Tuesday, January 19, 2010

MASSACHUSETTS SENDS A MESSAGE

Unofficial results with 93% of the election districts reporting have Scott Brown accepted as the next Senator of Massachusetts. Beating out Martha Coakley, the states AG, he gets the privilege of stopping the HealthCare reform bill that resembles a mere bailout for the insurance industry.

He may have tempered his disdain for Marriage Equality, and no-longer beats the drum to repeal Roe V Wade, but he is still quite tethered to the Tea Party movement. It shouldn't be long before he also discovers the difficulty in acting on what he ran on once he experiences the workings in DC.

I also see this as an opportunity. Reid and company ended up with a compromised bill to reform the nation's healthcare system that was so riddled with gifts to big Pharma, loopholes for the insurance cartel and of course sweetheart deals for select states, that a hurtle such as this may help the American people in the end.

I don't mean throw the whole proposal away and leave things be, I'm suggesting the return of the original reform bill with the public option that 71% of Americans supported. Lets face it, just as many progressives as conservatives hated what was left of the bill as it hit the joint conference. Now it's time to step back and reshuffle.

Sen Jim Webb is right that the Senate should wait until Brown is seated before taking action on HCR. But with the number of majority members cut by one, kinda pushes Webb's significance to a lower level in that they have an alternative that may not include him, Lieberman and others. Reconciliation.

In the end, lets just hope this dramatic election, reawakens the sense of duty for those who remain and set out to provide a proper alternative to the private insurance companies. Its still the only viable avenue to lower healthcare costs and cover more people.

Congrats to Scott Brown.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Brown argued that his military experience gives him a wider perspective on national security issues. I guess it might help if he served when he was supposed to and didn't go AWOL like the last monkey in chief.
If Bush had been the model citizen back when he wore the uniform, he may have fared better as out leader in those tough times. Lets hope for the best for Brown.

Anonymous said...

OMG You make this sound like its a good thing. Its not! The man is a cad. `kJust you wait and see. His cute image of the guy-with-the-truck will fade and his Palin type ideas will show. Then you'll see the voters in Mass freak out.

Anonymous said...

The voters in Mass. are morons for letting their anger over a black guy in the WH override their common sense. As for the message, there isn't any. Everybody knows this tear will be a losing one for the encumbent party. Lose a few this year and gain again in 2012. A predictable pattern that points to Obama's second term. If Democrats had won this year, they'd lose in 2012. Learn from history.

Anonymous said...

Massachusetts...how could you?!!!

Anonymous said...

Massachuesetts, finally you have seen the light!!!! Go Brown!! A new day is dawning. Obviously, not all democrats were enamored with Coakley(Chokely) or how the democratic party is leading this state and country. Where supposedly the democratic party outnumbers the republican party in Mass. this victory is very revealing. And here is the kicker, I am a registered democrat and not a "tea bagger" My family who lives in Mass. are democrats who own businesses and voted for Brown. They were tired of the "give aways" of the Obama administration and decided a new plan was needed.

HAHAHAHA said...

mike-

your four posters today still dont get it -esp the one with the racist comment -

it isnt about Obama black or not, it isnt about any of the crap they wrote -
it is about returning America to our values !

The People want to have a say & not be dictated to by these idealogues/socialists with their own agenda -
if they dont see the special interests owning the Dem leaders in congress then they dont see anything -
people DO NOT want the unions, ins companies & big banks telling our elected reps how to vote !

We wamt OUR voices & needs heard -

Pay Attention, you fools,, it isnt about Party politics it is about AMericans & our Rights -

& shame on that poster for calling our former President a "monkey"
you who elected Carter & horndog Clinton ??
they cant carry President Bush's briefcase, fool

Anonymous said...

Democrats should think long and hard about using Reconciliation to push the Health Care bill through. If they do, it will open the door for Republicans to use it whenever they control the Senate again.

When Republicans wanted to bypass the possibility of a filibuster in a different manner not too many years ago, when they were the Senate majority, it was referred to as the nuclear option. Why this is not being cast in the same light, I don't know.

The Republicans didn't use it then and neither should the Democrats now.

Anonymous said...

Mike: Great issue- was it an Obama backlash? or Brown running a campaing against someone who really didnt have a clue. "Shilling a Yankee?"

OMG- oh well- the Dem's have to change their spots or at least give a plan that appears to be in sync with the population. Sure, health care reform is necessary, but at what cost- How does small business accept the challenge and will the Dem's establish a plan that the Public can equate to their own plight.
take care,
Shellyzzzzzzzzzzzz

Anonymous said...

Thats why they call them mass holes

Anonymous said...

Mike, read your post and the tweet you sent to Lou Dobbs, I don't think the press will see it for what it is, dissatisfaction by the progressives and disdain by the conservatives.
You may be right that this episode before the midterm elections may actually serve as a wake up call and diminish the Dem losses that are expected during any Dem presidential term. Who knows if it tips the RNCC's hat as to the strategy in Nov.
I'd still like to see what alternatives Brown and McCain will bring to the table this spring. It better help the middle class.

Anonymous said...

For the less than intelligent poster that thinks denying healthcare to people is somehow an American value, the people in Mass. have universal healthcare and love it. Is Brown their favorite socialist? Or are these voters all socialist? As for the greatest economy this country has ever seen under Clinton making him unfit to carry the retard's breifcase, I guess you see a failing economic environment as a good thing. When is that rapture thing coming? I'm tired of waiting for all these mental patients to leave. It's still a massive Democratic majority and will probably stay that way for many years with the Republicans supported by the least intelligent of society.

Anonymous said...

Brown ran as one of those "teabaggers" that used overtly racist material in their protests. Denying the role of racism is like denying 9/11 happened during Bush's tenure. Are the right-wingers all smoking crack? They put up a nude centerfold model as their potential leader? They're getting pretty scary!

Anonymous said...

Universal healthcare enjoys an 80% approval rate amongst Mass. residents. I don't believe it was a legitimate issue here. Approval of Obama dressed as an African witchdoctor more likely was the real motivation.

Anonymous said...

And what might that message have included? Perhaps let us see...a backlash against the Kennedys, who did everything as they damn well pleased during their days of dynasty, which included negligient homicide by Teddy while drunk one summer night in 1969 who drove his car into the drink with a campaign worker who might have also been a concumbine or something--and of course the only thing that happened to him in Massachussetts was--his political career had to be saved so they did nothing. I think many people simply used this chance to send THAT message. Which had nothing to do with the issues, which do include a health care bill which is HUGE. Massachussetts simply voted its own issues while it said to the rest of the nation "Screw You."
Kind of reminds one of folks from Massachussetts who come to New York to get New Yok Welllllfayyyyuhhh.
Mightn't it? Hmmm...as the old Fammmuh from New Hampshuh used to say "Ehhhhhhh---yunph."