George Bush is rolling in the aisles ...

... We knew Harry and Nancy had struck a deal; we just didn’t when or how it would be implemented. Turns out that Nancy picked the most chickenshit cowardly self-serving way it could have possibly been done. Since this rule is only in effect for the 111th Congress, it expires on January 5 and applies only to the lame duck Congress.

Pete Peterson’s smiling now. He’s got my retirement money. Maybe he’ll use it to fill one of his swimming pools.

[from Phoenix Woman at firedoglake.com: Thank You, Nancy Pelosi, For Saving Me Money ]

Thank you, you despicable people: Barack Obama, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi! The laughs definitely on us. We put a Dem in the WH and got majorities in both houses of Congress so that you [fill in the blank with the most insultingly descriptive epithets you can think of] #$%@#*# would do what George Bush was incapable of doing.

Today's quote ...

It is important to remember that the perfect was never mentioned in this health care debate. The very good was declared impossible and did not even have a place at the table when they started planning reform last year. Even good reform was dismissed almost immediately.

The debate this entire time has been between what might be labeled “decent reform” at best, and terrible corporate giveaway labeled “reform.” This is not about making the perfect the enemy of the good. We were never even offered the “good” as a compromise.

-- Health Care Reform to Date: So Very Far From Perfect by Jon Walker, firedoglake.com

This is how Nancy Pelosi works for us? ...

... the single payer advocates, who settled for the promise of a floor vote on the Weiner amendment, only to see that amendment withdrawn in a deal to avoid… the Stupak amendment, only to see that amendment not withdrawn and ultimately given a floor vote and be adopted.

Is Nancy Pelosi really going to fight for us this time? ...

Nancy Pelosi has disappointed me so many times after espousing progressive positions then absolutely caving to the fake Dems (which includes the Prez). But this time she seems to be working harder (not to mention that there's a swelling of support around her) so maybe she will continue the fight to the end:

By now you’ve probably heard about Nancy Pelosi’s decision to include the more liberal version of the public option in the final House bill, the one that includes Medicare + 5% rates, as the Progressive Caucus has sought, instead of negotiated rates. This may be slightly premature. Whatever bill she releases will be guaranteed to get 218 votes, and right now the process to round up those votes is ongoing – her Majority Whip Jim Clyburn will seek the necessary votes within the next 24 hours. But she’s nearing that count for the “robust” version, leading her to side with House liberals on this question.
[...]
Finally, let me echo Chris Bowers and say that respect must be paid to Nancy Pelosi. Getting a Medicare +5% public option through her chamber of the House would be a major achievement, making it far more likely to get some manner of public option in the final bill – and, because it’s among the most popular elements of reform, ensuring that a decent health care bill passes into law this year. She deserves a lot of credit for getting this far, and so does the Congressional Progressive Caucus, often thought of as a weak player in the Capitol. Take a bow, Raul Grijalva, Lynn Woolsey, and the rest. (Pelosi About To Include Medicare +5 Public Option In House Bill)

Ha, ha. Just wait a day and Pelosi will revert to true form ...

Pelosi's spokesman, Nadeam Elshami, pushed back against recent news reports that Speaker Pelosi was going to drop the deal that she had made with the Blue Dog Democrats not to have the public option be pegged to Medicare plus rates in order to be competitive. ... [ ] ... Seems like the steel in Speaker Pelosi's backbone only lasted for all of a few seconds before it collapsed. Democrats--they're always happy to disappoint you the next day.

Gulling the blogosphere once again must give her the feeling of power, for a few seconds at least. And think of all that good press. And we all know that our 'liberal' media never accuses one of flip flopping when the flop is toward the Thugs.

So, is Pelosi working for the people or playing a game?...

Nancy Pelosi says House Bill will have the Public Option: Snatching Victory from the jaws of defeat

Pelosi was for a strong public option before she was wishy-washy on it.

