Ramming Speed?

[NJ Stinks]

From the Washington Post website:
_____________________________________________

When 'reconciliation' equals leadership



By Richard Cohen
Tuesday, March 9, 2010; A19


Googling to my heart's content on a recent eve, I decided to match "health care" with "ram" to see what would happen. What I got was about 9.8 million hits, some of them right on the nose and reflecting the current conservative meme that after more than a year, several votes, countless presidential speeches and having to look upon the face of Harry Reid some 10,000 times, the health-care bill is being "rammed" through Congress -- an absurdity that now has currency through sheer repetition. It is not exactly the renowned vaunted Big Lie, just a miserable little one.

The vaunted reasonable man might protest that an entire lifetime of attempted health-care reform (http://voices.washingtonpost.com/health-care-reform/) does not amount to a ramming, but the polls do suggest that President Obama's plan -- and it is now his plan -- is out of favor with the public. This is what now passes for a compelling argument against the bill. It is, instead, almost entirely beside the point.

In our poll-driven culture it might seem strange for a president to attempt something that's somewhat unpopular but merely right. After all, the health-care bill has almost no near-term benefit for anyone who votes. Its immediate beneficiaries are the uninsured, consisting of the poor and vulnerable, and the young and delusionally invincible. As a voting bloc, they largely don't.

The rest of America looks at the bill and shudders. It seems to promise nothing but hardship. The aged have Medicare, and most workers have insurance of some sort. Sure, many fear losing what they have and rightly hate insurance companies, but they seem to prefer their existing plans to what they have been told will be a program run by sullen former Soviet bureaucrats. Opt out and you will be liquidated.

More at the link below:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/08/AR2010030802216.html

[johnhannibalsmith]

This reads like "Richard Cohen needed to submit a topical article and came up with something, anything."

Why is it so hard to fathom that the collective can and does support reform, but there's enough crap in the two bills that there is something for almost everyone to hate enough that the objections to that crap are sincere objections.

[Snag]

Come NJ, what is YOUR point? We could have read this ourselves. Just posting clips doesn't do much.

[NJ Stinks]

Come NJ, what is YOUR point? We could have read this ourselves. Just posting clips doesn't do much.

It's true. And you could have posted the same comment a million times before here in Off Topic when a thread started with a linked article.

Anyway, obviously I agree with Cohen's main points. If somebody else here has an opinion, you can always opt to post why or why not. Or not post at all, of course.

[NJ Stinks]

This reads like "Richard Cohen needed to submit a topical article and came up with something, anything."

Why is it so hard to fathom that the collective can and does support reform, but there's enough crap in the two bills that there is something for almost everyone to hate enough that the objections to that crap are sincere objections.

I'm not saying Cohen is beyond writer's cramp but I don't see it here.

And it is not hard to fathom. Cohen said as much in the article.

[Tom]

Reconciliation has never been used in a case like this. This is a last desperate attempt to ignore the will of the people. History is full of little piss-ants like Obama. The difference is this one has no balls - the others at least stood up for what they believe, however wrong. This LSOS is a yellow coward.

[delayjf]

What can be passed with reconciliation can be repealed the same way.

[boxcar]

I'm not saying Cohen is beyond writer's cramp but I don't see it here.

And it is not hard to fathom. Cohen said as much in the article.

What is hard to fathom is that this yo-you evidently believes we live in a pure democracy, according to his last paragraph. NJ, you should email this very delusional individual and educate him on the difference between a constitutional republic and a democracy. If anyone can handle this task, I know it would be you. :rolleyes:

Boxcar
P.S. Wonder if Cohen is another Dumb Down U grad? :rolleyes:

[boxcar]

You know, NJ, if I had the time, I'd rip this statist's opinion piece to shreds. But I don't, so that's good for you because I sense you have kind of bonded with this guy. (Maybe he's your latest soul mate or something?) But here's my central point to this post. He virtually dismisses the fact that the majority of Americans do not want what the Dems are trying to shove down our throats. In fact, just because the bill has fell out of favor with the public is "almost entirely beside the point"! In fact, he goes a step further by trying to contrast the "rightness" against unfavorable poll numbers for it. He's clearly implying that the majority of Americans don't know what is right!

Now...contrast the above negative attitude toward the majority of Americans with the what he says in the last paragraph whereby he's all in favor of a simple majority in the Senate deciding whether that thing becomes law or not. This guy Cohen is your typical elitist! On the one hand, he's staunchly anti-majority when it comes to the People's Will, but pro simple majority when it comes to the will of a particular body of the ruling class!

It strikes me that this guy Cohen is huge ignoramus when it comes to this nation's important historical documents, including the U.S. Constitution. Either he's not aware of the fact or has conveniently forgotten that elected officials serve by the consent of the people's will! Elected politician's serve at the pleasure of the people, not the other way around! It is not the constitution's intent for political leaders to force their will on the majority of the people! But that is precisely what he wants when he says at the very end, " Either way, ram the damn thing, Mr. President. Ram it!" Yes, indeed. You politicians RAM your will down the people's throats! In a free nation, this is all backwards!

I suspect that Cohen is one of those elitist closet commies. No wonder at all, NJ, that you seem enamored with him.

Boxcar

[Robert Goren]

Reconciliation has never been used in a case like this. This is a last desperate attempt to ignore the will of the people. History is full of little piss-ants like Obama. The difference is this one has no balls - the others at least stood up for what they believe, however wrong. This LSOS is a yellow coward. Yes it has. LBJ used it to get the civil rights bill passed, just to name one case.

[rastajenk]

The nobility of going against the polls to do the right thing was in short supply during the Bush years; seems like he was out of touch, with a go-it-alone "cowboy" mentality, according to the scribes of the day. Funny how that works. :D

[Tom]

Yes it has. LBJ used it to get the civil rights bill passed, just to name one case.

I believe that had bi-partisan support.

[Robert Goren]

The civil rights bill was passed by northern democrats and liberal republicans. They had over come an effort to block it by southern democrats and some conservative republicans(like Barry Goldwater). I consider it one of this country's finest hours.

[Leonard]

Yes it has. LBJ used it to get the civil rights bill passed, just to name one case.

I thought the use of reconcilliation wasn't available until the mid-70's, a decade after LBJ's civil rights legislation?

[Tom]

The civil rights bill was passed by northern democrats and liberal republicans. They had over come an effort to block it by southern democrats and some conservative republicans(like Barry Goldwater). I consider it one of this country's finest hours.

I agree - and the HC bill will be one of our worst hours.:(

[GaryG]

Yes it has. LBJ used it to get the civil rights bill passed, just to name one case.Reconciliation did not exist until 1974....LBJ was in his grave by then.

[Tom]

I had heard the LJB example reported this weekend, too.
Guess I should not trust the news.:rolleyes: