High-Priced Political Libido

In Washington, D.C., passing a bill on the magnitude of HR 3590 is better than sex for political Lotharios such as Barry, Harry, and Nancy. As a result, paying money to convince some wary senators to vote to open debate on a bill they oppose can be viewed as awfully close to outright political prostitution.

The sixty votes needed to deliver Reid's proposed health care bill to debate prevailed largely because of a two-page, three-hundred-million-dollar Medicaid subsidy written into the health care bill, which bought the vote of a specific senator from a "certain state recovering from a major disaster" -- namely, Mary Landrieu.

Maybe Harry Reid (D-NV) knew something about Mary Landrieu (D-LA) that the rest of America didn't know. Who would have thought that someone as sweet and innocent as Mary would so easily submit to brokerage for political favors in return for a profit? Yet while wearing conservative business suits, clip-on earrings, and sensible pumps, Madame Mary Landrieu is surprisingly skilled in the area of compromising affirmed principles for political gain -- a common definition of political whoring.

Riding the health care reform float in the Mardi Gras parade, Harry noticed Louisianan Mary Landrieu in the crowd yelling, "Throw me something, Mister." Everyone remembers Senator Landrieu emphatically proclaiming, "I'm not for a government-run, national, taxpayer-subsidized plan, and never will be." That was, of course, until political pimp Harry Reid tossed handfuls of doubloons in Landrieu's direction, seducing her into compromising her moral fiber for currency.

The Majority Leader of the Senate took advantage of the opportunity to convince the normally reserved Landrieu to throw inhibition to the wind and vote for cloture on a bill she claimed to be ethically opposed to. Mary accepted, and she has since been officially crowned Cajun Queen of the Carnival.

Though low-key in nature, Reid seems to have lots of experience slapping money on the dresser in an attempt to woo the unwilling to lie back and submit. After a Saturday night vote, a bill that should have been dead on arrival has renewed opportunity to be debated, which means Reid persuaded four moderate Democratic senators to surrender core principles to convincing wiles.

Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas, Ben Nelson of Nevada, and Independent Joe Lieberman of Connecticut must be taking lessons from Landrieu -- the three senators, who staunchly opposed any bill containing a public option, are now open to negation. Stepping out of the shadows and leaning against lampposts, "Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) got Reid to jettison a provision stripping health insurers of their antitrust exemption. Landrieu got the concessions for her money. And Lincoln won an extended, 72-hour period to study legislation."

One would think that after the heady stupor of Saturday night lifted, and in spite of the wad of money stuffed in her garter, Mary would have undoubtedly regretted her improper conduct. Quite the contrary: rather than being mortified, Landrieu emerged unabashed and proud of her actions, even "flaunting" her behavior. In fact, Mary must be tutoring the normally reserved Blanche Lincoln, whose weak resolve has diminished to a barely audible whimper. The senator from Arkansas said she plans to hold out for many more concessions in the debate resuming next month, saying, "My decision to vote on the motion to proceed is not my last, nor only, chance to have an impact on health-care reform."

Good thinking, Blanche, because "...the big shakedown is yet to occur: That will happen when Reid comes back to his caucus in a few weeks to round up 60 votes for the final passage of the health bill."

Sitting in the House on the Hill, Mary Landrieu is all but counting her huge stack of dirty money. Yet the senator remains acutely aware that acquiring the $300 million depends on convincing resistant senators to sign onto an unpopular "public option." Eager to meet the challenge, Landrieu has vowed to "...continue to work with Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe (Maine) and other Democratic centrists on a possible compromise that could attract 60 votes."

If the bill passes and Mary returns to Louisiana with her ill-gotten gains, how much of a Mardi Gras atmosphere will be evident after Medicaid deficits impose tax increases on constituents the program was supposed to benefit? And that says nothing of how Landrieu's debauchery could cause Louisiana to be viewed as the state most responsible for America having to pay exorbitant taxes to cover the cost of a program whose "...spending doesn't take effect until 2014."

Famous prostitute Xavier Hollander once said, "If my business could be made legal, I and women like me could make a big contribution...and the city and state could derive the money in taxes and licensing fees that I pay off to crooked cops and political figures." In the case of Landrieu from Louisiana, the senator gets to work both angles of the street: the Xavier Hollander side and the crooked political figure side.