Now she's sure the House bill will have 'a' public option, but what kind of public option does she foresee and what else will the bill have, like guaranteed income for corporate Robber Barons.

And does she plan that any good provision in the House bill survives in conference or will that be someone else's fault as usual ...

Almost all of the Dems are participating in lies just like the Republicans and it is almost impossible to tell if any of them are not doing so. One would have to look at every speech and every contorted series of self serving votes to figure it out. Very, very few will pass muster. Certainly Reid, Pelosi and Obama will not pass.

This is a very stupid way to run a country or even a Presidency. Really, even though Obama was definitely not my first choice, given the criticalness of health care I expected him to do much, much better on health care at least. The spectacle we are witnessing must mean that he never intended to go all out for health care. But there's also the chance that he's just incompetent. Bush, incompetent as he was, managed to get most of his worst desires passed by throwing tantrums. Obama, most likely, if he garners the energy to throw a tantrum will aim it at his own supporters. Smart man, what.

Too bad rancid doesn't alliterate with Pelosi like it does with Reid ...

Seems Pointless Pelosi has dumped the 'public option' which she pointlessly supported just a few days ago just as Obama starts making speeches espousing more explicit support for a 'public option' and perhaps some other real improvements in health care instead of merely mouthing platitudes while supporting nothing but what will satisfy his owners in the insurance industry.

Is this what they planned in their meetings at the White House?
-----------------------------

And then there's this:

Pelosi Fundraiser at UnitedHealth Lobbyist’s Home

These people don't care how corrupt they look.
-----------------------------

ADDED:

Does Pelosi's Softening Rhetoric Spell Doom for the Public Option?

[...] But not two weeks ago, Pelosi insisted that a health care bill without a strong public option would not pass the House. That statement was of a piece with similar statements she'd made for weeks, which were based on the progressives' insistence that health care reform's passage depended on the public option.

In other words, since meeting with Obama--who's been notably solicitous of Senate moderates, and notably dismissive of House progressives--her public language has softened notably.

Of course, this is standard operating procedure for Pointless Pelosi. I remember going through disappointment after disappointment after she was selected speaker. Now I consider her useless, pointless. She's just another one of the corporate slaves in Congress selling out their country for a fistful of gold.

Who expected Pointless Pelosi to hold the line? ...

Pelosi: A Public Option Is Essential...For the Moment

Rancid Reed's double-dealing is a fixture with the treacherous Dems. But Pelosi seems to want to do the right thing but just doesn't seem to have any guts. Sure wish Clinton was leader in either house. Hard to imagine her as a gutless waffler.

The Prez and Rancid Reid, not to mention Pointless Pelosi ...

Either Barack Obama is only faking it about Health Care for all Americans or Rancid Reid is Obama's enemy. Either-or or both are very definite possibilities. Can you name any populist strategy that Obama has carried through?

Harry Reid wimps on Health Care

The Democrats plan to shoot themselves in the foot by failing to provide honest healthcare for all Americans. Even after all these years I'm still amazed at how blind and stupid Democrats can be. The Republicans are shouting in their faces --as well as all over the media-- about how much they want Obama, and thus Dems in general, to self destruct and yet Democrats regurgitate the Republican's --and the medias-- crap on virtually everything. Letting one's avowed enemy lead one by the nose is shortsighted at a minimum. In this case it is utterly insane, but every indication is that they intend, through the 'leadership' of Rancid Reid and Pointless Pelosi, to do so. Good Luck in the 2010 Dems. The Thugs have you boxed and it's your own doing.

What will Obama do ...

Digby writes:

Fixing the health care system is the first real test of whether or not the Democratic Party understands the new political era in which it's governing. The next couple of months will tell the tale.

What will Harry Reid do ...What will Nancy Pelosi do ...What will Obama do ...

