Thursday, January 21, 2010

Aftershock

The aftershock I am referring to is not the terrible ones in Haiti, but the mood I am in the day after the bluest state filled Ted Kennedy's seat with a man who vowed to defeat health care reform.


My emotional rant yesterday may have been over the top.   (After all, I do have an award for being so.)   Today I will try to take a more measured look at what happened. 



Blame has to fall on the Democrats for this loss and the success goes to the Tea Party for seeing an opportunity and seizing it for all it's worth.  Massive amounts of money from the 'right' poured into Massachusetts at the last minute.  Money still talks very loud.

I think the New York Times said it best in an article in this morning's paper.  Following is an excerpt from that article:


 It is indisputable that the Republicans have settled on a tactic of obstruction, disinformation and fear-mongering, but it is equally indisputable that the Democrats have not countered it well.


And:

“To be honest, we kind of looked at it and said, this is a long shot,” said Brendan Steinhauser, the director of state campaigns for FreedomWorks, which has become an umbrella for Tea Party groups. But the group was impressed by the determination of organizers in this decidedly Democratic state and was intrigued by the notion that this could be a way to effectively derail federal health care legislation.  (Emphasis mine.)


And so FreedomWorks sent out a query to dozens of its best organizers across the country. Within days, the clamoring response made clear that what seemed improbable suddenly seemed very attainable; within weeks, the Tea Party movement had established a beachhead in Mr. Kennedy’s home state.
While conservatives quietly mobilized behind a state senator, Scott Brown, to fill the seat occupied by Mr. Kennedy for nearly 47 years, Democrats paid but slight attention to a contest that by every indication and by history should have been nothing to worry about.


And on Huffington Post I found this editorial that rings true to me.   It is a fair critique of what has gone so terribly wrong.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/drew-westen/obama-finally-gets-his-vi_b_429232.htmll.

I have to hand it to the Republicans.  They ran out the clock and have now effectively killed any hope of real health reform.  I hope people remember this as their premiums. co-pays, and meds go up year after year.  I just got an increase of $20 co-pay for specialists and refilled a prescription at triple last year's cost.

I posted the above yesterday before I knew about the disastrous ruling of the Supreme Court.  The consequences of this unprecedented ruling will destroy what shred of democracy that we have left.  (And the Republicans have the gall to talk about liberal activist judges who legislate from the bench.)  This is outrageous.  Dred Scott was a blot on the history of this country and if we have a country left this will go down in history as another dreadful, shameful ruling.  Unless Congress pass laws to minimize the damage done by the Supreme Court we can kiss our country goodbye.  It is now a country OF the Corporations, BY the Corporations and FOR the Republican Party.

12 comments:

Paula said...

I am speechless in Massachusetts.

Rain Trueax said...

Brown's numbers rose as soon as the information came out about how the Democrats got enough votes-- as in paying off Nebraska to get Nelson's vote. Sorry but that's disgusting and probably unconstitutional. I would say you cannot blame the Republicans for this one. Democrats did themselves in and showed that 60 votes didn't mean anything anyway. If you read much about Coakley, she didn't seem like someone I'd have wanted to vote for either. Brown ran as more of a moderate as in pro-choice. Time will tell how quickly he has a conversion experience to get a chance to run for president in 2012. He didn't win though by being honest about his position on the issues. He might be a three year senator if he lets down the state but if he goes right to get the presidential nomination, he won't care.

Politically it's a very disillusioning time and should be for the gloating Republicans, who are doing nothing about any of our problems, and the Democrats.

And to add to it the Supreme Court followed in Rush Limbaugh's direction and allowed corporations to give any amount of money they want to campaigns which means corporations, who are not people but economic entities, who cannot vote, who might not even be Americans can impact American politics. I knew when they put in Roberts it'd be bad but he lied his way in as so many of them do and now here we are with a huge disaster, far worse than the victory of Brown. The Supremes stay around a long time and they will now go after other laws that they said they would respect but obviously will not. For being a bunch of Christians, they sure lie a lot

Hattie said...

My sister just got handed a bill for $17,500 for a two hour visit to the emergency room. Kaiser will pay for it, she hopes.

20th Century Woman said...

Now we have the Supreme Court decision on campaign finance. The corporations who adore the Republicans will be able to pour as much money as they want into the coffers of the people who killed health care reform.

Looking to the Stars said...

I am shock and sickened by what Massachusetts has done.

They have shown us that what they want, they will get and we can eat cake. I hate politics when its against the people.

Leslie Parsley said...

I wrote on my blog that we couldn't really blame the Tea Buggers for this one. Coakley was a horrible candidate and the Dems were getting a little too complacent and lazy.

The Supreme Court ruling today was outrageous and just added fuel to the fire.

Enjoy that wine. Wish I could have some.

Darlene said...

*Paula - It's understandable.

*Rain - I agree with you completely.

*Hattie - That's shocking. I certainly hope Kaiser pays.

*20th Century Woman - If Congress doesn't pass laws to minimize the damage done by the Supremes, we are in for an all Republican administration from now on. Kiss democracy goodbye.

*Looking to the Stars - I just hate politics.

*tnlib - Thank you for your visit. I haven't seen your name before and really appreciate your comment. I hope you will come back.

I agree with your assessment. [Wish I could share the wine. Maybe someday. :-)]

Kay Dennison said...

I am angry as hell with the Supremes!!!!

I am contemplating whether to head north or south to request political asylum.

Darlene said...

*Kay - I know the feeling. I sometimes feel that I should quit reading the news. It is so depressing and maddening. It sure isn't helping my blood pressure.

Anonymous said...

In our local newspaper, today, appeared an artical citing right-wing Texans as bragging about the stealth campaign that they ran in Massachusetts. Seems it was not a last minute thing, but a well-kept secret.

Darlene said...

*anonymous - Probably the Swift Boar gang making dangerous mischief again.

Darlene said...

I needto check my comment before posting. I meant to say Swift Boat (even though they are boars and boring.) :-(