Blue Dogs want to bite Waxman’s face off
UPDATE, 5:35p: And it appears they’ve already kissed and made up? From The Hill, at least they’re again willing to be in the same room together, but that’s about all. Meanwhile liberals are now whining for attention…
Hours after calling their chairman a liar, Blue Dogs on the Energy and Commerce Committee stood by that chairman’s side and announced together that the once-collapsed healthcare negotiations are back on track….
The fact that talks have resumed, however, do not mean that any additional agreements have been reached. And as they stood by each other’s side, both Waxman and Ross alluded to the fact that, substantively, talks haven’t budged from where they have been stuck for days….
As the Waxman-Blue Dog drama played out, House Democratic liberals warned that they should not be taken for granted….
_______________
Woah. Read this, from The Hill this afternoon:
House healthcare negotiations dissolved in acrimony on Friday, with Blue Dog Democrats saying they were “lied” to by their Democratic leaders….
The 7 Blue Dogs on the Energy and Commerce Committee stormed out of a Friday meeting with their committee chairman, Henry Waxman (D–CA), saying Waxman had been negotiating in bad faith over a number of provisions Blue Dogs demanded be changed in the stalled healthcare bill.
“I’ve been lied to,” Blue Dog Coalition Co-Chairman Charlie Melancon (D-LA) said on Friday. “We have not had legitimate negotiations….
“Mr. Waxman has decided to sever discussions with the Blue Dogs who are trying to make this bill work for America,” Melancon said.
Although those Blue Dogs were supposed to be headed back into another meeting… their anger was visible.
If the 2 sides cannot reach an agreement, the only hope for passage of the bill in the House will be to go straight to the floor, an option leaders shied away from endorsing but said was an option.
But the Blue Dogs issued dire warnings to leaders contemplating that approach.
“Waxman [pictured left] simply does not have votes in committee and process should not be bypassed to bring the bill straight to floor,” Rep. Mike Ross (D-AR), the lead Blue Dog negotiator, said on Friday. “We are trying to save this bill and trying to save this party.”
Melancon said there would be 40-45 “solid no” votes from the 52-strong Blue Dogs, among other problems throughout the caucus. And Melancon said there are more Democrats who will vote against the bill.
“If they try to bring it to the floor, I think they’ll find out they have more problems than the Blue Dogs.”…
[HT: Dan McConchie of Americans United for Life]
On the topic of Nancy Pelosi inexplicably going around the committee Blue Dogs and calling for a vote on the healthcare bill on the House floor, I received this witty, instructive press release from Americans for Limited Government:
ALG President Bill Wilson today condemned House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Energy and Commerce committee chairman Henry Waxman for “agreeing to bypass the Energy and Commerce committee if members of their own caucus do not cave into dictatorial demands to bring the socialized medicine bill to the floor.”
According to Reuters, Waxman said “we are going to have to look at perhaps bypassing the committee” if no agreement could be reached with at least 7 Blue Dog Democrats on the committee that have held up the legislation because of its high price tag, which will cost more than $1.5 trillion according to Kaiser Health News.
Those 7 House Democrats signed a Blue Dog Democrat coalition letter against proposed government-run socialized medicine legislation that stated, “We do not support health care reform that is not deficit neutral.”
“Nancy Pelosi has gone completely insane,” said Wilson. “Democrats in the House should be concerned that the Botox has seeped completely into her brain. Like her forehead, the brain has stopped moving.”
Wilson said that circumventing normal procedure will cost her critical votes on the floor of the House. “Nancy Pelosi and Henry Waxman are cramming a bill through that virtually no one has seen nor read, all the while ignoring the legitimate concerns of a key segment of their caucus.”
“And to what end? To ram ObamaCare down the throats of the American people by the arbitrary August deadline. Even if Pelosi and Waxman bypass Energy and Commerce, get it to the floor for next week and get it passed by week’s end just to claim victory, it will be nothing more than a Pyrrhic victory,” Wilson declared.
Currently, there are 52 members of the Blue Dog Democrats in the House of Representatives, more than enough votes to defeat the proposal should they vote with the 178 member House Republican caucus.
