As she pleaded with her Democratic sisters, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had tears in her eyes. She knew they hated what they were being asked to do. She hated it, too. But if they didn’t relent, the whole thing could fall apart.
They had a once-in-a-lifetime chance to accomplish something truly monumental, a goal that had eluded Democratic presidents for nearly a century: the creation of a universal health care program. But the only way to get there, she was telling them, was to compromise one of their most cherished principles: a woman’s right to choose abortion.
It was Friday, November 6, 2009. The House was scheduled to vote on its health care bill the following day. For months, Pelosi had been immersed in negotiations on the massive, complicated legislation. Now it had come down to the final sticking point, one that could not have been more personal or painful for Pelosi. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops had announced that while it supported expanding health care, it would not endorse the bill unless it sharply restricted access to abortion, and a small group of pro-life members would not commit to vote for the bill unless the bishops signed off.
All day, Pelosi had been in meetings and on the phone, trying to get the bishops to compromise, the women to relent. But neither group was budging. Now it was evening, and she had run out of tactics. The only thing left was to lay her cards on the table with the members who most counted on her to speak for them and protect their interests—the liberal women. “I don’t know what to do,” she told them—a rare, or perhaps strategic, admission of weakness by Pelosi, who always seemed to know what to do.
[…]
Pelosi listened patiently as the women vented. The vast majority of House Democrats were members of the Pro-Choice Caucus, and yet they were being told that they were the ones who had to give in to a stubborn minority. This, Slaughter said, was a betrayal—of not just the women in Congress, but the women of America.
Pelosi pushed some papers across the table: her tally sheets. The story they told was more powerful than any argument she could make. Without the bishops’ amendment, she said, “I don’t have the votes.”
New Deal, Democratic presidents had been trying to create a national health care program. FDR twice proposed universal health insurance, but both times he stopped short of putting it to Congress. His successor, Harry Truman, also favored universal coverage, but never made it a priority. John F. Kennedy pushed for a program to insure the elderly, Medicare, but fell short, leaving it to Lyndon B. Johnson to get the job done. Johnson also created Medicaid, which partially funds state programs to provide health care to the poor.
[continues about clinton and obama efforts]
Pelosi thought wooing Republicans was a fool’s errand. From the beginning, she predicted the legislation would get zero GOP votes. “Does the president not understand the way this game works?” she asked Rahm Emanuel, the White House chief of staff. “He wants to get it done and be beloved, and you can’t have both—which does he want?”
[…]
On March 12, Pelosi sent a memo to her caucus. “We have to just rip the Band-Aid off and have a vote,” she wrote. Pelosi worked the members relentlessly. At one point, after presenting her with a list of more than sixty members who needed a phone call, John Lawrence, her chief of staff, expected she’d divvy up the list among the leadership team. “Give me the list,” she told him, and proceeded to call each of them herself.
The talks went down to the wire yet again. On the eve of the vote, a group of moderates walked out of a midnight negotiating session over reimbursements. But on March 21, with the bill on the floor, Pelosi rose to make her closing speech. The members who voted for this bill, she said, would go down in history: “We will be joining those who established Social Security, Medicare, and now, tonight, health care for all Americans.”
The vote was called, and as the tally crept upward, Democrats on the floor of the House began chanting, “Yes, we can!” After the bill passed, 219– 212, with no Republican votes, the floor exploded in cheering and hugging.
Many of the books and articles subsequently written about the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act would emphasize the president’s achievement—which of course it was—and the protracted drama in the Senate, more than Pelosi’s work in the House. Senate leaders always think their job is harder because they have to get to 60 votes, while House partisans argue that the House, with its hundreds of personalities and layers of overlapping interests and blocs, is infinitely more complex. But it’s impossible to say whether the Senate struggled because Reid’s job was inherently harder than Pelosi’s or because Pelosi was better at the job of getting controversial legislation through the chamber her party controlled.
To Pelosi’s allies, the Senate was like the misbehaving child who gets all the attention, and is praised lavishly for minor progress, while the gifted, well-behaved sibling has to meet higher expectations. Because she made it look easy, people assumed it was. She compared herself to the swan that seems to glide regally across the water, but actually is paddling its big, black, ungraceful webbed feet furiously underneath.
At a caucus meeting, a liberal congressman, Steve Cohen, passed out buttons that read, “PelosiCare: I was there.”
Nancy has more intellect and bigger balls than any of the men in Congress.
pogo, and she not only has to dance backwards but she does it in heels, extra high stiletto ones at that.
Oct 13, 2022Stephen’s monologue continues with a look at footage of Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Sen. Schumer and other leaders as they fought to defend the U.S. Capitol and reassemble Congress to certify President Biden’s victory in the 2020 election.
bill last night on the same subject
even our anti-maher mixers on the trail might like this one
Bill reacts to the top stories of the week, including the bombshell conclusion of the January 6th hearings.
