When everyone in DC was terrified to pass the damn bill, you guys helped make it happen. Take a lap.
Open thread.
by Tim F| 75 Comments
This post is in: Open Threads
When everyone in DC was terrified to pass the damn bill, you guys helped make it happen. Take a lap.
Open thread.
Comments are closed.
Cacti
I haven’t seen Scalia this angry since the Court ruled that it’s unconstitutional to execute children.
JGabriel
Leon H. Wolf @ Redstate:
It never ceases to amaze me how tears so bitter can taste sooo sweet.
zzyzx
Yeah, no way it passes without the effort here to call, call, call. I’m proud of that big time, even if I just called someone who was already voting yes.
Belafon
But it’s not single payer, and Hillary’s happy for this vicorty while Sanders is for single payer. Why aren’t you for single payer?
///
Guess which blog I was reading? (There was a lot of push back, but the fact that the diaries were on the rec list was frustraing.)
Mandalay
Local government in SC moved at lightning speed when they found out that Westboro Baptist Church planned to picket the funerals in Charleston:
Good for them. Now is there any reason that SC’s state government can’t move at the same speed on that flag?
beltane
@JGabriel:
See, they are conceding the fact that reality has a liberal bias.
dmsilev
@JGabriel: That post was a thing of beauty. People really should read the whole thing, and savor his helpless rage. In the comments, the cries of ‘Impeach John Roberts’ have already begun.
Valdivia
@JGabriel: Also how they are totally wrong on the facts and yet so sure of the righteousness of their outrage.
Roger Moore
And I was thinking that “Want You Gone” might be a little bit more appropriate:
Mandalay
It seems that being a hatemonger can actually have consequences. Who knew?
Keep spewing that hate asshole. The more you talk the more you lose.
Dave C
Damn. I never did beat Portal 2. I should play that game again.
Roger Moore
@dmsilev:
Knock yourselves out, boys. I’m sure Barack Obama will be crying into his beer when he’s asked to appoint Roberts’s successor.
Hal
@JGabriel:
Someone correct me if I’m wrong, but I thought there majority legal consensus was the exact opposite?
Seonachan
But the card says “Moops”!
different-church-lady
@Belafon: And to think that joint used to matter.
different-church-lady
@Roger Moore: Good point. Maybe we should set up a Kickstarter to help ’em out.
JGabriel
@Hal:
Forget it, Jake. It’s Redstate.
low-tech cyclist
Don’t mind if I do. During those scary early months of 2010, I was calling all my Congresscritters 2-3 times a week to lean on them to PTDB. And I knew a whole bunch of the other denizens of this blog’s comment section were doing the same thing, and that we were all hoping desperately that they’d listen to us, and not just throw in the towel because Scott Brown.
And they did.
And it IS a Big Fucking Deal – Biden was right about that. It’s been in effect for only a year and a half, but it’s already been a lifesaver for so many people.
So now it’ll take Congress and the President acting in concert to get rid of it, so next step is to elect a Democratic President and some Dem Senators and Representatives in November 2016, so that its medium-term future will be safe.
There’s no way to guarantee that it will be there for the long term, of course, since the GOP will ALWAYS be trying to tear down the safety net, and we’ll have to meet them at the barricades each time. But that’s democracy. We can handle it.
nanapple
@different-church-lady:
Speaking of Kickstarter, here’s one people here might be interested in. I am looking forward to the film.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/97111140/raise-hell-the-life-and-times-of-molly-ivins
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
@Belafon:
And yet most health care experts will tell you that getting everyone covered is a necessary precursor to a single-payer system, not vice versa. As I argued at length in 2009-2010, that’s how South Korea did it, and they’re considered a major success story because it only took them 15 YEARS to go from mandated universal coverage by private companies to single payer.
