The Dirty 15: 15 Democrats who voted AGAINST the Health Care Reform rules

[ThePantaloon.com]

These are the 15 Democrats who voted against the Health Care rules - a sure sign of their looming no votes on the bill, too. If they are your reps, remember this vote and kick their cowardly asses out of office next election:

1. Jason Altmire - PA
2. Brian Baird - WA
3. Dan Boren - OK
4. Bobby Bright - AL
5. Travis Childers - MS
6. Arthur Davis - AL
7. Parker Griffith- AL
8. Frank Kratovil, Jr. - MD
9. Jim Marshall - GA
10. Charlie Melancon - LA
11. Walt Minnick - ID
12. Loretta Sanchez - CA
13. Ike Skelton - MO
14. Health Shuler - NC (he was a shitty QB, too)
15. Gene Taylor - MS

THE DIRTY 15 - May they all lose their health insurance some day.

[Richardo]

1. Glad (and surprised, frankly) to see no Texans on that list.

[WolverineDG]

20. :phew:

I coulda sworn Cuellar's name would have been on that list.....

dg

[DURHAM D]

2. And Dan Boren's daddy was a shitty Senator. nt

[jezebel]

3. No these are the ones who voted against the rule. There are going to be over 30 voting against the

bill.

[ThePantaloon.com]

8. That's right.

[Maccagirl]

4. Yes, may they lose their homes because their meds

cost $399 a month for one prescription and be forced to sell their condo at almost $10,000 loss and move in with their mother at age 51-that's my story. Pox on them!!!!

[patrice]

18. .

Maccagirl + DU = :grouphug:

[Maccagirl]

24. Thank you Patrice.

I don't want what happened to me happen to anyone.

[patrice]

26. I know that sort of thing does stuff to your head. I was a Sprint layoff.

Hang in there. :hi:

[Ken Burch]

5. Why would Baird do that?

His district has Olympia Washington in it. It's a PROGRESSIVE district. What's in it for him to cave to the town hall crazies?

[icymist]

7. I was surprised by that too. n/t

[starroute]

21. My son lives in Olympia

I just IM'd him saying, "Your congressman totally sucks. Go shit on his front lawn or something."

Last summer, he'd described Baird as "the most generic moderate democrat ever." A week later, I commented to him, "you didn't say that Baird was announcing his town hall meetings by apologizing to the rioters for calling them lynch mobs."

Then after he went to one of Baird's town halls on August 31, we had this exchange (all typos from original) -- and it seems like Barid was wishy-washy but in favor of a public option at that point. So I don't know what's up with him.

me: tell me about it.
him: well, it was a lot more civilized than the ones you see on TV
there were a few calls from the peanut gallery, but only a few
me: do you think that's because the crazy has petered out or because Washington is more ciivilized?
him: Because Olympia is overwhelmingly progressive.
I didn't keep count, but at least 3 dozen people asked questions, and only 3 of them were hostile
there was a lot of support for single-payer, and people kept asking him about it
me: good. not that we'll get it at this point but it's goot for them to know there's suppolrt for it.
him: and he kept dodging, saying that there's no way single payer would pass.
but not addressing whether we would support it
for obvious reasons.
he would, rather
he seems very... pragmatic
but he was very knowledgeable about it, and answered a lot of specific questions about HR 3200
me: what obvious reasons? why couldn't he say, "I favor single payer since so many of my constitutents are for it, but realistically there's no chance to pass it under current circumstances"
him: because while it's very popular in Olympia, there's a lot of rural area in his district and a lot of people that are not in favor of reform
me: oh, ok.
him: I imagine that from his perspective, saying he's for it when it's not possible would only lose him votes, overall
I definitely feel like I have a much better understanding of what's going on
me: seems like Olympia got stiffed by being stuck into a largely-rural district just because it needed an urban area to bring it's numbers up.
him: that sounds about right
someone also asked him a question about NASA
because he's on that committee
me: and?
him: and he mentioned the Hubble deep field imagine
image, rather
which according to him, "shows thousands of galaxies, each with tens of thousands of stars"
me: not millions and billions?
him: he said "tens of thousands"
is it 400 million in our galaxy, or 400 billion?
me: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milky_Way
him: 100 billion
so yeah
me: we can't see that many in our own galaxy because of the dust clouds, but if he's talking about other galaxies -- he's an idiot.
him: yeah, he's not that great a congressman
me: hmm, I didn't know Earth was located in the Local Fluff inside the Local Bubble.
him: lol... I did not know that either
me: sounds like something that should be batted around by the Local Lolcat.
him: lolcats in spaaaaaace?
me: he may not be that great a congressman, but it
s kind of jarring that someone on the committee handling NASA doesn't even know their basic Carl Sagan-level facts.
him: I have no idea
that's just what he said
it's possible he misspoke
but I'm left coming out of the whole thing wondering whether compromised healthcare reform is a good thing, if it means we're left waiting another 20 years for a real fix.
me: the strongest argument for it is that if we can just get a public option through the insurance companies will eventually self-destruct.
reform without a public option is a far more dubious item.
him: one can only hope
and he is in favor of a public option, so that much at least is good.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

22. Baird also supported the "surge" in Iraq. That's when he lost my vote.

[Sebastian Doyle]

25. Brian always had this fucked up idea that Vancouver was the seat of his dristrict, not Olympia.

I'm beginning to regret that I ever campaigned for that bastard, because he's definitely forgotten he ever lived in Olympia.

