ADDED: Josh Marshall is perplexed:
So I was genuinely surprised, really shocked to see this statement [Barney Frank] put out tonight that is just an embodiment of fecklessness, resignation, defeatism and just plan folly. The gist of his point is that that's it for health care reform. If a few Republican senators will come across the aisle and help maybe it will happen. But if not, that's it. Amazing. Just amazing.Barney Frank is a politician, a smart one. Work it out from there.
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I think Barney's bubble has been burst. Thank you, Massachusetts!
It's always the party in power that bitches about the filibuster rule, but as soon as they get out of power it becomes the best thing since sliced bread.
The Founders designed the Senate as a body which would slow down the fickle winds of popular will. And it has done so, quite admirably, for 200 years.
Yeah this is easy, not long ago Barney loved the fillibuster threat when Chuckie, et al were tossing that out for judicial nominees, etc.
embodiment of fecklessness,[...] and just plan folly
Funny, that's exactly how I'd characterize the Democrats' plans to ram "health care reform" through regardless of the results of the MA election.
Both Senators from Maine can recognize that if MASS votes against HC, then their Maine voters won't be pleased by their bipartisan sell-out to produce a deal.
Josh Marshal is perplexed: "We have the pistol and the bullets. Why shouldn't we play Russian Roulette?"
Why isn't Josh Marshall perplexed over Barney Franks demand a few days ago to change the rule? Oh, he is a leftist. A believer in the hypocirsy Kool Aid.
Barney Frank has no respect for democratic procedures. He represents everything that is wrong with politics today.
Just as Lenin had his New Economic Policy, Frank has his momentary feint into reasonableness.
Shorter Josh Marshall. Why can't the Democrats act like the dictators I want them to be?
But Marshall has a Ph.D.!
Today's news is that the Leaders are running as fast as they can to get back out in front of their runaway followers. This is what a King and his favored Aristocracy must do in times such as these. The Kings ruling over their American subjects have usually made the mistake of Doubling Down on their tyranny under the theory that we need Governance from them. Oops, it turns out that we can actually govern ourselves. The real big losers today are the Bhagdad Bobs in the Democrat Party's Media.
Give Frank and Sen. Webb credit for doing the right thing. It may be from base motives, but that describes most politics.
Wow--Josh Marshall has PdD? color me impressed--I got one of those too, and it doesnt make me any smarter--just adds initials behind my name on a business card.
Yeah but what do Ezra Klein and Andrew Sullivan have to say?
Henry said...
Josh Marshal is perplexed: "We have the pistol and the bullets. Why shouldn't we play Russian Roulette?"
LOL,
Only the leftist anti-gun crowd plays Russian roulette with automatics. Give them M1911A1's to play with.
John Lynch--I take your point, but my willingness to give them credit is not there--they are feckless sorry bastards who are only out to save their own shoddy careers--they would know the "right thing" if it bit them in their asses. I will give them credit for being able to see impending doom--too bad they didnt think about that a year ago.
Barney saw the returns from his district in the race for Senator.
The real losers last night was the Kos crowd and the media who have been claiming for years that if only the Dems went all the way left they would be a permanent majority. Well, they had nine months of all out leftism and the result was they couldn't even win in Massachusetts anymore.
Expect to see the return of the moderate Democrat in the coming months.
I'm using the health care debate as a way to separate principled liberals from partisan hacks. The bill doesn't achieve what liberals say they want-- affordable health care for the uninsured. It's also a big payout to insurance companies.
So far, it's turned out that Kos believes in using the Democratic party to achieve his aims, and Marshall believes in using himself to achieve the aims of the Democratic party. I wouldn't have guessed that a year ago.
There have been a lot of other surprises as well, not least that the President is not the leader we thought he was, and that Pelosi and Reid are actually the powers that be when it comes to legislation.
Roger J--
I'm happy they didn't see their doom. We're one seat closer to divided government. That got us out of the 1990s slump, and it may work again.
I don't like concentrating on people's motives, because we can always ascribe bad motives to any action. I don't really think Barney Frank is a paragon of Constitutional virtue. Sen. Webb is a lot closer. However, I still believe actions speak louder than words and there has been far, far too much attention to empty words the last few years.
Drill--the M1911 ACP--wow what a pistol--I probaby should have doubled down and bought one of the commerative ones--but alas--my cheap side emerged.
