WOW! Just on Rachel Maddow: Reid will REVOKE CHAIRMENSHIPS for any Dem that supports Filibuster

[berni_mccoy]

Wow. That's news to me. Hadn't heard that until just now.

Threatening to revoke committee chairmenships over siding with repubs on a filibuster against HCR is certainly big-time arm-twisting.

[Engineer4Obama]

1. I literally cheered

It was the best news I've heard in weeks.

[Orrex]

2. What's that sudden stiffness in Harry Reid's back?

Could that be the first suggestions of a nascent spine?


Could it???

[NightWatcher]

4. will believe it when I see it

[Lucy Goosey]

6. I'm with you - I can't quite believe it yet.

But I certainly hope this is true.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

7. Amen to that.

[Orrex]

8. Don't harsh my buzz!

I have this lunatic fantasy in which the Majority Leader is actually a Democrat.

[Confusious]

23. He's a democratic

Just a sans balls democrat.

[SharonAnn]

47. "Threatened they might lost chairmanship". Too wussy for me. Take it away from them.!

[B Calm]

77. Damn Right!

[JerseygirlCT]

91. I'm with you, I'm afraid

we've heard talk from him before; I want to see the action.

[berni_mccoy]

10. Alan Grayson perhaps?

[Monk06]

70. Grayson has demonstrated that there is no downside to pissing on the Repugs' shoes.

Push comes to shove they shake their feet and
pretend it's rainin' The R's are cowards. They got
nothin. Grayson knows it and shows it.!!

[indepat]

97. This is war: cut off all Dems' political dicks at the nubbin' and take no prisoners

;)

[Brigid]

13. He just watched KO's show.

That ought to do it for anybody.

[WeDidIt]

15. Apparently he's evolving

He's moving from the phyla Acoelomorpha to the phyla Chordata.

[Orrex]

16. Took him long enough--I was about to phyla complaint.

[tsuki]

68. Arrrgggg. But good :). nt

[mopinko]

80. teehee

science jokes. i love it.

[Orrex]

99. I'm all about class

Runs in the family, you know.

[mopinko]

100. is that a teacher joke?

if so, my sympathies.

[Andy823]

25. I don't know.

I think I will have to "SEE" it before I really believe it! Harry has talked tough before, but never seems to follow through!

[Zoeisright]

44. LOL!

My first thought too.

[Egnever]

48. He is up for re-election and is looking like a loser at the moment

He has to do something.

[Incitatus]

59. The miracles of stem cell research. nt

[phleshdef]

71. I've been noticing a change in Reid's tone ever since Teddy passed away,

[gkhouston]

81. I don't care if it's his granny's whalebone corset, as long as he keeps wearing it. n/t

[AllentownJake]

3. I'm actually shocked

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

The Spine Transplant was a success!!

nt

[Confusious]

26. Oh shit... Relapse!

I give 5 to 1 he wimps out.

I'll put in my sig that I screwed the pooch on this one if he doesn't.

[berni_mccoy]

32. LOL, can't wait to see that. I'll remain cautiously optimistic.

[mlevans]

35. Poor little puppy.

Not the pooch's fault if Reid turns chicken.

[cynatnite]

5. Excellent! n/t

[Ardent15]

9. Reid is finally showing a spine..Good

He is, for now, no longer a DINO in my eyes.

[izquierdista]

11. The meek shall inherit the Earth

And Harry is one of the meekest ones out there. I guess he decided to step up and claim his inheritance. :evilgrin:

[TankLV]

50. "Meek" in use when that phrase was coined, meant "industrious".

Bet nobody knows that.

So much for the "word of god" crap...

[mmonk]

75. During the period of the English translation?

[Old Hob]

12. Why would they in the first place? Unless perhaps their constituents want this bill killed.

In that case, who is Harry Reid to interfere with the democratic process?

[aquart]

41. Check the polls, old demon. People want the public option.

[Old Hob]

58. There is no public option last I knew. I want a public option and I want it available to anyone

anywhere, anytime, under any circumstances. We'll get nothing of the sort though.

[rhett o rick]

55. Very strange set of questions for a Democrat.

First of all are you not aware that there are a number of Democrats that vote with the repukes.

Second, those that don't support the public option aren't listening to their constituents as 86% of constituents favor the public option. They are listening to their masters in the insurance industry.

Third, are you insinuating that changing the chairmanships isn't part of the "Democratic process"?

[Old Hob]

60. There is no Public Option

and, as such, democrats are not 100% in favor of this bill. Mandates? Fines? No single payer? No public option? Taxing insurance benefits as income? It doesn't seem like a strange set of question for anyone at this point. I dislike everything I have heard about this bill so far. BTW, threatening senators in order to get them to go against the will of their constituents is very undemocratic. It is, in fact, an act of a tyrant.

