Posted on 12/15/2009 12:27:51 PM PST by LdSentinal
In a blow to the bill grinding through the Senate, Howard Dean bluntly called for the bill to be killed in a pre-recorded interview set to air later this afternoon, denouncing it as “the collapse of health care reform in the United States Senate,” the reporter who conducted the interview tells me.
Dean said the removal of the Medicare buy-in made the bill not worth supporting, and urged Dem leaders to start over with the process of reconciliation in the interview, which is set to air at 5:50 PM today on Vermont Public Radio, political reporter Bob Kinzel confirms to me.
The gauntlet from Dean — whose voice on health care is well respsected among liberals — will energize those on the left who are mobilizing against the bill, and make it tougher for liberals to embrace the emerging proposal. In an excerpt Kinzel gave me, Dean says:
“This is essentially the collapse of health care reform in the United States Senate. Honestly the best thing to do right now is kill the Senate bill, go back to the House, start the reconciliation process, where you only need 51 votes and it would be a much simpler bill.”
Kinzel added that Dean essentially said that if Democratic leaders cave into Joe Lieberman right now they’ll be left with a bill that’s not worth supporting.
Dean had previously endorsed the Medicare buy-in compromise without a public option, saying that the key question should be whether the bill contains enough “real reform” to be worthy of progressives’ support. Dean has apparently concluded that the “real reform” has been removed at Lieberman’s behest — which won’t make it easier for liberals to swallow the emerging compromise.
The enemy of my enemy is my friend??
When did Howard Dean grow a brain?
Wow! I never thought I would be in agreement with Howard Dean on anything.
If only they would listen . . . Maybe he should scream.
He was a doctor.
Getting all these egos to agree on something is like trying to herd cats.
He was/is indeed an MD who may well have interned as an abortionist at some point in his ‘development’.
This is just cover for the Rats.
Dean crying for the Rats to impose the “nuclear option” to pass an even more socialist bill is intended to allow their buddies in the MSM to play the Reid bill as being “centrist” and “moderate.”
This is a sign the endgame is near, and the Rats are on the verge of 60 votes for the Reid bill.
Dean is an idiot. Which is good for us. The Dems could easily pass something without the public option and other bells and whistles, come back next year and quietly add everything to it then.
He didn’t. It’s just not Communist enough for him to be worth supporting.
The Nutroots are in open revolt. Over at DU they’re calling Obama a sell-out and, more importantly, a one termer while claiming they’re done with the Dem party.
Okay, I keep checking for the satire tag, but I’m just not seeing it.
These days it’s so hard to distinguish between reality and satire...
I’m rather amazed that E-Aaaaaarrrrrrrrggggggggghhhhhhhh Dean is opposed to Obamacare. Right now I like him a little bit better than Joe Lieberman.
With 51 votes they can put back in what Lieberman had taken out and even might get the Feds paying for abortion back into the bill and then pass the bill with 51 or more votes in the senate. - tom
He doesn’t have a brain but he knows this half-baked reform will only take longer to get us to a single payer system. He is all-in and wants the rest of the socialist posers to join him.
I don’t trust this. I think it’s some kind of ploy.
This is what has always been great about our country.
People from all sides of the political spectrum can come together against bad ideas, oftentimes for completely opposite reasons.
Perhaps there is hope yet for defeating this travesty. This bill is bad for ALL Americans, not just those of us who are conservatives. I’d never TRUST Howard Dean, but we’re wise to take up allies where we can, even if for disparate reasons, so long as we are careful not to make that always fatal mistake of thinking of them as trustworthy friends..
Just so long as their at the same grid coordinates when you are ready.
Already this idiot is making some normally brilliant minds at FR go soft. Don't trust this guy. Don't trust Democraps period.
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