Althouse: Senator Mary Landrieu doesn't want you to think she got $100 million for her vote.

November 22, 2009

Senator Mary Landrieu doesn't want you to think she got $100 million for her vote.

She wants you to know she got $300 million.

If this is what is trumpeted these days, I wonder what goes on behind closed doors.

40 comments:

kent said...: She wants you to know she got $300 million.

"I'm no commonplace, garden variety whore, buddy! I happen to be a super-duper-mega-COSMIC whore!!!"; 11/22/09, 7:23 AM
AllenS said...: $100 million = graft
$300 million = stimulus

Hope and change, baby.

Ya, you betcha.; 11/22/09, 7:27 AM
Unknown said...: Am I missing something? Can't the Conference Committee drop her bribe in its version, and won't her vote be unnecessary when the bill comes back through (i.e., won't 51 votes be enough at that stage)?; 11/22/09, 7:35 AM
Ann Althouse said...: This was the vote to start the debate. The vote to end debate also requires 60 votes, so her vote is still needed.; 11/22/09, 7:49 AM
Henry said...: Can we pay it to her in Weimar Marks?

What is really shocking about this $300 million is that it's chump change. They tossed her a leftover shekel. The Gravina Island Bridge was $398 million. That's what $300 million gets you. 3/4 of one Bridge to Nowhere.

Boston's Big Dig was $1.4 Billion.

What a freaking lightweight.; 11/22/09, 7:52 AM
Humperdink said...: I wish people would stop think where this money ($300 mil) comes.

How many families worked an entire year to generate $300 million in taxes to satisfy this political hack's desire to get adulation (and re-elected) back home.; 11/22/09, 7:53 AM
KCFleming said...: She's jes showin' her boobs to the Senatorial Mardi Gras krewe for a few shiny doubloons.

...her vote is still needed.
If she goes full frontal for that kind of paltry cash, her vote is a done deal.

If yer gonna sell yor'n soul to da devil, might as well go all in.

This'n jes' makes her look like a rube.; 11/22/09, 7:58 AM
The Drill SGT said...: kent said...
She wants you to know she got $300 million.

"I'm no commonplace, garden variety whore, buddy!

Kent,

I assume you are alluding to that great GBS story?

"Best joke about prostitution ever done was by Bernard Shaw. He was at a party once and he told this woman that everyone would agree to do anything for money, if the price was high enough. `Surely not, she said.' `Oh yes,' he said. `Well, I wouldn't,' she said. `Oh yes you would,' he said. `For instance,' he said, `would you sleep with me for... for a million pounds?' `Well,' she said, `maybe for a million I would, yes.' `Would you do it for ten shillings?' said Bernard Shaw. `Certainly not!' said the woman `What do you take me for? A prostitute?' `We've established that already,' said Bernard Shaw. `We're just trying to fix your price now!'; 11/22/09, 7:58 AM
michaele said...: At this point, that $300 million is coming from the Chinese. It will eventually cost the US taxpayer a lot more as interest rates rise and the debt gets turned over. The elected representatives of this country are doing us such a profound diservice, it literally makes me sick to my stomach.; 11/22/09, 8:00 AM
The Drill SGT said...: Actually beyond making jokes about Mary's ethics, I expect that when Beth shows up, she'll confirm that this sort of graft is expected and anticipated in LA.; 11/22/09, 8:00 AM
Humperdink said...: I am not sure who said it, but it certainly applies here:

"50 per cent of American's work for a living and the other 50 per cent vote for a living"

The American people aren't going to stomach this much longer.; 11/22/09, 8:01 AM
kent said...: I assume you are alluding to that great GBS story?

Bingo... only, in Landrieu's case, it's like a crazy, electric, Gamera-sized ninja whore, as designed by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby! ;); 11/22/09, 8:02 AM
HT said...: Together with Michelle Rhee, no one has done more to privatize DC's public schools than Mary Landrieu.; 11/22/09, 8:12 AM
john said...: Way back in 2003 what was promised aome of the fence-sitting Republicans to vote for the Medicare Prescription Drug "Improvement" Act? I don't know the answer to that, but I do remember a lot of Repubican vote switching, and a lot of Repub staffers quiting their jobs for lucrative big pharma lobbying positions.

Maybe that's why you don't hear too much rightious indignation coming from the remaining 39 senate repubs. I't the way the game is played.; 11/22/09, 8:16 AM
kent said...: I don't know the answer to that

"... but I'm perfectly willing to waggle a finger and become just as huffily indignant on Landrieu's behalf as if I actually did!"; 11/22/09, 8:19 AM
TMink said...: So she does not want us to think she is a $100 million whore. She is a $300 million whore thankyouverymuch.

Trey; 11/22/09, 8:25 AM
kent said...: So she does not want us to think she is a $100 million whore. She is a $300 million whore thankyouverymuch.

She's the Willy Wonka of Whoredom! ;); 11/22/09, 8:27 AM
miller said...: Sadly, it's simply not surprising to see senators selling their votes.

What's a bit surprising (but not much) is the crowing about it.

This is probably what MC President meant when he promised a transparent administration -- we would be clearly told when someone was taking a bribe.; 11/22/09, 8:59 AM
Herb said...: John,

Sen Landrieu is a Democrate, not a Republican as you implied...

vw: ildes - amalgamation of idle ideas...; 11/22/09, 9:25 AM
Unknown said...: Re when Landrieu's vote is needed: yes, they need her vote to close debate, but the $300 million can be removed in the Conference Committee, and she'll have no leverage at that stage. The same goes for all the compromises that senators can win in the debate -- they're all potentially temporary and meaningless.; 11/22/09, 9:31 AM
Skyler said...: And yet, this is the party you voted into power, Ann.; 11/22/09, 9:32 AM
Anonymous said...: Ann Althouse missed the point thusly: This was the vote to start the debate. The vote to end debate also requires 60 votes, so her vote is still needed."

