, he doesn't lie at all. He tells you the exact, literal truth. And he lets you find your own way to hell."So I just went out on a college visit to University of Louisville, and when we were on the introduction, they mentioned their LGBT studies which in my mind was like "cool". My parents then had a conversation with me later and saying that believing LGBT action is right will condemn me to hell. What should I do? They keep me into faith and then they spout gay marriage acceptance damning me and it's killing me mentally. So what should I do y'all?
I know. Not for LGBTQ stuff, but liberal stuff. My dad's a hardcore conservative, so college is just liberal indoctrination, any racial discussion in politics is just race-baiting, LGBTQ isnt "normal", BLM wants to kill cops, Obama is the worst president ever, etc. You can't have a real discussion with someone like that.Alright I did just that thank you it's hard cause they tebd to be so nice to everyone it's sad.
Damn that's a powerful coach."When the devil wants to get something out of you, he doesn't lie at all. He tells you the exact, literal truth. And he lets you find your own way to hell."
The funny thing about the Hastert Rule is he didn't come up with it, Newt used it first to hold the Contract with America coalition together...and it started usage way earlier, at least back to McCormack, except the House Democrats were usually split in a such a way that a chunk of them were willing to go along with Nixon or Reagan depending on the legislation. Democrat majorities in the House weren't all that different from in the Senate in terms of being in name only.
It's not even a rule either, just a guiding principle. Ryan can break it at anytime...like Hastert did 20 times or something.
You don't even need the Speaker to do it, it's just easier and more transparent really. Committee chairs theoretically can do the same thing. And probably already do.
I mean technically law before DeathObamaRyanCare "allowed" for selling across state lines just only a handful of states* allowed people within their borders to purchase coverage from outside it.
You have to repeal McCarran-Ferguson's anti-trust exemptions for insurance.
*I want to say like three.
Doesn't the ACA already allow for selling across state lines, but no states or insurers are actually interested in taking advantage of it?
https://twitter.com/philiprucker/status/845653236220661760President Trump has just arrived at Trump National Golf Club, his property in Virginia, per WH pooler @Carrasquillo.
C'mon Flynn, roll over. You willing to go to jail for Trump?
Any minute nowhttp://thehill.com/homenews/adminis...ogether-a-great-plan-after-obamacare-explodes
ObamaCare will explode and we will all get together and piece together a great healthcare plan for THE PEOPLE. Do not worry!
Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 25, 2017
lol
So what you're saying is that you're Rick Perry in disguise3. Don't listen to anyone who tells you what you should do regarding college. They're lying. Like this, I said "two things" didn't I? Exactly.
FREE DLC IS NOT THE SAME THING AS FORGETTINGSo what you're saying is that you're Rick Perry in disguise
Adam Khan‏
@Khanoisseur
.@donothingtrump While we wait for professional journalists to catch up look at how many dots readers have already connected
welp Maher went batshit again and lost his entire liberal panel in a another anti-muslim crusade again. Goddamnit Bill. Like seriously everyone was in complete agreement and then he went crazy again. Its the one thing Bill is weak on.
(Benji's not wrong on #1- learn a skill.)The important thing about college is two things:
1. Don't major in political science, it's a fool's errand, it's for marks, rubes, greenhorns, the type who give their bank accounts to foreigners to help uncles escape.
2. If you take an intro to poli sci or theory/ideology course where Saint-Simoninism should come up and doesn't, your teacher is an idiot and sue them for malpractice, if it does, no, you can't write your paper without actually citing your sources. A list of book titles at the end is not a citation. Do it again.
3. Don't listen to anyone who tells you what you should do regarding college. They're lying. Like this, I said "two things" didn't I? Exactly.
Reading and writing are skills dramatically underdeveloped in most people. Political science coursework theoretically should help with this.(Benji's not wrong on #1- learn a skill.)