Corner Stone
@JGabriel:
What’s funny is that after years of packing the court with extremists, receiving the non-precedent setting ruling that allowed GWB, and all the other rulings that have so damaged our nation over the last couple decades, these guys still aren’t happy with what they have wrought. The SCOTUS credibility is in the toilet and the public have no faith in it as a non-political body due to its right wing activism and revisionism.
Now Federalist Society member J Roberts is a flower power patchouli hippie.
Loving it.
Tenzil Kem
I don’t post here much any more but I was pretty active during the PTDB days. When Benen’s memo went live, I remarked that somebody should buy passthedamnbill.com and point at the memo, and a few minutes later someone did. After the ruling came down I checked that URL again and its owner has now pointed it to healthcare.gov . That made this feel real in an entirely new way.
We done good, folks. All of us.
trollhattan
Holy shit, Texas, just how bad do you hate your kids?
The steady descent from Ann Richards to Dubya to Rih Perry and now to Abbott has me wondering whether there’s an eventual, inevitable bottom to the pit that is the Texas statehouse, or if infinite turtles await?
Elizabelle
@Tenzil Kem: Take a bow. Well earned! Good to hear about the website.
Next up: medicaid expansion in red states. It’s coming.
Suzanne
Oh my God, I’m so happy, I could take a giant shit on the hood of Tony Scalia’s car.
Valdivia
I don’t know if any of you has been following this but the CBO, now helmed by a hand-picked GOP guy doing fantasy dynamic scoring, released an assessment that repealing ACA would be a major hit to the deficit. The GOP is all up in arms about the result because they can only use reconciliation if what they are passing is deficit neutral.
It’s hilarious that even with fantasy economics they can’t make their ACA is doom predictions work and now they are royally screwed even though Obama would have vetoed anything emerging from Congress that touches the healthcare law. Hope the CBO does not backtrack on their numbers out of pressure.
SenyorDave
@Seonachan: You win the internet today. Anytime someone can bring moops into the conversation and still be on point you automatically win. In retrospect, it seems as if the Bubble Boy was the reasonable one after all, and George was the dick.
gogol's wife
It’s a good day. Not just because my power’s finally back on.
Germy Shoemangler
@trollhattan:
turtles all the way down
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
@SenyorDave:
To be fair to George (and how often does one say that?) the whole “moops” argument was because the Bubble Boy had insisted that other obvious errors on the cards that were in his favor had to be abided by, so George was only holding BB to the standards he himself had set. So BB is still the Republican/conservative jackass in that scenario.
Omnes Omnibus
For Court watchers, I think that the takeaway from today’s decision is that two of the five right-leaning justices are still rational enough that they aren’t willing to blow up the legal system in order to get a particular result in a case. Three have clearly established the opposite.
Gimlet
Did that legal mental giant have any comment on “standing”?
Jay C
@Roger Moore:
Impeachment may take some time: but I’m sure Obama will only be too happy to pass some suggestions on to President Clinton…..
MobiusKlein
@Suzanne: Ech, it would just get cleaned up by some hireling of his. Your rage would hurt him not, and make some low paid worker do the dirty work.
JGabriel
trollhattan:
To paraphrase our bloghost: There is no Nadir Wingnut.
Tree With Water
Reading Scalia whine about the politicalization of the Supreme Court is a genuine “are you fucking kidding me?” moment. As though there was never a time when chads were left hanging. As though a people’s collective memory can be erased by willfully ignoring/perverting the memory in question. Which, come to think of it, is straight out of the republican party playbook. Twisted myths are born that way.. such as both the Vietnam and Iraq Wars were, or will be, lost because of the democratic party.
dmsilev
@Jay C: Obama should nominate himself on his way out of the Oval Office. It’d be the greatest act of trolling of all time.
Major Major Major Major
God, that’s a relief.
SenyorDave
@Mnemosyne (iPhone): Touche, and this is a BFD. Hopefully, Fat Tony will be hitting the antacid for the next few days.