I think they will implement what the modern day Robber Barons want; that they will fail the people and fail the Democratic Party and end the Democratic Party's resurgence. Using past Democratic legislation as a model the bills they pass will be worse than what the Republicans would have been able to pass were the majorities reversed. The Democrats continually give everything away BEFORE they even begin to negotiate. Or rather Democrats make a habit of reassuring moronic media hacks that they are not really, you know, liberal or very much of a Democrat and continually whittle down into uselessness, or worse, any contentious proposal before they even begin study or negotiations on the legislation. They do this again and again and over again.

-----------------
Nancy Pelosi I can't figure out. She appears powerless. Harry Reid is a nonentity and it says a lot about the Democrats in the Senate that they placed this zero in 'charge.' Obama? Obama appears to be a liar. Where George Bush was a stupid liar, Barack Obama is an intelligent liar. But a liar is still a liar. And nothing, absolutely nothing, a liar says can be depended upon nor trusted.

-----------------
Please, please prove me wrong ...

---

---

Today's QUOTES:

The question is why Democrats are inviting [GOP messaging expert,Frank Luntz] to advise them on how to use his patented fraudulent conservative propaganda and methods? You wouldn't be crazy to wonder if they may just share his goals. -- Sleeping With The Enemy by digby, Hullabaloo

---

---

Business as usual ...

Holder, Pelosi etc. They apparently are only concerned about corporations making money. They have no concept of breaking up news and editorial control already in the hands of too few as a means of addressing the propaganda as news that is presented to Americans by the media monopolies we are already blessed with.

Their solution? Bigger monopolies.

U.S. law chief open to antitrust aid for newspapers

Yah, save the newspapers but not the news. Why not just one Orwellian Republican governmental propaganda source. We don't have far to go as it is. Oh, that's right, the profit must be in the private hands of a few.

These people can't compete so they must be protected by law. And the rest of us must compete for their leavings. If they need more money then we must give up SS. If they are not making exponentially increasing profit then how could we possibly think we should have national health care. It they are not happy with the magnitude of their wealth as compared to the rest of us then we should expect pay cuts and job reductions.

What kind of President will Obama choose to be ...

... now that bi-partisanship has killed any meaningful stimulus.

Thanks Dems: Obama, Reid, Pelosi, Hoyer, Rahm Emanuel. It was obvious that the Thugs and the Media Braindead intended to drive the country over a cliff and you all just waffled around failing to communicate or get a handle on your own arrogant assumption that you don't need to talk to the people you are Constitutionally supposed to serve.

ADDED: Presidents Nelson, Collins Upbeat After Saving Bipartisanship

ADDED II: "... why do Democratic Senator Ben Nelson and Republican Senator Susan Collins hate American children, American firefighters, American poor, American women, American scientists and other such undesirables? Oh, they love banks and giving OUR money to financial fraudsters. But money for something like Violence Against Women programs, and suddenly everyone cries the Socialists are coming."

---

---

Today's QUOTES:

... The last thing that is disqualifying in Washington is an eagerness to profit off of one's political connections. ... --Bob Dole's perfect description of how Washington works by Glenn Greenwald, salon.com Obama may be able to get a few Republican Senators to go along with his plan; or he can get a lot of Republican votes by, in effect, becoming a Republican. There is no middle ground. --Bipartisan bromides by Paul Krugman, NY Times The people who vote for cuts on the poor after they voted to enrich the already obscenely rich should be tossed into the seventh pit of hell. Would that they could experience the hell they've created for others. --Open Thread by Mary, The Left Coaster Conservatism - the real kind, the kind we've endured at least since Nixon - isn't an intellectual movement in need of reform. It is extreme right thuggery epitomized by the bloated face of a fat, cigar-chomping, drug addict who makes fun of Parkinson victims and proudly boasts that he wants the president of the United States to fail. --What Is The Appeal Of Conservatism? by tristero, Hullabaloo

---

---

Bad cop, good cop? ...

I think in the long run a manager/administrator/president that utilizes an amoral enforcer in order that the manager/administrator/president can work at being perceived as such a nice guy/gal is detrimental to the workings of the office/company/country.