Mary Landrieu has potentially managed to garner a "big contribution" for her state. She did so by demeaning herself. As a result, the senator from Louisiana has officially been initiated into the ranks of Washington, D.C. pimps and prostitutes who have sold out American freedom for filthy lucre profits and political pleasures. Thus, a great nation finds itself at the mercy of a diminutive politician whose capitulation may force the 56% of the American population desperately struggling to roll out from under a health care proposal it spurns to surrender and pay.

By Jeannie DeAngelis – The American Thinker

PelosiCare Has Nowhere to Go - Key Senator Will Block House Health Bill

Senate Leaders: Pelosicare Is "Dead On Arrival

WASHINGTON — The glow from a health care triumph faded quickly for President Barack Obama on Sunday as Democrats realized the bill they fought so hard to pass in the House has nowhere to go in the Senate.

Speaking from the Rose Garden about 14 hours after the late Saturday vote, Obama urged senators to be like runners on a relay team and "take the baton and bring this effort to the finish line on behalf of the American people."

The problem is that the Senate won't run with it. The government health insurance plan included in the House bill is unacceptable to a few Democratic moderates who hold the balance of power in the Senate.

If a government plan is part of the deal, "as a matter of conscience, I will not allow this bill to come to a final vote," said Sen. Joe Lieberman, the Connecticut independent whose vote Democrats need to overcome GOP filibusters.

"The House bill is dead on arrival in the Senate," Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said dismissively.

Democrats did not line up to challenge him. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has yet to schedule floor debate and hinted last week that senators may not be able to finish health care this year.

Nonetheless, the House vote provided an important lesson in how to succeed with less-than-perfect party unity, and one that Senate Democrats may be able to adapt. House Democrats overcame their own divisions and broke an impasse that threatened the bill after liberals grudgingly accepted tougher restrictions on abortion funding, as abortion opponents demanded.

In Senate, the stumbling block is the idea of the government competing with private insurers. Liberals may have to swallow hard and accept a deal without a public plan in order to keep the legislation alive. As in the House, the compromise appears to be to the right of the political spectrum.

Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine, who voted for a version of the Senate bill in committee, has given the Democrats a possible way out. She's proposing to allow a government plan as a last resort, if after a few years premiums keep escalating and local health insurance markets remain in the grip of a few big companies. This is the "trigger" option.

That approach appeals to moderates such as Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La. "If the private market fails to reform, there would be a fallback position," Landrieu said last week. "It should be triggered by choice and affordability, not by political whim."

Lieberman said he opposes the public plan because it could become a huge and costly entitlement program. "I believe the debt can break America and send us into a recession that's worse than the one we're fighting our way out of today," he said.

For now, Reid is trying to find the votes for a different approach: a government plan that states could opt out of.

The Senate is not likely to jump ahead this week on health care. Reid will keep meeting with senators to see if he can work out a political formula that will give him not only the 60 votes needed to begin debate, but the 60 needed to shut off discussion and bring the bill to a final vote.

Toward the end of the week, the Congressional Budget Office may report back with a costs and coverage estimate on Reid's bill, which he assembled from legislation passed by the Finance Committee and the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. The Finance Committee version does not include a government plan.

Reid has pledged to Obama that he will get the bill done by the end of the year and remains committed to doing that, according to a Senate leadership aide.

Both the House and Senate bills gradually would extend coverage to nearly all Americans by providing government subsidies to help pay premiums. The measures would bar insurers' practices such as charging more to those in poor health or denying them coverage altogether.

All Americans would be required to carry health insurance, either through an employer, a government plan or by purchasing it on their own.

To keep down costs, the government subsidies and consumer protections don't take effect until 2013. During the three-year transition, both bills would provide $5 billion in federal dollars to help get coverage for people with medical problems who are turned down by private insurers.

Both House and Senate would expand significantly the federal-state Medicaid health program for low-income people.

The majority of people with employer-provided health insurance would not see changes. The main beneficiaries would be some 30 million people who have no coverage at work or have to buy it on their own. The legislation would create a federally regulated marketplace where they could shop for coverage.

The are several major differences between the bills.

—The House would require employers to provide coverage; the Senate does not.

—The House would pay for the coverage expansion by raising taxes on upper-income earners; the Senate uses a variety of taxes and fees, including a levy on high-cost insurance plans.

—The House plan costs about $1.2 trillion (true full cost has been estimated as high as 2.4 trillion) over 10 years; the Senate version is under $900 billion.