Brendan in Charlotte
@trollhattan: I’m beginning to think it’s infinite turtles…but they’ll pitch that as an alternative method for keeping illegal immigrants from crossing the border…
Mike J
@SenyorDave: Hoping for no ant.
Valdivia
HuffPo now has an article up saying this is what you would be reading if the Court had ruled for King. WTF. Can we take a win as a win, ever?
Uncle Ebeneezer
Since this is an open thread: me and my wife won a trip to Vietnam!! We are incredibly stoked. We’ve had a rough past couple years with family and pet deaths and being perpetually broke so this is a really welcome surprise. I have a few friends who have recently been to Vietnam and it sounds amazing (we already love the cuisine.) We are staying 3 days in Ho Chi Minh City and 3 days in Hoi An. We are also adding a day or two in Siem Reap in Cambodia since my wife has always wanted to visit there. We are planning to go in February. Let me know if any of you has any “must-see” sights (especially ones that are less touristy and less well known.)
David Hunt
The title of that song is very appropriate, given that the ACA is, in fact, Still Alive.
Chyron HR
@Valdivia:
That’s some impressive prognostication, huffers.
geg6
@Tenzil Kem:
I agree. My rep at the time was Jason Altmire (PA04-Blue Dog). We (me, some other party activists, and lots of local union guys and gals) protested at his office for days. Of course, he completely ignored us and then lost to a total wingnut asshole after his district was gerrymandered in the most tortuous possible way and with whom we are still saddled. If he hadn’t ignored his actual base (those of us out there with signs saying “vote for the ACA”), he might have pulled it off. But I wasn’t going to the mat for him after he treated us with the utmost disdain during that fight. Fuck him.
I’m incredibly proud to have had even a small part of that. Our guy didn’t listen to us, but it happened anyway. And now it’s pretty much in the same pantheon as SS/Medicare.
Elizabelle
@Uncle Ebeneezer: Fabulous! Congrats and enjoy! Have heard Viet Nam is a great place to bicycle.
Valdivia
@Chyron HR: It’s like they have a sad they couldn’t publish their fevered dreams so WTH, they’re publishing them anyway. I keep saying, the political media will be the death of our political system.
Elizabelle
@Valdivia: FFS. Not going to click.
I’m having enough fun reading Free Republic.
Where else shall I peek in?
TaMara (BHF)
TimF@Top: If I remember correctly, you did a lot of heavy lifting cajoling us to call and giving us good solid examples of how to do so. So thank you.
Elizabelle
@gogol’s wife: Air Conditioning! Woo hoo! How long was the power off? My sympathies.
Redshift
@Hal:
That’s putting it mildly. The vast majority of legal consensus was that the entire suit was ludicrous, and any ruling in favor of the plaintiffs would require ignoring vast swaths of standard judicial interpretation.
Uncle Ebeneezer
@Elizabelle: Thank you. I hear that cycling/moped-ing is awesome but also quite nerve-wracking due to the anarchic traffic. Thank the FSM for Xanax.
Valdivia
@Elizabelle: Believe me, doing the wingnut rounds it better than reading the disappointed liberals who wanted to cry “we are all dooomed!!!!!”
burnspbesq
@Valdivia:
The fuckery is far from over. I expect to see a bunch of shit find its way into the Treasury appropriations bill, limiting the IRS’ authority to spend appropriated funds to do this, that, and the other thing.
Steve in the ATL
@dmsilev:
Those began years ago, but from our side.
BR
I don’t comment much these days, but I remember those frantic days calling constantly trying to push congress to pass the damn bill. Really, it’s amazing to be reminded of the arc that this took, and of how many years later it is — it feels both like yesterday and eons ago.
delk
Group claiming to turn gay men straight committed consumer fraud, N.J. jury says!
Major loss for ex-NOM head Maggie Gallagher.
http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2015/06/gay_conversion_therapy_fraud_trial_verdict.html
Tenar Darell
Is this early enough? Transplanting from earlier.
