This is having a duck guard the henhouse. Not as evil, but same effectiveness as a fox.

Kudos to Dan and (reluctantly) to McConnell assuming he really does object.

That sounds like an excellent idea!

McConnell must be our the-buck-stops-here guy, and if he doesn’t stop it then the buck will go the way of the Zimbabwe dollar, not to mention physical pain and suffering. I’ve always been frightened what would happen if they conference. They would have too much control over what the bill will be, and that is always bad for us. Even if the conference would drag it out, the harm they could do in conference is worse than a jam-through, in my inexpert thoughts.

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Activists Taking Action: Unified Patriots

you’re such a tease. Now kindly insert your foot in Harry Reid’s backside.

on voting on the debt ceiling extension prior to the SOTU speech?

Does this mean that the reconciliation will happen on the floor of the senate and not in a locked, smoke filled back room?

Asking because this is all new to me.

Thanks,
Sarge

“There’s no doubt that McConnell, with just 40 Republican votes, holds the weak hand in negotiating with Reid. But according to the source, in exchange for agreeing to hold the vote on Christmas Eve morning instead of evening, McConnell got Reid to agree to hold a high-profile debt-limit vote next month — just before the president’s State of the Union address — instead of burying the issue later, as Democrats had wanted. In addition, McConnell got Reid to agree to showcase a number of deficit-related Republican amendments, forcing Democrats to vote on issues they had hoped to avoid…

That is important because Democrats want to hold the debt-ceiling vote after the president’s State of the Union address, in which Obama is expected to emphasize fiscal responsibility and deficit control. Given Democratic spending in the last year, Obama will have a difficult time making the argument with a straight face, and Senate Democrats had hoped that pushing the debt ceiling vote until well beyond the speech would make the president’s task a little easier. Thus the plan to pass a two-month debt ceiling bill before leaving for Christmas.”

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/Did-McConnell-really-surrender-in-health-care-debate-79979727.html

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While Mitch McConnell is not my favorite person in the Senate by any measure…especially after seeing how horribly he fumbled with the failed “messaging” strategy…I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt on this one.

It’s clear the democrats own this issue…moving the vote back by scant hours won’t change that…and how the vote will turn out is pretty much a given. So is it really throwing in the towel to let people get out of town a little earlier so they can be home for Christmas?

Especially given the concession by Reid which will interestingly enough, put Obama in a bit of a spot for his State of the Union speech.

Well…actually…he’ll do what he’ll always do and remorselessly lie through his teeth.

Let’s see if this is a ploy to get Reid to put Mitch on the conference group in return for dropping the objection, so he can cut some deals for himself.

The big deal about objecting, if I understand it, is that if this goes to conference, a conference would cut a backroomd deal that is unamendable when it is presented to the votes of the House and Senate. Not to mention that anything can go into a conference report, and the pressure on Democrats will be to vote yes or be blamed for its going down – they have no chance to change it.

Whereas objecting would force a new measure from the House that would reset the debate clock in the Senate, with amendments permitted, just like with this bill.

Hopefully DeMint or someone else will step up to the plate if McConnel backs down. If I were him, I wouldn’t trust Mitch to stand up for anything, since his word seems not longer able to be trusted.

isn’t just obstruction. All the republicans have to do in response to the dems complaints is to point out the bribes and sweet deals made by various senators for their votes on this bill.

If they want to pay people off for votes, than at least with Mitch’s plan to object to conferees there is a better chance that we will all know about it.

Republicans can simply point out those deals to declare why they object to conferees and the majority of the country would be with them on it.

Even CBS is covering these deals.

He may be more astute than we give him credit for.
Or,…not.
I’d really like to see the Republicans as a unit walk out, or simply boycott the 8AM vote. Let Harry REALLY own this one.
But that wouldn’t be collegial, nor moderate, nor squishy. Which is precisely the point.

*Hope*fully they will kill it there…

Received some robomail from Specter about what a great step forward this was to make health care a right etc…

My reply:
You go back and VOTE NO against this bankrupting of our nation!
If you vote yes for it in it’s final passage you are a TRAITOR to everyone in this State and the Nation!

Hot Air via Politico is reporting that the House doesn’t have the votes to pass the Senate bill. McConnell objecting to the appointment of conferees just might kill this thing.

That is priceless!!!!!!!!!!! rofl

If true that this is on hold to February , then I’m more than a little concerned at what fills the space next. Jobs and the economy? Crap.

These amateurs thought they had “fixed” the problem with fiscal policy. What are they going to come up with next? As always, government doesn’t recognize the problem until we’re in it, then applies fixes that are not timely and may even conflict…I’m starting to sound like a Macro-econ instructor!

This “break” will allow them more time to find, fix, fire and maneuver on their “enemies”.

The objection will be upheld because Nelson, Lieberman, Landrieu and Lincoln don’t want the Senate bill touched. McConnell objecting to the appointment of conferees is killing.

Well, it seems Mitch is at it again, attempting to bullox up the Health Care reform with procedure, posture and process, perhaps with a little pontification tossed in if the cameras show up.

Mitch seems a lot like an attorney who doesn’t argue the merits of a case, but gets it won or lost based upon technical procedural issues…

As a result of Mitch’s leadership, fewer and fewer people quite understands what the GOP stands for… Which also may explain how he has ‘led’ the GOP from 55 to 40 members in the Senate.

will object to the appointment of conferees to create a formal conference that would attempt to reconcile the House and Senate versions of Obamacare.

If Pelosi and Reid do this behind closed doors?

and avoid conference. So McConnell won’t get a chance to object to the conferees.

http://minx.cc/?post=296207