By defusing the abortion issue — at least for now — the House may have helped the long-term prospects for the bill. Catholic bishops also eager to expand society's safety net may yet endorse the final legislation.

Lieberman appeared on "Fox News Sunday," while Graham was CBS' "Face the Nation.”

Lieberman Calls Obama 'Naïve,' May Bolt Party And Says McCain Is The Man We Need At The Helm

Sen. Barack Obama’s “naïve” world view could embolden America’s enemies during one of the most dangerous periods for America since the 1930s, U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman told Newsmax in an exclusive television sit-down interview Tuesday. Lieberman, visiting Fort Lauderdale, Fla., also told Newsmax that he is so disappointed with the Democratic Party, he will consider whether to bolt the Democratic Senate caucus next session. [You can see the full video broadcast on Newsmax.tv — Go Here Now]. “I believe he’s naïve to think that people like [Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad and Tehran will somehow become America’s friends by talking to them — a warm embrace and a cup of tea. It’s not going to work that way,” said Lieberman. McCain’s recent decline in the polls was “unfair” and “not rational,” Lieberman said, referring to the negative economic news that has impacted the McCain campaign. The Connecticut senator suggested that many Americans don’t realize that the global economic crisis is also a security crisis—one that will require an experienced foreign policy hand like McCain to navigate. “Frankly, he has to convince the American people that Barack Obama is not ready for prime time, that he’s not ready to be president of the United States,’’ Lieberman said. “Particularly not now, when we’re in two wars abroad and facing the most serious economic crisis we’ve faced since the Great Depression.” McCain’s recent drop in the polls, Lieberman said, stems from voter reaction to the subprime meltdown. “The economy has had such a crisis the past couple of weeks, that for reasons that I don’t think are fair or rational, Senator McCain seems to be losing as a result, and Senator Obama seems to be gaining. It’s the only thing that’s really changed,” he said. (And it is becoming more and more clear that the Democrats, Obama and Obama's friends and supporters are at great fault for the present financial mess.) “The very fact that the American people clearly trust John McCain more in a national security crisis is exactly the reason why they should have more confidence in him in an economic security crisis than Senator Obama,” said Lieberman. In a wide-ranging interview, Lieberman also said: • It’s important for the political process to question Obama’s ties to former Weather Underground bomber Bill Ayers: “I think these are very fair questions and it’s now up to Senator Obama to answer them.” • Barack Obama is clearly ‘not ready’ yet to be commander in chief, and the country’s adversaries, including Iran “will not fear him” if he were to become president. • McCain needs to persuade voters that “based on his record, that he really is the one who will change Washington, and Washington truly needs to be changed.” • McCain should tout his economic plan that will emphasize tax cuts and job creation — exactly what a troubled economy needs. He said it would be foolhardy to raise taxes in a recession, as Obama has promised. • The Republicans must emphasize that his plan for energy independence will create “hundreds of thousands, I think millions of new jobs.” Asked if he may leave his party and join with Senate Republicans, Lieberman said he had no immediate plans to make that move, but said he would consider it at a later date. “The Democratic Party of today is not the Democratic Party that I joined in the '60s under my hero President Kennedy, and it’s not the Democratic Party of my dear friend Bill Clinton,” Lieberman said. Still, Lieberman insists his main focus today is to get McCain elected president and has spent the past several months traveling the campaign trail on McCain’s behalf. On Monday night, he introduced McCain's vice presidential running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, to a Boca Raton audience at an event that raised more than $1 million. By: Tim Collie and David Patten [You can see the full video broadcast on Newsmax.tv — Go Here Now]. © 2008 Newsmax.

Thompson, Lieberman Hit Home Runs; Obama Strikes Out

First Official Night Speakers Knock It Out Of The Park

On Tuesday night, the speakers at the GOP National Convention, namely former Sen. Fred Thompson and Democrat-turned-Independent Sen. Joe Lieberman, not only reminded America of the compelling story of Sen. John McCain, but also reminded America that Barack Obama is simply not ready to lead. To help in the matter, Obama's own comments this week show that he will grasp at any straw in order to make himself look more "presidential," and that's the key: If you have to try to build a case for experience, you really don't have any.

Fellow Loft writer Chuck Muth has put together an excellent recap of Tuesday's speeches, and I encourage you to read it.

++ Night One of the GOP Convention

Fred Thompson's speech was simply terrific. After listening to only a few minutes of it, I remembered why this man had sparked a conservative following who encouraged him to run for president. Had the Fred Thompson of Tuesday night been the Fred Thompson who campaigned for president, he might have been the guy to take on Barack Obama.

