Motley Moose – Archive

Since 2008 – Progress Through Politics

30 comments

  3. sricki

    Girlfriend and I went out to the club after the vote last night, half in celebration, and half to vent frustration after seeing the Stupak amendment pass. Between that and the vote on 1 in Maine, we are feeling a bit like second (maybe third) class citizens — me more than her, I suppose… she doesn’t fuss over politics as much as I do (I guess most people don’t).

    Make no mistake, I’m glad the bill passed — it’s a start, after all — but the costs are upsetting me. The bill is not all we wanted by any stretch of the imagination (my boy Kucinich even voted against it!), which we knew would be the case… but to see that amendment tacked on in the 11th hour really disheartened me. To see every Republican in the House (except one who voted “present” I think) vote away women’s access to adequate, affordable health care in the event that they find themselves in need of an abortion… and then for only one of them to vote for the bill… well, I fucking hate that party.

    Then for 23 Democratic Representatives — including my own — to act EXACTLY like Republicans… voting YES on Stupak and NO on HCR… feels like a kick in the gut.

    The bill as it was wouldn’t have overturned the Hyde amendment — but the Republicans and conservadems just had to go the extra mile. The fucked up thing is, I realize HCR would not have passed without the amendment. And I find myself thinking, Well, this is best, it was for the greater good. And then I take a step back and realize how shitty that is — that as a woman I have to, and am WILLING to, “take one for the team” because there’s no other way to get things done. The only thing that placated some of those assholes and convinced them to vote for HCR was ensuring that things were made harder for women in need. That ONE issue would have kept them from voting for the bill.

    Angry Mouse has long been one of my favorite kossacks, and she sums up some of my feelings pretty well in this diary. Except that I think she’d have let the entire bill fail over Stupak. I wouldn’t. “Suck it up, ladies. Fall in line.” Well, I did, and I will — and had the whole thing rested on my shoulders, I would have sucked it up. For the “greater good.” Does that make me a bad feminist? A weak woman willing to be walked all over? I don’t know. But passing HCR, even at that cost, still seems like the right thing to do. We all make sacrifices. Lives are at stake — can I really afford to be ideologically puritanical in light of that?

    But… all that aside, major props to Pelosi for all she did. I am proud of our Speaker.

    Girlfriend and I are headed for a run, which will hopefully clear my head a bit. Ran across the following images this morning — h/t to LaFeminista over on dkos:

  4. creamer

     The abortion admendment didn’t suprise me, in fact I’m supprised it took so long for the issue to be addressed. On that issue I respect the religous convictions of those who oppose it even as I understand the arguments supporting it on pragmatic and womens rights grounds.

       I think this bill moves us forward. While I would like a more universal public option and a rescinding of the anti-trust exemption, I can’t imagine not supporting somthing that will insure more people and starts to place restrictions on insurance companies. Cost containment wise it doesn’t do enough, but it starts to bend the curve.

  5. louisprandtl

    “I laid out a very simple principle, which is this is a health care bill, not an abortion bill,” Obama said. “And we’re not looking to change what is the principle that has been in place for a very long time, which is federal dollars are not used to subsidize abortions.”

    Saying the bill cannot change the status quo regarding the ban on federally funded abortions, the president said, “There are strong feelings on both sides” about an amendment passed Saturday and added to the legislation, “and what that tells me is that there needs to be some more work before we get to the point where we’re not changing the status quo.”

    http://abcnews.go.com/Politics…

    h/t to Dr. Democrat for his DKos story.

    http://www.dailykos.com/storyo…

  6. creamer

     I also don’t know that a majority of Americans support tax dollars to pay for abortions. It seems like an area that has to many grey areas, not to mention emotional areas, for me to make this black and white. Simply dismissing the arguments of the pro-life side as religous fantasy is unfair. Just as dismissing the concerns of woman in regard to freedom unfair. Both sides will bring experts and theroy on when life begins without reaching a consensous. Just more of I’m right your wrong.

     Senator McCaskil made a good point when she said that without moderates we would not enjoy the majorities we have in congress. I think that bears consideration when following legislation and how liberal or consevative it is. The left needs to be careful not have a tantrum or misrepresent issues. We were put in power by a country looking for adults.  

  7. Chris Blask

    Great article on WaPo.  Notice how a little bit of common respect worked better than superior arrogance?  The Dem players were nice to her, the GOP snots dismissed her, and in the end the Dems won.

    The interesting thing about treating people ethically is that it is both the right thing to do as well as the best game plan.  

    Soon after, triumphant releases rolled out of conservative press offices. Michael Steele, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, immediately transferred the party’s financial support over to Hoffman, who placed no condolence call.

    “One man who did call me was Bill Owens,” she said. “He didn’t ask for an endorsement, he just said, ‘I hope you’re doing okay.’ ”

    Unbeknown to Scozzafava, the kindly gesture was the first salvo in a White House-orchestrated initiative to win her endorsement. “I did speak to her because she’s a friend,” said June O’Neill, former chairwoman of the New York State Democratic Party, who became the White House’s in-district point person. “And she had just made the difficult decision to pull the plug on her own campaign.”

    According to a White House official with knowledge of the courtship, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel assigned the mission to his political director, Patrick Gaspard, who months earlier floated the idea in the State Assembly of Scozzafava running as a Democrat and now asked allies to console her.

    .snip.

    Scozzafava, who was stripped of her Republican leadership position in the New York State Assembly on Monday, says she has no regrets and even leaves open the possibility of running for the seat again as a Republican. She sees herself as a champion of local expertise over ideological purity.

    “How can Sarah Palin come out and endorse someone who can’t answer some basic questions,” Scozzafava asked. “Do these people even know who they are endorsing?”

    Those conservative forces now descend on Florida, where former House speaker Marco Rubio, who on Monday received the endorsement of the Club for Growth, might shove aside centrist Gov. Charlie Crist, who was once on John McCain’s short list for running mate. And Scozzafava has a warning.

    “There is a lot of us who consider ourselves Republicans, of the Party of Lincoln,” she said, her face now flush. “If they don’t want us with them, we’re going to work against them.”

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