Dateline November 8, 2022:
America is given the opportunity to keep on trying to get it right…..or America joins up with Athens and Rome, and Zelenskyy becomes like the protagonist of Hemingway’s short story “The Killers”. (Short Story of the Apocalypse).
Starring Burt Lancaster
in keeping with today’s theme…
“Good evening mr and mrs america and all the Schlitz that’s free”
Daryl Scott, Democrat, SC7″
@BuzMartinSC
Happening in South Carolina: A growing “revolt of the ‘RINOs”, especially (but not exclusively) those w/o the Y chromosome. Anecdotal on my part? Yes. But if I were a gambler I’d feel safe betting heavy on it portending a #BlueWave2022 building up. #VoteThemAllOut2022
Unreleased subpoenaed footage: Stone angry that Trump didn’t grant him a second pardon melts down calling Ivanka Trump – abortionist bitch daughter. pic.twitter.com/aAAOZLC5fu
I want to see a close-up of Herschel’s badge.
I’m actually dying to see a close-up of that badge.
That aside,
HE HAD TO SHOW US SOME STINKING BADGE!
hahahaha
Some Twitter users wanted to know more about the exact nature of the badge. Newsweek has asked the Walker campaign for comment and additional information on the badge that he showed during the debate.
“Anyone have a high res of the actual badge Walker flashed. Not looking for gags. Looking for high res image,” asked Josh Marshall, founder of Talking Points Memo.
There has been considerable controversy over Walker’s claims about his links to law enforcement. His campaign has said he’s an “honorary deputy” with the Cobb County Police Department in Georgia, but the department previously told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. In August, Walker shared a photo on Twitter of what appeared to be an honorary “special deputy sheriff” card from the Cobb County Sheriff’s Department.
Speaking to the Cobb County Courier in October, a department spokesperson said that the honor is for “a community liaison and partner” who does not have “arresting powers.”
NBA Hall of Famer Dominique Wilkins received the distinction from the department at the time.
The Walker campaign told Newsweek in a statement in June: “Herschel studied criminal justice at UGA [University of Georgia] and has supported and worked with law enforcement for years, including speaking to police about mental health, leading a women’s self-defense training, participating in the FBI Academy at Quantico, and being awarded honorary deputy status in Cobb, along with 3 other Georgia counties.”
The meme machine has been quiet. Too quiet. I don’t like it.
Warnock winning clip coverage, police zinger (“I never pretended to be a police officer”) and Walker’s silly display of fake badge tops the list. Plus this, one of his dumbest moments: “Mr. Walker also seemed to blame people with diabetes for their condition, saying during a discussion on insulin costs that while he believed in reducing the price of the drug, “at the same time, you got to eat right,” adding that “unless you’re eating right, insulin is doing you no good.”
I thought Warnock’s comment about his oppoent’s relationship to the truth was good and hit well also. can’t remember the exact quote
Agree with Ron Brownstein on GA debate (CNN) : “Moderators really skated past all of the many charges Walker is facing and simply let him in an airy very non-substantive way brush off the charge that he paid for an abortion without any meaningful follow-up”
“Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar on Thursday certified that 49 migrants who were flown to Martha’s Vineyard by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis last month were victims of a crime. The move clears a pathway for those migrants to get a special visa to stay in the country that they otherwise would not have received.”
“Based upon the claims of migrants being transported from Bexar County under false pretenses, we are investigating this case as possible Unlawful Restraint,” Salazar said in a statement.
“Evin is no ordinary prison. Many of Iran’s best & brightest have spent long stretches confined there, where brave women & men are denied their basic rights for speaking truth to power,” Rezaian wrote. “The regime is responsible for what happens to those inside right now.”
“An Iranian security official said “thugs” set fire to the warehouse of prison clothing, which led to a fire in the prison, Iranian state media IRNA reported. Tehran’s Evin Prison is a notoriously brutal facility where the regime incarcerates political dissidents.”
“Witnesses previously said that Iranian security forces beat, shot and detained students at Tehran’s Sharif University. Last month, nearly two dozen children were killed during the protests, according to a report by Amnesty International.”
“At least 23 children — some as young as 11 — were killed by security forces in the last 10 days of September alone, the report said.”
“Earlier this week, an Iranian official also admitted that school students participating in street protests are being detained and taken to psychiatric institutions.”
Sturgeone – I had the exact thought. Way back when you could get your own official “TV cowboy/police/?” badge by mailing in trash. I am sure some of those are now collectors things and cost real money. Could scrambled brains (SB not SFB) have something like that? Sure, but I sort of remember some police unit hands out special badges, like to kids visiting. Perhaps SB has something like that? And, in those damaged neurons, thinks it is real?
This has been brought up, mostly in sports pages, that Walker is damaged and that he has no reason to be out and alone in public, let alone running for the office of the one hundred most powerful people in Congress. It is difficult to ridicule someone with mental damage. He probably has someone around to help put his shoes on the correct feet. Plus, he could die any moment. The former political party of republicans (white supremacists and fascists) have no bottom of horrible. To further their goals of destroying these United States they are despicable. That any person of any color, and women and any other than rich white males, supports the gqp is hard to understand.