[rhett o rick]

62. Again you say "against the will of thier constituents". Their constituents want

a public option. the Blue Dog traitors are voting AGAINST their constituents. That's why they should be stripped of their chairmanships.

[DatManFromNawlins]

63. You can't back that up that claim

A poll of the country is not a poll of the constituents of a state or district.

[Bonn1997]

72. You're the one who brought up the will of the constituents in the first place. The burden is on you

to back up your statement. Can you show that these Senator's constituents want them to fillibuster a bill with a public option (which is not the same as merely voting against the bill).

[rhett o rick]

101. So please tell us exactly what your point is. Are you claiming that, although 86% of

Americans favor the public option, that this doesn't apply to the Blue Fucking Dogs? If so, please give us some proof. Blue fucking Dogs are not legitimate Democrats. They vote with the republicans, they are republicans.

[Canuckistanian]

14. What's that? Reid?

The majority leader, right? The guy from Nevada?

Amazing.

[rhett o rick]

17. Please, please take the few seconds to send Sen Reid an email and say "We got your back". See link

here:

http://reid.senate.gov/contact/index.cfm

[SIMPLYB1980]

30. Thanks for the link. nt

[TankLV]

51. Thanks - but No Thanks! I might consider it AFTER he FOLLOWS THRU...

To date, HE HAS NOT FOLLOWED THRU ON ANYTHING I VALUE, or anything he's claimed he'd do. NOTHING.

only AFTER this is a FACT, will I consider anything...

[rhett o rick]

56. I understand your concern. But by contacting him now, we might inflluence his decision. nt

[Ian David]

18. Harry Reid robbed Bob Novak's corpse of its balls.

He suddenly found testicular fortitude on the very day Bob Novak went to Hell.

[Hannah Bell]

19. about time they played for real. this is what a party org is for.

[Barack_America]

20. Wow. My jaw literally dropped.

:wow:

[Confusious]

21. Reid will wimp out

He's done it so many times before. I'd like to believe, but there's history.

[MarjorieG]

22. That helps w. Lieberman, who didn't want them under Bush, but don't Mr. Insurance now.

[spanone]

24. harry, i never knew ye

[tekisui]

27. knr!~

[Parker CA]

28. Are you sure he didn't say RENEW or REVIEW? ;) Spines must be on sale in DC.

[robinlynne]

29. about god damn time!! Chiarmanships should have been removed long ago.

[DefenseLawyer]

31. Of course his boldness could mean...

that he fully expects the final bill to be a shitty watered-down pro-insurance boondoggle, and the tough talk is all for show.

[Le Taz Hot]

83. Bingo! (n/t)

[Bozita]

33. I saw it. I heard it. A minute passed. I began wondering about my attentiveness.

No. Nope. Couldn't be.

Thanks for this thread.

[berni_mccoy]

34. LOL! I was stunned... had to replay it twice more to verify.

[HughMoran]

36. Yeah, I liked that

'bout time the talk gets tough.

[malaise]

37. Time for some fugging party discipline

Pity it isn't for universal health care

[Vidar]

38. Wnderful if; 1. it's true & 2. Reid follows through.

[mucifer]

39. hopefully we won't even need to know if he'd follow through.

[mucifer]

40. For MONTHS Bernie Sanders has been calling for this. To put pressure on all the

blue dogs that they CAN vote against the bill. But, they NEED vote against the filibuster.

[Warren Stupidity]

42. Balls to the wall.

'bout time.

[David Zephyr]

43. I need to take my heart pill. If this is true, than Harry is forgiven for all his sins.

!

[Rex]

45. Time has come

to either put up or shut up and NO ONE is getting elected in again, if they vote 'against'.

[DainBramaged]

46. Harry Reid found his balls??? Whaaaaaaaa????

[tomm2thumbs]

49. Lieberman runs against the President/Party in 08 and keeps his chair - nice Reid

I guess Lieberman has proven he is a dyed-in-the-wool Democrat by fighting health care reform after letting him keep his chairships.
How'd that work for ya Reid?

Reid could fall off the planet for all I care, he's about as phony as they come.

[Frank Booth]

52. Is this for a filbuster of any health care bill?

Or is it assumed that it's a health care reform bill with a strong public option?

Because it's not that surprising if he's making threats against those who won't vote for cloture on an industry-enriching HCR bill without a public option.

[Old Hob]

61. thank you nt

[TorchTheWitch]

67. DING DING DING!!!

That's exactly what he's doing. The arm twisting he should be doing is getting a STRONG public option that's available to ALL. Any arm twisting will be for those progressive Dems trying to stop a shitty bill from passing.

