Sigh... It might be better if Snowe voted NO

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

Now the Finance Bill will be the bipartisan bill and thus the only legitimate "serious" bill in the eyes of the punditocracy.

All deviations from the Baucus bill will be "partisan" and "far left."

The presumed potential upside is that her participation will have a big effect on public perceptions of HCR. If she said she was going to vote for whatever ends up coming out of conference that would be awesome news, and well worth some celebration. But since she is opposed to any sort of PO she will not be offering her super pug-endorsement of any final bill worth voting for. In fact, her comments today are almost a promise to play Lucy pulling away the football at some more sensitive juncture. Thus she will probably eventually be hurting public perception of any eventual worthwhile bill while covering her ass.

That seems a lot to give up in exchange for passing a bill out of committee that was already going to pass in committee. (Getting the thing out of committee is important and if she were the only way to do that I'd have a different view.)

And when she votes against the final bill (which she will unless it's a real piece of crap) it will "show" that Reid went far-left (snort!) making it impossible for even a supremely reasonable bi-partisan person like Snowe to vote for it. Meanwhile she will be able to say she was for HCR.

But hey, we elected her President, right? So we have only ourselves to blame.

[jefferson_dem]

1. I understand the argument but disagree.

The more we can get on the "reform" bandwagon (I know...some will say the Baucus Bill is not reform), the better. Positive momentum has been building since the CBO score and that's a good thing.

At any rate, LIEberman has stepped up to balance out Snowe's support. Does that make you happy? :)
EDIT to add link: http://thinkprogress.org/2009/10/13/lieberman-baucus-bill/

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

4. My problem is one of direction. When she eventually votes no that will be bad PR

It would be great if she was not going to withdraw her support down the road, but I think her inevitable back-stab will be a more opinion-shaping. (And at a more sensitive juncture.)

Ironically, by pretending to play ball now when she does cave she will be putting intense pressure on Conrad and Lincoln and such.

I am not suicidal about it, but see a net-negative.

[jefferson_dem]

8. It is important to note that she framed her yes vote as an historic opportunity to create

positive health care reform.

She may vote no on the final bill but support now may signal that she will oppose a filibuster, which is all we really need from her.

If she had voted no now, we would be all but assured that she is prepared to join the ranks of obstructionists.

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

11. If she is going to vote for cloture that would be a good thing

I figure she will do the bare minimum to cover her ass in Maine.

Not being a Mainer I don't know exactly what that entails.

[Mass]

2. The only reason it is good is because they can finally move on out of the Finance Committee

where this bill was stuck for months now and start working on a bill.

Now, it is up to the leadership to make sure the bill is decent. That is a different question that does not need to involve Snowe.

[Mass]

7. I still would have prefered she voted NO, however. She is pulling the bill to the right just as was

done for the stimulus.

This said, this gives cover for Rockefeller to vote NO.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

10. Agree.

[jefferson_dem]

3. Chuckles Todd agrees -

Snowe's support for Senate Finance Cmte bill means Reid-Baucus-WH are running health care bill; House Dems and Dodd less influential now.

http://twitter.com/chucktpolitical/statuses/4839750770

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

6. Hey, I can't be held responsible for the Chuckster!

[jefferson_dem]

9. Come to think of it...

I have yet to see you and Chuckster at the same place at the same time.

Hmmm...

Chuckster?

[Cleita]

5. Yes, I think so but according to all the DU experts on health care reform here,

I'm wrong. Never mind that I have been right about this process since the beginning when I said we were being thrown under the bus and in the end there would be no access to Medicare for all as a public option. None of that happened and then suddenly there was no public option either. But even though I have been right all along, I'm still wrong and so are you according to the "experts".

[SpartanDem]

12. The punditocracy hasn't been right very much durning this debate

HCR and the public option was dead at the end August according to them, they can think what they want, but there is a lot game left to be played.

[Parker CA]

13. Isn't it more fun to relish in every potential failure though? By the way, I agree with your post.

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

15. The punditocracy has shaped opinion. (They are almost never right)

When you have a complex initiative that almost nobody understands in detail people rely on 'experts' in forming opinion.

And, sadly, recent evidence suggests that prior veracity is not a big factor in who folks listen to. Scott Ritter's views on Iran are treated with roughly the same contempt as his almost-uniquely correct views on Iraq. He doesn't have a TV show or op-ed column.

Meanwhile Charles Krauthammer and Bill Kristol retain influential perches despite never having been right about anything.

The punditocracy isn't about being right so much as promulgating a world-view.

[quantass]

14. R.I.P Public Option -- And i was expecting the lousy "triggered" PO to come out of all this but now

it looks like the shift is more towards the more disasturous Baucus bill now that Snoew is more in favor of it. Not sure which is the lesser of two evils: a triggered PO or the scheme of the Finance bill. There is still more time but with Reid, and the WH now salivating that they have Snowe they are more likely to keep the final bill in that direction, thus no PO of any kind.

[Clio the Leo]

16. Which is why the likes of Rockefeller, Schumer, Harken et al gave up hope on a PO long ago.

...... please! :sarcasm:

[ProSense]

17. I think at some point the wishful thinkers' heads are going to explode. n/t

[Clio the Leo]

18. lol, I dont know that "wishful" is the word I would use.....

.... but either way, I've got some crow stored away in the freezer (as all fans of Southeastern Conference football keep as a staple this time of year.)