Rahm Throws Pelosi Under The Bus To Save Stimulus Bill

Kick 'em while they're down ...

Interesting discussion about Pelosi ...

There's some interesting comments to Anthony McCarthy's defense of Speaker Pelosi that I linked to yesterday. Like this one:

Not buying it, Anthony. I'm not anti-Pelosi -- she has some accomplishments as speaker, and that alone is distinctive -- but she's been active, not passive, in endorsing the Bush/Cheney push for dictatorship.

She worked for the decimation of the 4th amendment in the FISA case, and the secrecy of the telecom records. She took the lead in insisting that no impeachment hearings of any kind could be held, and took the lead again in declaring that the Democrats should not hold Bush officials in contempt when they ignored subpeonas. She eagerly led condemnation resolutions against MoveOn.

And there were LOTS of alternatives to the recent bailout. Economists were filling blogs and opinion pages with a variety of ideas -- some compatible to each other, some conflicting but in interesting ways -- that to me made a lot of sense (and I have an economics degree). Nancy Pelosi pushed for a bailout directed at the richest and most morally liable, a bailout to be conducted by a 5-person unelected oligarchy, only minimally supervised (and supervised entirely by wealthy establishment figures).

None of that was forced on her. I don't know whether her positive achievements could have been greater, but her negative achievements have, to me, been far greater. I don't feel a need to forgive them.
Brian B. | 10.04.08 - 7:30 pm | #

The problem I have with what McCarthy and Echidne are saying (or what I'm hearing) is that they seem to be saying that Pelosi is OK since she couldn't have done anything other than what she has done; like fully cooperating with the dismantling of the Constitution, the transfer of massive funds to the corrupt and the hiding of 'truths' from the citizens of this country. That she didn't try to do her job is just the wrong perspective, our perspective. Her job was to do what our betters said she could do. Is that sexism or defeatism?

If, on the other hand, she actually tried to do her job then she should tell us about it so that we know what's going on.

In defense of Nancy Pelosi ...

Here's another view of Nancy Pelosi:

Leadership At Five Minutes To Midnight, Nancy Pelosi October 2008 by Anthony McCarthy

Of course, only the media believed them ...

ADDED II: As always Glenn Greenwald puts the world in perspective: The simultaneous rejection of the bailout and a corrupt ruling class
------------------------

ADDED: Actually Pelosi made a pretty good speech. She understands the problems (in more than just the economy) but she seldom follows through to ensure good legislation. She usually gives up to the Thugs and helps put through terrible Thug-backed solutions while telling us that's not what she's doing. That's what she was doing this time. And the Thugs sandbagged her, not for the first time. But remember she was helping the Thugs pass what they said they wanted, what they said they had to have to 'save the country,' only they couldn't hold their own members in line this time. And the 'protections' that Pelosi and the Dems said they got were so much hype, just like they were with FISA and everything else.
------------------------

Nancy Made Them Cry - Or Not

by Steve Soto

House Republicans are already stepping away from their ludicrous claim that Nancy Pelosi's speech cost them the Republican votes needed to pass the bailout yesterday. Several media sources this morning point out that Boehner and Blunt knew hours before the vote that they didn't have the numbers to hold up their end of the deal, but didn't tell Pelosi and Hoyer this.

Maybe we should send them all "Nancy Made Me Cry" bumper stickers.

But they claimed, in public, that Nancy Pelosi made cry babies out of them by giving a political speech. And they claimed that because Pelosi made cry babies out of them with her words they decided not to vote as they had promised to vote [another lie].

We knew it was all a lie but were still presented with the ridiculous story because the press rolled with the story without laughing in their faces, as usual.

We should make sure the shame [not that Thugs have shame, ridiculousness then] of presenting themselves as cry babies because of Pelosi's words should follow them to the grave [or at least a few minutes more].

Poor widdle Thugs ...

