SCHIP Finally Passes-- After A Last Minute Barrage Of Silly Obstructionist Amendments From The Party Of Greed & Selfishness

Pair of GOP vipers Obama thinks he can work with-- both voted no on SCHIP last night

The Republican Party-- which utterly excluded Democrats from the legislative process when they managed to get their hands on a Senate majority by murdering Paul Wellstone and stealing a New Hampshire seat for the since-defeated Sununu-- whined so much about being left out and not being allowed to offer amendments to bills that Harry Reid gave in and agreed in the spirit of the lamest idea to ever pop up in Washington: post-partisanship-- which would be like some seals offering a shark a deal for right of way). So now the Senate wastes its time debating obstructionist amendments all day offered by Republicans to kill bills that assist America's working families.

And, of course, Republicans feel perfectly justified in these tactics since in their dark but well-paid little world, everybody knows government's only legitimate function is to uphold the status quo and make sure Big Business can do whatever it takes to keep the campaign donations and bribes flowing. Tuesday night, Wednesday and all day yesterday, in a disgraceful exercise in obstructing SCHIP, a bill to guarantee health insurance to needy children, the Republicans offered over a dozen amendments-- ranging from the time-wasting to the shameful-- to keep the bill from passing. Arch-obstructionist Jim DeMint (R-SC) got the ball rolling on Tuesday night with an especially ugly proposal fitting a man whose entire political career has been financed by Big Business. His mean-spirited amendment would have made children pay for the health care and even mainstream conservatives like Kit Bond (R-MO), Susan Collins (R-ME), Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX), and Arlen Specter (R-PA) voted to shut him down. DeMint lost 60-37. The next morning Miss McConnell was back with a substitute bill written by insurance lobbyists. Even more Republicans were sickened by what their pathetic party has turned into and every single Democrat was joined by 7 conservative Republicans-- Kit Bond (R-MO), Susan Collins (R-ME), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Dick Lugar (R-IN), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), and Olympia Snowe (R-ME)-- in defeating the GOP Senate leader 65-32.

That was at 11am. An hour later Florida wingnut Mel Martinez was trying to tack on an extraneous anti-choice amendment that was quickly defeated 60-37. Next up was a harebrained scheme by Kansas nincompoop Pat Roberts that was defeated 60-36, which managed to attract one reactionary Democrat (Nebraska kook, Ben Nelson), while losing Republicans Bond, Collins, Murkowski, Snowe and Specter. Two more lame amendments Wednesday night by Jon Kyl and Lisa Murkowski, defeated 56-42 and 51-47.

Six more came yesterday, all diversionary and meant to sound sane while throwing up roadblocks to providing health insurance to needy children. First up-- as if to emphasize the low moral fiber of the Party of Greed and Selfishness, a medical doctor, Oklahoma's lunatic fringe Tom Coburn offered a bill that was defeated 62-36. A sad parade of obstructionists followed: Jim Bunning, Orrin Hatch, who demanded a clause being included that fetuses are eligible for child health assistance (Pavlovian even on this, Ben Nelson crossed the aisle to support the loons; it lost 59-39), DeMint (back for another thumping on another obstructionist amendment), and then more pure silliness and theater from Coburn that was defeated 62-36. Kay Bailey Hutchison's amendment at 8:30 pm was so off the wall she could only find 16 senators who even had the patience to pay her any heed, most of them Democrats; it was defeated 81-17.

To the post-partisans who think Obama's idea about appointing New Hampshire conservative Judd Gregg Commerce Secretary (resulting up a 60th Democratic Senate seat), keep in mind Gregg-- like McCain-- voted for every single one of these crazy, obstructionist amendments. This is a really bad idea and it will end badly for Obama, just like his disgraceful compromising with Republicans on the Stimulus package did.

The final vote came late last night and the Republican Know Nothings were defeated in the end 66-32. Every Democrat voted yes, as did 9 Republicans, too embarrassed to explain to their constituents how they voted against health care for children. Again, both McCain and Gregg stuck with their demented party's lunatic fringe.


UPDATE: SEE THAT PICTURE UP TOP?

The guy on the right is New Hampshire loon Judd Gregg, who is the target of a media campaign by organizations that support working families (which he disdains). He's also being mentioned as the most vulnerable GOP incumbent in the Senate with an extremist voting record way out of sync with Blue-trending New Hampshire and as a highly cynical choice for Secretary of Commerce. Would President Post-Partisan really be willing to sacrifice the integrity and effectiveness of that department for an opportunity to give barely united Democrats a filibuster-proof 60 seats? Yuck!

The unfortunate-looking closet queen on the left is Mitch McConnell, often referred to in these parts as "Miss McConnell." Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal reported that McConnell warned his disintegrating party-- now ruled by vulgar trained seals performing on radio and TV, was facing its own peculiar End of Times scenario-- that they're not making any sense to real Americans.

“We’re all concerned about the fact that the very wealthy and the very poor, the most and least educated, and a majority of minority voters, seem to have more or less stopped paying attention to us. And we should be concerned that, as a result of all this, the Republican Party seems to be slipping into a position of being more of a regional party than a national one. In politics, there’s a name for a regional party: it’s called a minority party. And I didn’t sign up to be a member of a regional party. I know no one in this room did either. As Republicans, we know that commonsense conservative principles aren’t regional. But I think we have to admit that our sales job has been. And in my view, that needs to change... every so often, there comes a time when a political party has to reexamine itself. For Republicans, now is such a time.”

You think? Maybe they should start by reexamining their stand on health care and why it has turned into one of the biggest threats Americans face today,