The Champ in Chief

Jan 6 was not the only time the nation owes her. remember  

How Nancy Pelosi Saved the Affordable Care Act | Time

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.”

pogo, and she not only has to dance backwards but she does it in heels, extra high stiletto ones at that.

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.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1580927465341747201

sturge, you’re not the only one according to

Walker Mocked For ‘Prop’ Police Badge in Debate: ‘Objectively Hilarious’ (msn.com)

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.”