Apparently, Republicans and Democrats are in some sort of contest to see who's worse at finding their own asses in the dark with both hands and a flashlight. While Democrats continue to prove that they couldn't organize a backyard barbecue, Republicans are proving they couldn't write up a grocery list. The word of the day is "Incompetence" with a capital "I." On healthcare reform, we now have House and Senate bills that were originally deadlined in August possibly being pushed back to next year. And, if you're really in the mood to bang your head against your keyboard, there's this headline in the New York Times to consider -- "Democrats to Use Election to Push Agenda in Congress."Hey, that's a pretty good idea. But you know when that would've been an even better idea? Maybe last year, when Obama and Dems were both insanely popular. Way to get right on top of that, guys.
Blaming election setbacks on a drop in voter enthusiasm, Congressional Democrats said Wednesday that losses in governors’ races in Virginia and New Jersey — and a striking House win in New York — should give new urgency to their legislative agenda, including a sweeping health care overhaul.
As they assessed the results, Democratic lawmakers and party strategists said their judgment was that voters remained very uneasy about the economy and did not see Democrats producing on the health, energy and national security changes they promised when voters swept them to power only a year ago.
Both of the congressional seats Democrats gained Tuesday night were gained by candidates who not only supported healthcare reform, but the public option. Meanwhile, one of the dems who lost gubernatorial races that night -- Creigh Deeds of Virginia -- said he'd consider opting out of the public option if it came to that. In other words, the Blue Dog position was the big loser on Tuesday and the rest of the party wants to use the results to get the Blue Dogs off the dime. In races where healthcare reform and the public option had been brought up as an issue, healthcare reform and the public option won. This isn't extremely surprising, considering that poll after poll shows the public option is popular with voters... [CLICK TO READ FULL POST]