For the full text of the speeches, please look at these pages on GOPUSA:

++ Text of President Bush's remarks to GOP convention

++ Text of prepared remarks by Sen. Fred Thompson

++ Text of prepared remarks by Sen. Lieberman

Thompson's primary role in his speech was to tell the McCain story. What a perfect job for Thompson. Although those of us who follow politics know about McCain's life, Thompson's retelling was so engaging. You truly felt you were hearing the horrors of McCain's POW years for the first time. And remember, all these speeches are geared for the audience at home, and for many of them, the story is new.

Throughout the speech, Thompson also drew sharp contrasts between McCain and Obama, and his delivery was razor sharp. Check out the highlights:

* Now, being a POW certainly doesn't qualify anyone to be president.
But it does reveal character.

* It's pretty clear there are two questions we will never have to ask ourselves, "Who is this man?" and "Can we trust this man with the presidency?"

* At a point when the war in Iraq was going badly and the public lost confidence, John stood up and called for more troops. And now we are winning.

* To deal with these challenges the Democrats present a history making nominee for president. History making in that he is the most liberal, most inexperienced nominee to ever run for president. Apparently they believe that he would match up well with the history making, Democrat controlled Congress. History making because it's the least accomplished and most unpopular Congress in our nation's history.

* And we need a president who doesn't think that the protection of the unborn or a newly born baby is above his pay grade.

Joe Lieberman then took the stage and continued the McCain/Obama contrast. I still can't imagine what Democrats must be thinking when their vice presidential nominee from eight years ago is now speaking at the GOP convention and giving a ringing endorsement of the Republican presidential candidate.

The theme of Lieberman's speech can be summed up by one of his lines, "I'm here to support John McCain because country matters more than party." He was clearly there to appeal to Independents and Democrats who might be thinking that Obama is just too liberal and too inexperienced. Here are some highlights:

* Both presidential candidates this year talk about changing the culture of Washington, about breaking through the partisan gridlock and special interests that are poisoning our politics. But only one of them has actually done it. Only one leader has shown the courage and the capability to rise above the smallness of our politics to get big things done for our country and our people.

* Eloquence is no substitute for a record -- not in these tough times.

* In the Senate he (Obama) has not reached across party lines to get anything significant done, nor has he been willing to take on powerful interest groups in the Democratic Party.

* So tonight, I ask you whether you are an independent, a Reagan Democrat or a Clinton Democrat, or just a Democrat: This year, when you vote for president, vote for the person you believe is best for the country, not for the party you happen to belong to.

As Karl Rove noted on FOX news after the speeches, the only thing that could have been better would have been to put Joe Lieberman first in the line-up. He was there to attract the undecideds who were watching on television. I just hope people were watching.

And finally, the Democrats' golden boy, Barack Obama, showed once again this week that he is not ready for the presidency. In trying to make himself appear to have experience, he's now claiming that "running for president" gives him experience to be president. That is the craziest thing I have ever heard. That would basically qualify anyone who runs for president to have the necessary experience.

He was trying to draw contrast between himself and GOP Vice Presidential Nominee Gov. Sarah Palin. As noted on FOX News, in an interview Obama said:

"Well, my understanding is that Governor Palin's town of Wasilla has, I think, 50 employees. We've got 2,500 in this campaign. I think their budget is maybe $12 million a year. You know, we have a budget of about three times that just for the month. So I think that our ability to manage large systems and to execute I think has been made clear over the last couple of years," Obama said.

This is ridiculous on many levels. First, for Obama, who's running for president, to try to make himself look better by going after Palin, who's running for vice president, shows that Obama can't even keep his eye on the target. His opponent is McCain, and voters will be voting for either McCain or Obama.

Second, Obama tries to compare his operation to Gov. Palin's by using budget and personnel numbers when she was MAYOR. The Obama campaign seems to forget that she is governor of Alaska. As McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds notes, "It is a testament to Barack Obama's inexperience and failing qualifications that he would stoop to passing off his candidacy as comparable to Governor Sarah Palin's executive experience managing a budget of over $10 billion and more than 24,000 employees."

Obama is too liberal and too inexperienced to be president. Hopefully America will see the light. There is too much at stake.

Posted by Bobby Eberle
September 3, 2008 at 6:43 am