A doughnut with no holes is a danish:
Senate Democrats said on Wednesday that they were not sure exactly what was in a deal that the majority leader said would surmount a disagreement over a proposed government-run health plan. But they voiced guarded optimism that it would ultimately help them pass major health care legislation.
Rank-and-file Democrats said the preliminary agreement — reached among a group of 10 senators, 5 liberals and 5 centrists — suggested that they would be able to resolve some seemingly intractable differences over the public plan, insurance coverage for abortions and other disputes, including how to pay for the nearly $1 trillion bill.
We shall see…
DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal)
It ain’t sausage until they stuff the casing. I’m still waiting and don’t have much to say until all is said and done.
Sausage making, it’s not for the weak of stomach.
mclaren
Why not just cut to the chase and shoot all the poor people who get sick?
General Winfield Stuck
Nope, it’s a stick.
Call me pollyanna, but I are a devout believer in the power of self preservation to focus the mind when the chips are down. Even for daffy democrats, usually,, also. too
robertdsc
I’m tired of the whole thing, save one little point. Why did the White House use reconciliation language in the budget when they weren’t going to use reconciliation to pass the best bill possible?
That one thing is on my mind when confronting this sixty vote nonsense.
scudbucket
I think it isn’t unreasonable that several (that’s right, I said several) GOP Sens. end up voting for this bill – not so many as to seem that there is a GOP shift in agreement with Obama, but just enough to overcome the cadre of ethical liberal dems (and perhaps Sanders) who will feel compelled to vote no rather than throw up on their shoes.
gwangung
@mclaren: You sound like you favor ideology over results.
anonevent
The only thing I’m tired of is people freaking out. Anything that comes out where more people have useful, affordable insurance than did before it passes is progress. Rarely do things happen in one try. My kids will take 18 years each to get out of the house. My attempt at getting my PhD is on its 10th consecutive year. My house will be paid off in 21 year. Social security basically only included white males the first pass. Will this health care bill be perfect? Nope, but once this starts, we can do this again in 2010, and then again in 2011.
ricky
I heard it from a reputable source I trust on the Internet that the Democratic agreeed to plan is modeled on the successful health care system of the Danish.
Midnight Marauder
@scudbucket:
Well, you are going to need to run your theory by Big John Thune, assuming you can separate him from Broder, that is.
And you have to click through for the whole article, if only to see the fan-fucking-tastic picture HuffPo found of Thune. He looks like a cross between Shooter McGavin and Mr. Rogers.
gwangung
Things can happen in one try. No harm in trying.
But things can happen in long, incremental steps. Not as good as more rapid movement—but nothing stops you from trying to improve things as you go. And it’s easier to move forward than it will be to return to the current status quo.
Elie
@anonevent:
Amen
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
@gwangung: You are correct, some things do happen the first time. Sometimes they make the jump on the first try, though the One didn’t. And I’m definitely not arguing against trying. I’m just tired of the defeatist attitude on not getting everything the first time. It’s not “we didn’t quite make it, so we’ve got more work to do,” it’s “we didn’t make it, so I’m going home.”
cleek
It’s a cunning trap!
Comrade Kevin
@cleek: Don’t you mean a Cunning Plan?
burnspbesq
I was in FEHB when I worked for the Gubmint. The “booklet” you got for open enrollment every fall, describing all of the available coverages, was close to 100 pages long.
If I could get the same coverage I had when I worked for the Gubmint, for the same premiums (adjusted for inflation) I paid when I worked for the Gubmint, I would be gone from Biglaw and making plans to go solo.
The equivalent of FEHB for the self-employed or uninsured wouldn’t be single payer. But compared to the current situation, it would completely rock.
General Winfield Stuck
@burnspbesq:
Go Wildcats!!
matoko_chan
Allahpundit, I drink your pain…..and it is delicious!!
hahaha
Allahp is the rarest of “conservatives” ……one with an IQ over room temperature.
Medicare is the new slippery slope to single-payer…..watchu gonna do about it, Allahp?
burnspbesq
@General Winfield Stuck:
Do you know where one might get a Gimel Martinez bobble-head doll? I’d like to get one for my new kitteh Laettner, and teach her to stomp on it.
General Winfield Stuck
@burnspbesq:
LOL
burnspbesq
@General Winfield Stuck:
That said, I have nothing but respect for the Unforgettables. Those young men could have bailed when the Kentucky program was put on probation, but they hung in and laid the foundation for the Tubby era. And when Calipari gets y’all back on probation, you will miss Tubby more than ever.
gwangung
@Belafon (formerly anonevent): Yup.
One thing that I learned on Japanese American redress and reparations is that there’s no statue of limitations on striving for justice.
burnspbesq
UConn is a deeply flawed team this year. We shot 29 percent from the floor against them, our best player was invisible for long stretches of the game, and they were so clueless that we still won.
Prior to that game, Doug Gottlieb described our team as “alarmingly unathletic.” In his postgame press conference, K conceded that Gottlieb was an expert on being alarmingly unathletic. It was priceless.
General Winfield Stuck
@burnspbesq:
They were a special team of mostly homegrown players, who no one expected to win anything. Too small, too slow, no stars except Mashburn, but could shoot and always scrapped to the final buzzer.
I like what I see with the new coach. They are getting better every game for being so young. But we shall see
Yutsano
C’est nes pas un pipe.
Oh c’mon you were all thinking it!
scudbucket
@Midnight Marauder:
A perfectly good speculation shot-down on the launching pad. Still, this is a pretty sweet deal for the insurance companies, so sweet that a few of their boys just may have to do tricks for the other team to make it go. My guess would be C streeters, who have shown a propensity this kind of moral flexibility.
And re: Thune: he looks like a guest at a Sleestak Halloween party.
Cerberus
@ricky:
That’s a cruel cruel joke. I have Danish health care right now and ohhh, mmm. In less than a year, I’ll be repatriating to America and have fine American health insurance (read none in the short term, inadequate in the long term).
Going Danish system is one of those pipe-dreams that would cause me to pinch myself (like America electing a black president or Iowa granting gay marriage before New York OR California).
What we’ll get will be a pleasant praise-worthy addition to our current system. Not pipe-dreamy, not even historic like if we passed a shitty version of the UK system or a real public option, but damn fine and damn necessary and overdue. Hopefully, we can start passing some other bills at least through the House in the meantime. There’s a lot to fix and the conservadems are only going to get MORE intransigent over the next 8 years.
Cerberus
@matoko_chan:
Interesting.
Replace damn decent bill with year-long debate worthy bill. We’re getting something really really good. Probably will go into the history books, but definitely isn’t the last word on the subject or even close to where we need to be. But damn good start if those medicaid, Schip and medicare expansions survive.
CalD
Actually that’s not strictly true. Donuts are fried. Danish pastry is baked.