Only 51 votes will be needed to pass the conference version of the bill.

All these bribes will be eliminated once the bill gets into conference. Landrieu is a sucker - not to mention a vote-selling-whore.

Do you really think Harry Reid is going to let some Louisiana hick play him like a fiddle?; 11/22/09, 9:35 AM
former law student said...: Landrieu's money goes to Medicaid in her state, so this mostly just perpetuates the status quo.

Do we choose life or do we choose death?" declared Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.).

Sam Brownback, Drama Queen; 11/22/09, 9:43 AM
miller said...: The bill is now in debate mode. Amendments can be offered, each subject to the cloture.
Then comes the final vote on the bill, subject to cloture.

Only when the bill is approved does it go to committee - where the real bill will be created, which will then require only 50%+1 to pass in both houses.; 11/22/09, 10:11 AM
Unknown said...: Henry said...

Can we pay it to her in Weimar Marks?

I think, like today, they were Deutschmarks (sp?)(not entirely sure, may have been OK to call them Reichmarks at the time), but you make a telling point. We're headed that way and, when we have to load up the SUV with hundred dollar bills to get a loaf of bread, it will be interesting to see if The Zero's grip on history is any better than it appears to be.

Most of the Weimar officials didn't fare too well in subsequent years. Neither did Germany, of course, but few people seemed to raise a holler at the time about what happened to the people who destroyed the country economically.; 11/22/09, 10:26 AM
kentuckyliz said...: The Louisiana Purchase.

And yet, vote buying is illegal and people are put in prison for it.

If it's OK for them, it's OK for us proles.

(AFAIK vote selling is not illegal.); 11/22/09, 10:30 AM
Anonymous said...: And the people of New Orleans will not see a dime of it. The levees will not be fixed and the Ninth Ward will not be rebuilt.

But the Landreieus will do fine.; 11/22/09, 10:39 AM
kent said...: The Louisiana Purchase.

And yet, vote buying is illegal and people are put in prison for it.

Mary Landrieu: "The Amazing, Colossal One-Woman ACORN!" ;); 11/22/09, 10:50 AM
Cedarford said...: "She wants you to know she got $300 million."

That's Louisiana for you. Graft and excess and admiration for a high selling price is ingrained in the culture.
Edwards, "cold cash" Jefferson, the whole nepotic Landrieu Family all all peas in a pod.

Landrieu herself is casting herself as a high-class whore. No 50 dollar back alley blowjob trade...Nosiree....she wants Louisiana voters to know (and undoubtedly approve!) that her vote is like a refined high class lady who only gives it up for 2500 a crack to clean and presentable men in at least a 3 star hotel...with champagne chilled next to the bed..but still, no kissing or Greek allowed...

Greek will be done by Landrieu only for 5,000 and only for a gentlemen who she knows will never speak of it..; 11/22/09, 11:05 AM
Fred4Pres said...: $300 million, $100 million, whatever. They overpaid. I hear Mary Landrieu would have serviced them for about $50.

Going along this line of reasoning, we are also warned prostitution increases due to climate change. Because of course there was no prostitution in the Philippines (or Louisiana)prior to climate change.

Oh btw: American Gothic; 11/22/09, 11:07 AM
Ralph L said...: Sure, they can remove the money in conference--but they can only pull that stunt once. Believe it or not, credibility matters on Capitol Hill (chiefly for this reason).; 11/22/09, 11:09 AM
miller said...: They only need to pull the stunt once, and then they're in.

Once this is passed, it will be impossible to remove.; 11/22/09, 11:11 AM
Republican said...: Mary is only asking for what she believes her constituents are entitled to in exchange for her vote.

1 vote = $300M; 11/22/09, 11:39 AM
Roux said...: $300 million Wow!!! Just think how disappointed Dollar Bill Jefferson must be. 50% will be stolen and 50% outright stolen.

FWIW Mary Landrieu hasn't cared about Louisiana in a long time. Yea she shed a few tears after Katrina but that's about it.; 11/22/09, 12:04 PM
knox said...: I'd say "Disgusting," but it just feels inadequate for this.; 11/22/09, 12:30 PM
Humperdink said...: I am aware the US is up to it's eyeballs in debt the Chinese, but it seems every quarter I still write a fat check to the U.S. Traesury Dept.

It's not money well-spent.; 11/22/09, 4:40 PM
vbspurs said...: Somewhere, in some dark boiling pit of hell, Huey Long is a happy man.; 11/22/09, 7:07 PM
Beth said...: Here's the Jindal admin's comment:

Alan Levine, Louisiana secretary of health and hospitals in the Jindal administration, said that even those who oppose the bill ought to be grateful that Landrieu used her leverage to try to fix the state's so-called "FMAP'' problem.

"Look,'' said Levine, who has been lobbying the administration and Congress on the FMAP issue for eight months, "it's good to have a senator in a position to be able to make demands like that.''

"While I don't support the bill, she is doing the best she can to help the state, and she should be applauded,'' he said
(from Friday's Times-Picayune)

Critique that; it's a fair target. But it's not going in her pocket, ala Edwards and Jefferson. It's pork, not racketeering. That's a political process problem, at the U.S. level, not unique to Louisiana.; 11/22/09, 9:29 PM
Beth said...: I'd take this as a signal, too, that this is her final term. Let the games begin - it's a few years off, yet, but never too soon to start speculating.; 11/22/09, 9:46 PM
Beth said...: A few months, not years. The campaign hasn't really heated up - but this will be a big factor. Will she run, or bail?; 11/22/09, 10:11 PM