What Massachusetts Means...

Very simply, the GOP victory in Massachusetts is a message. We didn't elect Obama and a super majority to sit and dither with obstructionists. We elected them to get things done. And if you don't do it, we will kick your ass out!

Now, I have no data to support this. It's a gut reaction, enhanced by voter reaction in stories about the election. Especially quotes from independents.

So, listen up Dems. This is not so much a GOP victory as a Dem loss. We are tired of seeing the least visionary and most reactionary 20% of the nation dominate due to their willingness to shout lies and attack anyone trying to use logic.

We didn't create a super-majority and elect a liberal President to get a watered-down version of health care reform that primarily benefits insurance companies and drung manufacturers. We wanted true reform.

You gave us kowtowing to people willing to compare you to Nazis instead of a public option, despite poll after poll telling you that is what the people wanted.

You gave support to Wall Street, after running on support for Main Street. You listened to lobbyists instead of laborers. You gave us fearful, creeping steps forward at a whisper, as though you were afraid of some uncouth, crass idiot standing up in your speech and shouting that you were a liar... when we asked for action.

We wanted strength and you gave us caution. We asked for change and you gave us unnecessary concessions to an opposition whose intellectual standard-bearers felt that being asked what newspaper they read was "ambush journalism."

The results in Massachusetts are a wake up call, indeed. But not to move further to what Beck, Rush and Hannity consider acceptable compromise. No, this is a call to listen to us instead of Fox News.

The people who butter your bread just told you that if you don't do your damn job, there will be consequences. Let's see if you get the message...or if you are too distracted by the circus of the screaming tea-baggers.

The New Lie: Bush Kept Us Safer Than Obama

In recent weeks, a trend has emerged. The next big lie that the Republican leadership seems to want to focus on is a downright doozy. Enough to make me wonder if it is a test. After the Birther and Tea Party silliness actually seemed to resonate with parts of America, someone must have decided this might work with someone.

This isn't even as innocuous as putting a "D" next to Mark Foley's name when the Republican was caught chasing pages or playing up Palin's "death panel" falsehood.

This morning, Rudy Giuliani went on Good Morning America and claimed...

"We had no domestic attacks under Bush; we've had one under Obama."

EXCUSE ME? The man who was once accused of being unable to form a sentence that wasn't subject - verb - 9/11 said that? And what's worst, he is not the first. Mary Matalin and Dana Perino beat him to it. Matalin claims that the 9/11 attacks didn't happen on Bush's watch on Sunday Morning. Perino tells Sean Hannity "We did not have a terrorist attack on our country during President Bush's term."

The last I checked, September 11, 2001 happened nine months after Bush took office. That is most definitely on his watch and during his term. Also, what about the Anthrax attacks that killed five people? And that is just domestically.

I'm not sure who should be most insulted. Perhaps it is the Republican base. Your leadership thinks you are not just inattentive and willing to parrot their words... they think you can't even read a frakkin' calendar!

I sure hope this one bites the GOP in the ass. Otherwise, the next thing they might attempt is painting Sarah Palin into Da Vinci's The Last Supper... or at least having her faith heal Dick Cheney's heart.

The Dangers of Compromise In Health Care

The Democratic moderates are shooting themselves in the foot...again. If anyone is going to need new health care, you would think it would be these soon-to-be toeless wonders.

AP, Washington - Facing the need to maintain a tenuous 60-vote coalition in the Senate, House Democrats will probably have to give up on starting a new government insurance plan to compete with the private market, something that's a nonstarter with Senate moderates. In its place they hope for more generous subsidies for lower-income families to buy health insurance.

This was a few column inches down in a story about Obama calling a meeting between House and Senate leadership to push Health Care Reform away from the traditional committee to "reconcile" the two versions from the legislative bodies and instead have the House amend the Senate bill and send that one back to the Senate. Then, it would presumably be passed by the super-majority and go to Obama's desk.

Hey, moderate Dems. I know, you are worried about being ousted in the 2010 elections. I get that. Listen up. No health care bill = Republican weapon in election. Compromising with Republican leadership has only weakened this bill to the point where what came out of the Senate was a boon to only one group -- the insurance industry.

At least the House included some kind of a public option, something the Americans who are not on Fox News' Christmas Card list actually want. And while I realize that Fox is very vocal and that the Republicans are very noisy and numerous, there is something you need to remember. Yes, registered Republicans make up about 36% of the electorate. What you need to remember is that 100-36 = 64.

Reality Check: 64% of the vote will get you re-elected, you idiots.

So, if you really want to hang on to your precious job, quit dragging your feet. And damn it, do NOT take out the idea of a government business to compete with the insurance companies and replace it with "subsidies for taxpayers." Um, reality check time again.

Reality Check: A government plan, even if unprofitable, would at least be bringing in SOME of the revenue to support itself. "Subsidies," on the other hand, bring nothing back. Yes, the money goes into taxpayers checking accounts. But there it gets combined with some of their money and goes to the insurance company.

Ok, so who really gets the money, dumb-asses?

This whole process is already fuel for your opponents. What you need to have is the victory, no matter how Pyrrhic. Because a loss at this point is more fuel for the fires that the Republicans will use to light their torches and sterilize their pitchforks. (After all, none of us wants to piss off the FDA, even Fox News.)

Get it passed. Get it passed in as strong a form as possible. Quit being afraid of your own shadows(Seriously; it hasn't been the Repubs holding this back, its been other Dems.)

You have the majority, you idiots. Use it before you lose it.