—–
There’s a kickstarter for a Molly Ivins documentary here. the trailer made me laugh and tear up. I bought too many books this month, but I’ll try to catch an open thread earlier to spread the word.
Oops, hi nanapple!
burnspbesq
@dmsilev:
My sense has always been that the Obamas want to go back to Chicago after 2017. He’d be fucking awesome on the Seventh Circuit. Imagine arguing in front of a panel that includes Posner and Obama …
Mandalay
@Uncle Ebeneezer: Visit Angkor Wat really early – at dawn. Fewer people, and cooler. Also, go with a guide. It’s not expensive, and you will learn so much that you would miss by doing it on your own. I also liked the boat ride from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh even though it gets awful reviews.
The boat trip into the Mekong delta from Ho Chi Minh city is great.
different-church-lady
@Valdivia: Shorter HuffPo: someone took the time to write this thing and dammit, we’re going to publish it!
JCJ
@Uncle Ebeneezer:
The suggestion from @Mandalay to go to Angkor Wat in the morning is a good one. Also, remember that February is towards the end of the “cool” season so a light jacket might be needed.
Mnemosyne (tablet)
@Uncle Ebeneezer:
I have no travel advice but, wow, how awesome for you guys! I hear it’s a beautiful country. I think I heard they still have some ancient Buddhist temples, but I’m not sure.
catclub
@Valdivia:
I think reconciliation can be used for budget and tax bills – deficit relevant might be more accurate. The bill has to have a budget impact to allow reconciliation to apply. For instance, The ACA was passed because it was budget relevant – the claim was that it was a tax bill and that it would improve the deficit over 10 years, not that it was budget neutral.
Mnemosyne (tablet)
@delk:
I love that they lost on the basis of consumer fraud. They couldn’t claim to be a religious organization because they treated men from several different religions (the plaintiffs were three Mormons and an Orthodox Jew).
I’m hoping that the fact that some of the parents joined in the lawsuit means that they’ve accepted their sons the way they are.
Valdivia
@catclub: Yes, of course reconciliation has to be budget relevant, I am just repeating what The Hill reported, they say that to use reconciliation the measure cannot add to the deficit, it has to reduce it.
@burnspbesq: I am sure they will be doing everything possible to mess it up any way they can.
Calliope Jane
I called. And attended those town halls where I listened to republicans boo a Vietnam Vet, a young (female) college student, and the Census Bureau. And cheered mention of W Bush. It was very weird demonstration of what we were dealing with.
My Congresswoman voted for it, put together these town hall meetings to sell it (she had w bush’s former surgeon general carmona to speak in support). I still called. And volunteered. And volunteered a LOT for the 2010 elections to thank her. Thank you Gabrielle Giffords.
Joel
You’re the best, around!
catclub
@Valdivia: Well, The Hill is wrong.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reconciliation_%28United_States_Congress%29
For instance, Bush’s tax cuts were passed under reconciliation. Because it was limited to ten years, reconciliation could be used.
No budget neutrality there, though.
Valdivia
@catclub: Is it possible for the GOP to set their own rules in this congress for reconciliation? Because obviously they think they need the CBO to change the score for them to do it. I am curious to see how this will play out because they are going to try to mess with the law no matter what.
Roger Moore
@Uncle Ebeneezer:
Sounds much nicer than Raven’s free trip to Vietnam.
Tim F.
@Valdivia: Probably not. If Republicans spike the ACA on a party line vote, America will eat them alive for it. “Obamacare” might not poll very well but people will fucking pitchfork someone who takes it away from them. Its key provisions poll very, very well. Republicans badly needed the Court to do their work for them.
And it almost happened! But Roberts got cold feet, and this suit was a joke and now Republicans have to start acting like they were fine with it all along, or else look like a bunch of helpless losers for the rest of eternity.
Valdivia
@Tim F.: I think at some point–once Obama is out of office–they will start calling it RomneyCare and taking credit for it.
jnfr
I love you for this more than I can say.