Earlier this month, Olympia Snowe, the pretend Republican from Maine caved to Democrat pressure on the healthcare bill while it was in committee because she got assurances from her fellow Democrats that there would be no single-payer (government-paid) option in that bill. She was heralded by the Democrats as a wonderful person – the only thing she really wanted anyway.<\/p>\n
Now, Harry Reid has decided that he won’t honor that pledge to Snowe, not that he ever intended to honor Max Baucus’ promise;<\/p>\n
But Reid and the leadership faced this basic math: There is only one Snowe and there are 60 members of the Democratic caucus. If just a few Democrats abandoned the bill, it would fall short even with Snowe’s support.<\/p>\n
“It’s a zero-sum situation,” said Durbin, who is in charge of counting votes in the Senate. “If we thought that just putting the trigger in meant that we’d end with 61 votes,” he explained, then that’s what leadership would have done.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
So basically, they played Snowe just to get the bill to the floor for a vote by the Democrat caucus. You’d think she’s learn. Of course her milk-toast response is that she’s disappointed. She ought to feel like she was gang-raped, and she ought to say so (Bloomberg <\/a>link);<\/p>\n
Senator Olympia Snowe said she won\u2019t support the immediate creation of a government-run insurance program and raised the possibility that legislation overhauling the health system won\u2019t be completed this year. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Yeah, well it doesn’t really matter what she’ll support or won’t now – the damage is done. And the Democrats are gloating<\/a>;<\/p>\n
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has insisted that the House of Representatives will pass a health care reform bill including a public option.<\/p>\n
President Obama is “pleased that the Senate has decided to include a public option for health coverage,” White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said in a written statement.<\/p>\n
“He supports the public option because it has the potential to play an essential role in holding insurance companies accountable through choice and competition,” Gibbs said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
But, ya know what? I’ll bet dollars to donuts that she’ll cave and get screwed a couple of more times during this legislative session. <\/p>\n
I know someone who is probably counting his blessings that he didn’t get that job on Snowe’s staff.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"