The Proverbial White Flag? Bloomberg and GOP Leaders Begin to Applaud HCR

[Clio the Leo]

Or maybe it's not so much a white flag as they're trying to catch the train before it leaves the station? Although we may be able to question their movitavtion, it's a sign of the inevitable.

STATEMENT OF MAYOR MICHAEL R. BLOOMBERG ON THE HEALTH CARE REFORMS ADVANCING IN CONGRESS:

“The health reform proposal that Congress will shortly consider is shaping up to merit broad, bipartisan support, incorporating Republican ideas and earning deserved support from Republican leaders such as former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist. The approach has great potential to reduce costs for families, businesses and government at every level over the long term, while extending coverage to many millions of the uninsured and investing in proven, cost-effective public health strategies. This is an approach that Republicans, Democrats and Independents can and should support.”

http://www.politico.com/politico44/wbarchive/whiteboard10052009.html

Is this a pattern? Top Reps call for health care reform

What's going on here? Former Bush administration Health and Human Services secretary and Wisconsin governor Tommy Thompson says today the Senate Finance health legislation should pass, calling the bill "another important step toward achieving the goal of health care reform this year. It moves us down the path of providing affordable high-quality health care for all and expanding coverage for millions."

In a joint statement with former House Democratic leader Dick Gephardt, Thompson sounded like President Obama: "If we don't act now, health care costs will continue to devour more income of hard-working families and burden businesses trying to expand and create jobs -- while leaving tens of millions of people uninsured and vulnerable to a health emergency. That's unacceptable."

Last week, former Senate Republican leader Bill Frist, a heart surgeon, told several news outlets that he would vote for the health care bill, despite his concern that it does "really nothing to bend the cost curve." Frist argued the individual mandate is necessary along with a crackdown on insurance company discrimination against the sick. (At the rate things are going, anyone who has stepped into a doctor's office, even a baby, is going to have a "pre-existing condition.")

Today Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal stepped up his calls for Republicans to join the health care debate. Does anyone notice this this is an admission that his party has been AWOL? Jindal says there's no way the Democratic bill can pass, but after Democrats give up on their "grand experiment," he says, "Republicans have to join the battle of ideas."



Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/nov05election/detail?blogid=14&entry_id=48948#ixzz0T6e3yRNX

[Xipe Totec]

1. Republicans are like flies on the ass of an Ox,

Taking credit for plowing the field.

[TheCoxwain]

29. That is funniest thing I have heard all day

:rofl:

[Cha]

2. Bloomie, of course, was a Dem and then a repuke

to compete in the primaries for mayor of NYC and then he left the gop to become an Indie..and he makes sense here in your article.

Maybe Jindal sees an opening to be the leader ahead of the pack of frothing jackals in the pub party.

[Clio the Leo]

3. I just hope he doesn't change parties again.....

.... before time expires for me to edit this post. lol

[Cha]

5. lol..who knows he just may feel free enough

to become a Dem again:bounce:

[DrToast]

4. I wondered about this

I wondered if once the Republicans realized they couldn't kill HCR they might try to get on board. This isn't enough to suggest that's what is happening, but it's worth keeping an eye on.

[Clio the Leo]

7. Well, Bloomberg is running for re-election in NYC....

.... not exactly the bastion of conservative thought.

And Jindhal got some $$ last week from the White House (for aid to the coast) and the President announced he'd be visisting the Gulf Coast next month. So you have that factor and what I believe to be his Presidential asperations, that explains his statement.

Frist is my former Senator .... he's just being Frist.

I dont know enough about WI's support of HCR, but that may be a factor there as well.

Whatever their reason, any time a Republicn (and Bloomberg) conceed and agree with the Democrats, it's a good thing.

[rvablue]

6. It seems that Frist and Thompson are supporting the Baucus bill.

I think that should scare us, not comfort us that some in the GOP are "coming around."

They'll do everything they can -- including supporting the Finance Committee bill -- to make sure there is no public option.

And Bloomberg doesn't count as being part of the "right." He was a registered Democrat until he decided he wanted to run for mayor. And health care reform, including a public option, will do a lot to help him in running the city of New York.

[Clio the Leo]

8. But we have the GOP going from no support of HCR....

.... to, in your assesment, them supporting HCR without a PO.

I'm a pragmatist ...... I'll take it.

Baby steps.

[depakid]

11. If anyrthing like Baucus' bill passes, Dems (and everyone else) will regret it

for many years to come....

[Clio the Leo]

17. Tell that to the person who cant get coverage NOW ....

.... because of pre-existing conditions who would be spared financial hardship under what the President is proposing. Tell THEM it's not progressive enough.

[drm604]

18. Why?

How does a bad bill that helps no one but the insurance companies qualify as baby steps?