• The Thugs want a $700B giveaway, but their 'base' does not.
• The Thugs manipulate the stupid Dem leadership into doing the Thug giveaway [instead of looking at reasonable options].
• But the Thugs' goal is for the Dems to look like they own one of the most unpopular Congressional actions in decades and, as usual, the Dems cooperated with gusto.
• But the Dems do insist that a 'reasonable' number of Thugs must come forward and vote for the giveaway [after all, they are the real ones who caused the mess and want to turn over all money to the filthy rich]
• And the Thugs agree [away from the cameras, away from the photographers, probably in a public bathroom stall somewhere]
• But when it comes to voting in daylight, in front of the cameras, the Thugs couldn't get enough of their own to fall on their own dull swords
• Being the party of excuses, they of course blame everything on the Dems and on Pelosi in particular, who has been stupid enough to try to work with them time after time after time. Seems Nancy Pelosi hurt them with words. Hurt them so badly that they took their widdle hurt feelings and their promised votes and left the playground.

Poor, poor widdle cry babies.

I never knew Pelosi's words could be so powerful.

I'm sure they will be back asking for the Dems to give them more [all is just not enough for them] to make up for making them cry. Working with lunatics is a setup for disaster [as many of us have had repeatedly drilled into our brains the last seven plus years].

Ah, now we learn that Speaker Pelosi has power ...

Amazing, she can work to save the California coast but not the Constitution of the United States which she has sworn to uphold.

A plan to lift the ban on coastal drilling is stalled on Capitol Hill, for one simple reason: A Californian who opposes President Bush's proposal is calling the shots in the House of Representatives.

Despite growing public support for ending the ban, even in California, Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she won't allow a vote.

"I have no plans to do so," Pelosi said Thursday.

It's an example of the vast power placed in the office of the speaker, who sets the agenda for the 435-member House. Members can force a vote if enough of them sign a petition, but that's a rarity because it requires rank-and-file Democrats to line up against their boss.

I agree that there is no reason to end the ban (not that, based on passed history, she won't cave on this). This demonstrates even more that Nancy Pelosi needs to be fired as she will not fight for the Constitution. She is part of the problem and complicit in moving the US to an authoritarian state with UNequal justice for all.

LINK: Power of one: Pelosi vows to block offshore drilling vote by Rob Hotakainen, McClatchy Newspapers

Let's fire Nancy Pelosi, Steny Hoyer and Harry Reid ...

... revolting toads, or is that turds, that they are.

They've been shamed and beaten, the Republicans are crowing, and the lies keep coming.

Pelosi submits to whatever.

Glenn Greenwald reports that

Several readers have emailed to say that they called the Obama campaign and were told that Obama and his staff are "literally reviewing the bill right now and will make a statement shortly." This Kos diarist reports the same thing.

This wasn't my experience as you can read in the previous post. I was not able to get anyone on the phone (others had the same problem) and the response to my emails was not encouraging coming from the leader of the Democratic Party. Shall we 'hope.' [I'm having just too much fun with that word, but I will willingly trade the 'fun' for 'results.']

Republicans crow, as most would who change defeat into victory.

Remember, the Democrats are the majority party. This cannot be pulled off without the Democratic leadership's cooperation. This is a plot by the Democratic leadership to betray those they represent and conspire with Bush, the GOP and the Telecoms. This was a betrayal, a plot hatched behind closed doors, a conspiracy that bypassed committees and reviews, organized right out of the corrupt GOP playbook. It is not compromise, not a negotiation.

Like Republicans, like Democrats. Oh the Irony ...

Pelosi: ‘We Will Create the Most Open and Honest Government in History’

Lawmakers must have the opportunity to read every bill before they vote on it. It’s common sense.

Well that didn't last long:

FISA vote could come as early as this evening. No one outside Hoyer, Bond, Rockefeller, WH negotiators and a select few staffers and lobbyist pals have seen the bill.