Jan 6 was not the only time the nation owes her. remember
How Nancy Pelosi Saved the Affordable Care Act | Time
Nancy has more intellect and bigger balls than any of the men in Congress.
pogo, and she not only has to dance backwards but she does it in heels, extra high stiletto ones at that.
Oct 13, 2022 Stephen’s monologue continues with a look at footage of Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Sen. Schumer and other leaders as they fought to defend the U.S. Capitol and reassemble Congress to certify President Biden’s victory in the 2020 election.
bill last night on the same subject
even our anti-maher mixers on the trail might like this one
Bill reacts to the top stories of the week, including the bombshell conclusion of the January 6th hearings.
Dateline November 8, 2022:
America is given the opportunity to keep on trying to get it right…..or America joins up with Athens and Rome, and Zelenskyy becomes like the protagonist of Hemingway’s short story “The Killers”. (Short Story of the Apocalypse).
Starring Burt Lancaster
in keeping with today’s theme…
“Good evening mr and mrs america and all the Schlitz that’s free”
Daryl Scott, Democrat, SC7″
@BuzMartinSC
Happening in South Carolina: A growing “revolt of the ‘RINOs”, especially (but not exclusively) those w/o the Y chromosome. Anecdotal on my part? Yes. But if I were a gambler I’d feel safe betting heavy on it portending a #BlueWave2022 building up. #VoteThemAllOut2022
I want to see a close-up of Herschel’s badge.
I’m actually dying to see a close-up of that badge.
That aside,
HE HAD TO SHOW US SOME STINKING BADGE!
hahahaha
sturge, you’re not the only one according to
Walker Mocked For ‘Prop’ Police Badge in Debate: ‘Objectively Hilarious’ (msn.com)
The meme machine has been quiet. Too quiet. I don’t like it.
Warnock winning clip coverage, police zinger (“I never pretended to be a police officer”) and Walker’s silly display of fake badge tops the list. Plus this, one of his dumbest moments: “Mr. Walker also seemed to blame people with diabetes for their condition, saying during a discussion on insulin costs that while he believed in reducing the price of the drug, “at the same time, you got to eat right,” adding that “unless you’re eating right, insulin is doing you no good.”
I thought Warnock’s comment about his oppoent’s relationship to the truth was good and hit well also. can’t remember the exact quote
Agree with Ron Brownstein on GA debate (CNN) : “Moderators really skated past all of the many charges Walker is facing and simply let him in an airy very non-substantive way brush off the charge that he paid for an abortion without any meaningful follow-up”
https://www.texastribune.org/2022/10/13/bexar-county-sheriff-migrants-marthas-vineyard-visas/
“Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar on Thursday certified that 49 migrants who were flown to Martha’s Vineyard by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis last month were victims of a crime. The move clears a pathway for those migrants to get a special visa to stay in the country that they otherwise would not have received.”
“Based upon the claims of migrants being transported from Bexar County under false pretenses, we are investigating this case as possible Unlawful Restraint,” Salazar said in a statement.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/15/world/evin-prison-tehran-iran-protest/index.html
“Evin is no ordinary prison. Many of Iran’s best & brightest have spent long stretches confined there, where brave women & men are denied their basic rights for speaking truth to power,” Rezaian wrote. “The regime is responsible for what happens to those inside right now.”
“An Iranian security official said “thugs” set fire to the warehouse of prison clothing, which led to a fire in the prison, Iranian state media IRNA reported. Tehran’s Evin Prison is a notoriously brutal facility where the regime incarcerates political dissidents.”
“Witnesses previously said that Iranian security forces beat, shot and detained students at Tehran’s Sharif University. Last month, nearly two dozen children were killed during the protests, according to a report by Amnesty International.”
“At least 23 children — some as young as 11 — were killed by security forces in the last 10 days of September alone, the report said.”
“Earlier this week, an Iranian official also admitted that school students participating in street protests are being detained and taken to psychiatric institutions.”
Sturgeone – I had the exact thought. Way back when you could get your own official “TV cowboy/police/?” badge by mailing in trash. I am sure some of those are now collectors things and cost real money. Could scrambled brains (SB not SFB) have something like that? Sure, but I sort of remember some police unit hands out special badges, like to kids visiting. Perhaps SB has something like that? And, in those damaged neurons, thinks it is real?
This has been brought up, mostly in sports pages, that Walker is damaged and that he has no reason to be out and alone in public, let alone running for the office of the one hundred most powerful people in Congress. It is difficult to ridicule someone with mental damage. He probably has someone around to help put his shoes on the correct feet. Plus, he could die any moment. The former political party of republicans (white supremacists and fascists) have no bottom of horrible. To further their goals of destroying these United States they are despicable. That any person of any color, and women and any other than rich white males, supports the gqp is hard to understand.
NEW THREAD