[Clio the Leo]

22. How does a bill that........

.... allows someone with a "pre-existing condition" be able to purchase affordable health care immediately only help the insurance companies?

[drm604]

23. It helps people in the short term

but if you don't introduce some strong competition (i.e. the public option) then prices will continue to climb. Individuals won't be able to afford the insurance and employers will either cut back on coverage or employ less people.

[Clio the Leo]

24. Well, then it's a good thing.....

.... there's going to be a public option in the final bill then, huh?

[drm604]

25. Depends on what they mean by "public option".

If GOP leaders are applauding it then it's unlikely that it's a strong effective public option. It's more likely that it'll be some ineffective thing that they can point to and say "see... a public option".

[Clio the Leo]

26. Yep, 'cause that's what the President is shooting for........

..... watered down crap that helps no one. I understand his nick name at the White House is "Full of Sh*t Obama."


Guess we'll have to see, wont we?

[drm604]

27. You understand that that's his nickname?

Where, precisely, did you get that understanding?

I think someone may be full of something here.

[Clio the Leo]

30. lol, you nailed it that time! NT

[drm604]

32. I think you may be misunderstanding me.

Whatever.

[jeanpalmer]

9. What it tells you

is that the end result that they see will not be healthcare reform. Republicans will never agree to real HCR.

[ShortnFiery]

10. Only because their corporate masters have told them "the fix is in."

:(

[saltpoint]

12. One notes the weasely and cowardly remarks of BOBBY Jindal in

regard to healthcare reform and his party's absent role in that debate.

[Monk06]

13. If the Repugs are in favor you can bet it's because the bill is a sell out to big insurance.

[jefferson_dem]

14. Tumulty of Time reads DU?

http://swampland.blogs.time.com/2009/10/06/more-republicans-for-obamacare/

[Faryn Balyncd]

15. What's shaping up in the Sen. Finance IS Republican as the Bush/Baucus/BigPharm Px Drug "benefit"

mandatory purchase of private insurance, bury the public option forever, a prescription for burdening our midlle class with massive premium inflation, killing our industrial competitiveness, and having healthcare cost 25-30% of GNP within a few years.

Baucus's bill is a Republican wet dream - a Massachusetts style corporatist giveaway that will allow the GOP to blame the consequences on the "big government, socialist" Democrats.

[bertman]

34. +1

[berni_mccoy]

16. Of course. They WANT Baucus's Bill.

[Clio the Leo]

19. And the Governator hops on board...........

Republican California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger released the following statement in support of national health care reform efforts --
“As Governor, I have made significant efforts to advance health reform in California. As the Obama Administration was launching the current debate on health care reform, I hosted a bipartisan forum in our state because I believe in the vital importance of this issue, and that it should be addressed through bipartisan cooperation.

“Our principal goals, slowing the growth in costs, enhancing the quality of care delivered, improving the lives of individuals, and helping to ensure a strong economic recovery, are the same goals that the president is trying to achieve. I appreciate his partnership with the states and encourage our colleagues on both sides of the political aisle at the national level to move forward and accomplish these vital goals for the American people.”
Schwarzenegger joins Republicans Bill Frist, Tommy Thompson and Mark McClellan, as well as Democrat-turned-Republican-turned-independent Mike Bloomberg in offering across-the-aisle words of support for health care reform in recent days.

http://www.politico.com/politico44/wbarchive/whiteboard10062009.html

[Peacetrain]

20. You have made my day Clio

These people did NOTHING.. and less than NOTHING the whole time they had power.

[Mass]

21. They know a bill will pass. Better for them that it is the Baucus bill than any other one.

If the Senate debate on the floor can strip it from the few remaining good features (no mandatory features in the insurance, no floor for the actuary value) while making sure that anything good is added (employer mandate, public option, negotiation power to exchanges), they will be even more happy.

And, if they do not succeed, no Republicans will vote for it, but they will be able to say it is the Democratic fault.

So, yes, it is an interesting twist, but I heard Frist on NPR the other day, and he is for doing something as long the reform offers nothing. He was very clear with that.

[MasonJar]

28. Sounds like they are touting the Baucus plan which is worse than nothing.

[Romulox]

31. FALSE flag, not white flag. nt

[kestrel91316]

33. I'm thinking they spotted the pitchforks, torches, and guillotines......

[ShortnFiery]

36. NO, perhaps they know that this will, in the end, serve their corporate masters FIRST?

After all, they are beholden to them ... perhaps, with the mandate - the insurance companies are happy campers. We should be leery. I almost don't want a plan ... no, without a ROBUST Public Option. Any half-step is just more Corporate Welfare (from our middle class tax dollars) to the Insurance GIANTS.

[Canuckistanian]

35. Incorporating WHAT Republican ideas?

I haven't heard any ideas other than "don't do it"