[Ken Burch]

29. You'd think he would remember that Vancouver is a labor town

The union sisters and brothers there are NOT gonna be okay with this.

[starroute]

28. My son just checked Baird's website

Frankly it sounds like bullshit to me -- like he's looking for excuses to vote against it. The whole "do things right" line is far too close to what known enemies of reform have been saying.

http://www.baird.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1041&Itemid=99

All of those changes are commendable, but there are still reasons for concern. The most important of these is the simple fact that we do not yet have reliable estimates of how this legislation will impact the premiums paid by people who already have insurance.

This week I spoke with Nancy-Ann DeParle, the President's chief health advisor and Doug Elmendorf, the director of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). Although some prominent economists have asserted that premiums on average may go down relative to what they would be without this bill, the CBO has yet to complete its analysis of the issue. Furthermore, just yesterday, the chief actuary for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) said he did not think a cost estimate of the House bill would be available before the scheduled vote.

This is no small matter. To insist that members vote on this legislation without having cost estimates of Medicare and Medicaid impacts by CMS or an estimate of premium impacts from the CBO seems premature and unwise.

Precisely because this matter is so important, it is critical that we do things right, and know what we are doing. At present, unfortunately, I do not believe we have answers to fundamental questions.

Another troubling matter is how the legislation will be brought to a vote. As of this writing, only one amendment will be allowed from the Republican side. No other amendments, by either the majority or minority members, will be allowed. I believe that is a mistake. For a matter of this importance, and on which reasonable people can and do disagree, there ought to be more opportunity granted for amendments on both sides.

For these reasons, until more information is available on premium estimates and Medicare impacts, I will vote against the legislation in its current form. I will wait to make a decision on final legislation until this critical information becomes available and when the House and Senate together produce one bill.

[havocmom]

6. May they keep PAYING for their health insurance

then get it revoked on technicalities when they get sick and need it.

[Actionman]

9. Dems defeat their own bill

and they will be slaughtered in 2010... seems the dems always know how to do for repubs what they can not do for themselves.

[Oregone]

11. They wont

They wouldn't slog this far otherwise.

[gratefultobelib]

12. Not all of them. Ike Skelton is my rep and he's an institution around here.

[Ken Burch]

30. That's 'cause he scores all those warbucks for his district, right?

I'm assuming you've got a ton of khaki marching around in those parts.

[avaistheone1]

10. Shame on Loretta Sanchez

In 1994 Sanchez ran unsuccessfully as a moderate Republican for the Anaheim City Council under her then married name, Loretta Brixey. In 1996, she changed parties and recast herself as a moderate Democrat to run in the 46th District against six-term Republican incumbent Bob Dornan.

The bitterly fought race saw Sanchez charge that Dornan was out of touch with his constituency, especially after a distracting run for the 1996 Republican Presidential nomination. The 46th had always had a Democratic tilt, but became even more Democratic after the 1990 census when it received a considerably larger number of Hispanics than had previously been in the district. Sanchez won by 984 votes, and Dornan contested the election, alleging that many votes were cast by people who were not American citizens.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loretta_Sanchez


She sounds like a political chameleon like Joe Liberman. Sanchez sucks big time.

[CTyankee]

13. As a Lamont supporter against Lieberman in 2006, I say UGH to Sanchez.

I would only hope she will not be the thorn in your side that Lieberman continues to be for us Democrats in CT (and the USA!).

[2Design]

14. democrats against the people suck n/t

[me b zola]

15. Loretta is still fighting the primaries

Get back home, Loretta.

[wroberts189]

16. No CT Dems ..Yaahy! Finally some redemption since we sent Joe there. knr

I bet old joe lets us down in the senate though.

[QC]

17. Artur Davis comes from one of the poorest districts in the whole country.

It's shameful, but not surprising, to see him on this list.

[starroute]

23. Three Alabama Dems on the list -- is someone blackmailing them?

Maybe I'm being tinfoil, but given that it's Alabama, I can't help wondering if someone is threatening to Siegelman them.

[ThePantaloon.com]

27. I'm so glad I don't live in Alabama - no offense to anyone.

[blue neen]

19. UPMC will take care of Jason Altmire.

In fact, they already are.

You're a real sell-out, Jason. I'm sorry I ever contributed to your campaign. :grr:

[Xenotime]

31. Put them on the enemies list next to Glenn Beck and Fox News.