Reid wants those juicy Insurance Industry campaign dollars.

[JerseygirlCT]

92. Good point. nt

[LostInAnomie]

53. I'll believe it when I see it.

[Jennicut]

54. Reid better not back down. He has nothing to lose. Nevada will not go more blue

if he goes more conservative. The time is now.

[anonymous171]

57. Wow...that's uncharacteristically badass for Reid.

:applause:

[lonestarnot]

64. Did Harry get a pair?

[defendandprotect]

65. Tuned in but missed this segment . . . thank you !!!

[defendandprotect]

66. Could the Michael Moore remedy for non-performing Dems be filtering thru ...??

[davidpdx]

69. Start with that asshole Lieberman and take all his chairmenships away

and toss him into the street like a little boy who got his candy taken away. Then Bacus, but I suggest kicking him a little harder or pushing him in front of a bus. After that the rest of them should be shaking in their boots and pissing their pants.

I just hope Reid has the balls to actually follow up and do it.

[1]

73. heh. sure he will...

[FreeStateDemocrat]

74. Obviously, the insurance companies, big pharma and the rest of corporate health care will be happy

with the final bill as they have written it. We will get "reform" in name only, just like we got change with BO such as Afghanistan is now Obama's war.

[ashling]

76. I thought she said that "some are talking about" this

:shrug:

[hileeopnyn8d]

78. She did.

I was afraid to be the bubble-burster, but since you did it first...

What she said was that the option was available, along with reconciliation. She didn't say that Reid stated he was going to do that, she said he *could* do it.

I hope he does, I really truly do, but I have my doubts.

[berni_mccoy]

85. I rewound it when I first saw it. She definitely said they *would* do this.

[ashling]

89. Actually, she said that "power brokers ... are encouraging"

"We can report exclusively tonight, that two major power brokers on the left have told MSNBC that they are encouraging a Senate strategy now, in which the leadership would revoke chairmanships and other leadership positions from any Democrat who sides with a Republican filibuster to block a vote on health reform," Maddow said.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4094720

[wicket]

79. GIVE 'EM HELL HARRY!

[Odin2005]

82. YES!!!

[KharmaTrain]

84. How The Game Is Played...

Reid is under a lot of pressure and about time! He knows that if this bill fails, he gets a lion's share of the blame. A Fillibuster would be a rebuke of the President that could hurt not only the administration but his own party's chances next year just like the failure of Hillarycare was a major factor for Democrats losing seats in 1994. Methinks Harry also is getting whipped by folks like Durbin, Schumer and Biden.

The game plan for a while has been to get the Senate bill to reconciliation. This requires one 60 vote. Just one vote. If Senators object to specific parts of the bill, they can vote against it afterwards but it won't hurt the passage of a final bill. The problem is I fear Harry still hasn't gotten the 60 lined up.

The other aspect here is it appears the GOOP is starting to break ranks a bit...the polls can't be denied. It could be Snowe, Collins and even Voinovich could be swayed to avoid cloture...thus Harry can look like he's growing a pair as the real inside game is being played by others.

[Echo In Light]

86. Rec!

[HughMoran]

87. Can we revoke Baucus' chairmanship?

I am sick of his antics.

[derby378]

88. Big fat hairy deal

It would have been better if Reid threatened revocation for any Senator who opposed the public option.

[JerseygirlCT]

90. Missed that one - good to hear

especially if he's actually willing to do it, not just say it.

[samsingh]

93. hopefully he'll stay strong

reid has a habit of talking tough and then buckling

[sofa king]

94. That's almost a standing threat, but it's nice to see.

Reid, having stepped up to the top slot from the Whip spot, is particularly adept at identifying who looks weak, and how to scare the shit out of them to make them act strong. Though it is a general and often used threat it is squarely aimed, as usual, at one particular turncoat within our ranks, Joe Lieberman, who caucuses with the Democrats and has the chair of HSGA in spite of acting as a GOP shill. That keeps Lieberman as honest as he'll ever be.

I know a lot of you like to hate Senator Reid and call him spineless, but he's actually done a far better job of keeping the Democrats in the Senate together than his predecessors of the past thirty years. That he kept Congress free of total criminal--I mean Republican--control, with never more than a one vote advantage and often less than that in real numbers is a credit to him and our party.

[Overseas]

95. Dare we hope Reid will actually do that?

I'm sure he's hoping he won't have to.

[Javaman]

96. I'll believe it when I see it. nt

[newtothegame]

98. Hell yeah! Down with any party dissension!!! n/t