14 thoughts on “Friday Open Thread”

1. We actually know what Cory Gardner was going to do wrt Obamacare and ACA and PHarma votes. He did it and he doesn't give a shit what CPOLS, or Democrats, or anyone else thinks, because most likely it will be old news the next time he faces voters. 

   Yet CPOLS boldly states he “should answer for it.”

   What did Colorado's senior elected Dem do at about the same time?

   It was a Democratic amendment sponsored by Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Bernie Sanders. It was pro-working class and anti-Big Pharma. It even enticed "Yes" votes from 12 GOP senators. And yet 13 Democrats, including Sen. Cory Booker, helped kill a measure aimed at making prescription drugs more affordable. It failed 46-52. Ellie Shechet writes: 

   Last night, Senate Republicans took their first leap towards repealing Obamacare by approving a budget procedure that would allow them to avoid a Democratic filibuster. The 13 Democrats who subsequently voted against making drugs cheaper for people deeply undercut the ability of that party to speak with credibility on behalf of the working class.

   The measure, which would have allowed drugs to be imported from Canada, was expected to fail. But Democrats helped drive the nail into the coffin. 

   Where was all the bipartisanshippiness Bennet talks about? 

   CO went for Bernie and Hillary, and Bennet votes against what they would've supported and again rejects both the best politics (you really wanted to vote with Trump and against Obama?) and policy.

   Where's the political instinct that warrants a stunned silence from this blog's owners? Or could earn some meager praise?

   Where's any acknowledgement that almost the entire voting public is sick of the Pro-Corporate, Anti-Middle-Class tendencies of DC's Ruling Class?

   Am I really going to have to criticize this fcking moron for the next 6 years just like the last as he makes another cool $Million?

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   1. Yes, you'll criticize him (Bennet) all you want and those of us who think you long ago became a "broken record” will continue to call you out on your basic silliness. 

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   2. Zap, pay no attention to those who disrespect your freedom of speech. Thanks for your support of Darry Glenn, maybe another day.

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      1. Don't worry, Pp.  Paying no attention is Zappy's strong suit.

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         1. Paraphrasing either Mark Twain or H.L. Mencken, for the Zappster: "better to keep one's mouth shut and maybe one might be seen as a fool, than to open one's mouth and remove all doubt." 

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            1. Zap makes sense to me most days. Bennet, Zap's Great White Whale, shrugs off the harpoons of leftists such as Zap or myself. Bennet is a reliable D vote on most D issues, and generally comes down on the side of the angels.

               However, when that side comes into conflict with corporate money, as it did with this Pharma bill to prohibit people's ability to buy cheaper prescription drugs, then Bennet also very reliably comes down on the side of corporations that have donated to his campaign.  That's what the data shows, and there isn't any hiding from it.

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2. I have a suggestion for Republican Senators and Representatives — if you are so sure your Obamacare replacement will be so fantastically great, then you should be willing to make it the preferred plan for Congress.

   I mean, it's gonna be GREAT, right?

   And hey, sneaking that $9 Trillion rise in debt ceiling into this midnight bill was pretty slick!  You must have learned that stunt from our very own John Andrews and his Midnight Gerrymander.

   Looking forward to more of your non-hearings and non-plans for future legislation that you'll ram through Congress while the drunk with power party lasts!

   Not that I expect to read much about it in our local paper, unfortunately

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   1. List of Democrats and Republicans on failing Obama care.

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   2. Midnight Gerrymander was exactly what I thought when I saw this, too, Davie.

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3. Obama did the right thing.

   Now this is rare, but Obama's end to the Cuban wet foot-dry foot policy makes a whole lot of sense to me.

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4. 

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5. Winning?

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6. 

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7. So much for House Speaker Paul Ryan's big promises to balance the budget in 10 years:

   House Republicans Take First Step To Repeal Obamacare, Rubber-Stamp $9 Trillion In New Debt

   Before Pelosi was given the floor, however, the Democratic manager of the debate, top Budget Committee Democrat John Yarmuth of Kentucky, had to yield her time. And before he did that, Yarmuth continued a strategy he had adopted for every Republican speaker that day: reading off data from the Department of Health and Human Services and the Commonwealth Fund on the impact of repealing Obamacare in that Republican’s state.

   “I remind the speaker that his vote today to repeal the Affordable Care Act will result in 211,000 people from his state of Wisconsin losing their health care coverage, 46,000 workers losing their jobs and an economic loss of $25.7 billion in gross state product in the state of Wisconsin,” Yarmuth said.

   http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/house-republicans-obamacare-repeal_us_5878f0a6e4b0e58057fe55e8?71y3fy9175r35wmi

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