BTW--had a wonderful conversation with the surviving family of the scout platoon leader I lost in a firefight on January 8 1970--was very touching--the library at Georgetown University is named in his honor and they display the citation I wrote for his silver star--dont know how much you think about those days, but they always seem to crop up for me. hope you have a great new year
Shorter Josh Marshall. Why can't the Democrats act like the dictators I want them to be?
Really.
For once Barney Frank is on the principled side of things (well there also was that one time he told off the weird Nazi girl) and Marshall's disappointed!
We're one seat closer to divided government. That got us out of the 1990s slump, and it may work again.
In general, the more divided the better. They do less damage that way.
I get what Barney Frank is doing. However, I won't believe the Democratic Party will rollover on a healthcare bill that's already passed two of the largest hurdles. I'll believe the healthcare bill is dead when it isn't passed by the end of this year.
I do think Cap and Trade is dead.
wv: hononful... Like Barney Frank, sounds right, but it isn't.
Roger,
I assume you at least got my anti-gun crowd Russian Roulette joke :)
Roger is right. Webb & Barney now see the blade of the guillotine and are desperate to be spared.
I don't think you can chalk this up to Barney Frank looking at the returns in his own district. Newton voted for Coakley 67 / 32, Fall River went 57/41, New Bedford 59/39, Brookline 74/25. Barney Frank's district is gerrymandered in such a way that he is as close to permanently safe as anyone.
A lot of the smaller suburbs in the district (and statewide) did go for Brown and, shockingly, Wellesley was a 50/50 split. In general, Coakley carried college towns, trust-fund suburbs and larger cities (the super rich and the poor), except that Brown carried Taunton and Worcester (though they aren't quite as economically messed up as Fall River and New Bedford). Coakley lost middle class towns and places with high percentages of people who work in the trades. In another shock, she lost the rich towns on the South Shore including Hingham and Duxbury -- this is possibly due to Mass. regional politics, as Brown's home town of Wrentham is not South Shore but is at least south and he has a South-of-Boston micro-accent.
Town by town data: http://www.myfoxboston.com/generic/news/politics/us-senate-seat-vote-results-town
Frank could lose his committee chairmanship. That could happen either from a Republican takeover or just from Pelosi being removed after the election.
mccullough said...
Barney saw the returns from his district in the race for Senator.
What do you want to bet? If MA voters (5 out of 8 aren't Demos and half are unaligned [and possibly disaffected]) are fed up with the Kennedy machine and its corruption, Barney is in trouble. Nobody is more responsible for the current banking and housing mess than him.
Michael said...
I don't think you can chalk this up to Barney Frank looking at the returns in his own district. ...
Barney Frank's district is gerrymandered in such a way that he is as close to permanently safe as anyone.
The problem for a lot of these slugs is that it opens up a floodgate. The peasants are aroused now and anybody whose business or home was lost will want his head :D
edutcher said...
The problem for a lot of these slugs is that it opens up a floodgate. The peasants are aroused now and anybody whose business or home was lost will want his head :D
I can't find the clip, but I'm thinking of the "Young Frankenstein" scene with peasants, torches and pitchforks, winding their way up to Barney's Castle
My theory is that most of Congress knows the health care bill is horrible, but believed that they could score political points by voting for it and then having it die in conference whereupon they could claim they weren't responsible. Problem is that they also ended up believing that the only protesters were those tea party folks and that they were crazy (I do think this is where the fawning press did them a major disservice.) They also didn't plan on Pelosi and Reid being so Machiavellian and actually attempting to do what they are attempting to do.
Congress, the President and the press massively underestimate the discontent in this country. They fail to realize that Democrats won heavily in 2008 because people disliked Bush and hated how Republicans so blatantly lied about their intentions; it was NOT because people were enamored with Democrat policies and proposals. The problem with getting the press on your side is that they tell you what you want to hear, not what you need to know. Live by sycophants, die by sycophants.
I'm waiting to hear Janet Napolitano say, "The system worked."
I can't find the clip, but I'm thinking of the "Young Frankenstein" scene with peasants, torches and pitchforks, winding their way up to Barney's Castle
A riottttt...ist an ugly thing. AND ITS ABOUT TIME WE HAVE ONE!!
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