Markup in the Energy and Commerce committee is expected to continue into the weekend. Yesterday, a markup session of the House Energy and Commerce committee was canceled because of opposition to the legislation by Blue Dog Democrats on the committee. And the committee also canceled a markup session on Tuesday for the same reason….
“This is the greatest demonstration of Nancy Pelosi’s weakness,” said Wilson. “This ObamaCare proposal is so bad that the Speaker of the House cannot even muster enough votes in her own party to bring the bill to the floor. And so in a hissy-fit she is simply circumventing the committee process altogether.”
“The Democrat House Leadership has lost its mind, plain and simple,” Wilson stated.
“Nancy Pelosi and Henry Waxman are telling the Blue Dogs that their legitimate concerns to slow things down and fully consider the astronomical costs of insuring ‘all Americans’ with government-run health care don’t matter. Why should they vote for the proposal now?” Wilson asked in conclusion.
Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
Hmmm…are these Blue Dog Democrats only now realizing that their party does NOT care about anybody else except their liberal agenda?
Posted by: RSD at July 24, 2009 5:14 PM
Blue Dog eat dog.
From the looks of mr. wax-man some already took a a swipe at his face and managed to nip off some of his nose.
He always looks like he has his nose pressed up against a pane of glass or pelosi’s a$$.
Why do pugs have such flat noses?
From chasing [and overtaking] parked cars!
Why does mr. wax-man have such an unusual nose?
From breaking through the ‘glass ceiling’ for ms pelosi!
Why does mr. wax-man’s nose have a brown stain?
From ms pelosi’s sudden stops and full reverses when she is confronted with the truth!
Know how to tongue tie ms pelosi and mr. wax-man.
Ask them to define ‘rich’ and ‘fair share’ in hard numbers.
“We are trying to save this bill and trying to save this [democrat] party.”
——————————————————
Submit the bill to the ‘obamacare’ process.
It will be aborted or euthanized.
It is utterly incapable of independent existence and would die immediately if the plug were pulled from continued infusions of money taken from those who can and do produce.
yor bro ken
yor bro ken
Ken 7:50PM
I would put my money on it being pressed too hard and often against Pelosi’s a–.
So the Blue Dogs turned out not to be Nancy’s lapdogs after all and are instead biting her in the fanny. Poetic justice.
I wonder if these blue dogs will run into the same kind of censorship being imposed on republicans when communicating with constituents.
humanevents.com/article.php?id=32856
Hi FedUP,
I think no matter what Pelosi and the other Democrats do, no matter how much they arm twist and threaten, at the end of the day the Blue Dogs have to answer to the voters of their districts and that is what they are doing.
Mary,
Do you no know when and how the terms ‘blue dog’ and ‘yellow dog’ democrat originated?
yor bro ken
ps: If one were to make a chick flick starring the ‘wax-man’ and ms Pelosi what would it be about and what would it be called?
How about a theme song?
The Blue Dogs are the political descendants of a now defunct Southern Democratic group known as the Boll Weevils, who played a critical role in the early 1980s by supporting President Ronald Reagan’s tax cut plan. The Boll weevils, in turn, may be considered the descendants of the “states’ rights” Democrats of the 1940s through ’60s.[3]
“Blue Dog Democrat” is derived from the term “Yellow Dog Democrat.” Former Texas Democrat Rep. Pete Geren is credited for coining the term, explaining that the members had been “choked blue” by “extreme” Democrats from the left.[4] The term is also a reference to the “Blue Dog” paintings of Cajun artist George Rodrigue of Lafayette, Louisiana; the original members of the coalition would regularly meet in the offices of Louisiana representatives Billy Tauzin and Jimmy Hayes, both of whom had Rodrigue’s paintings on their walls.[citation needed] Tauzin and Hayes later switched to the Republican Party. The Blue Dog Coalition was formed in 1994 during the 104th Congress to give more conservative members from the Democratic party a unified voice.
Commencing in the late 19th century, the term Yellow Dog Democrats was applied to U.S. Southern voters who voted solely for Democratic candidates because Abraham Lincoln was the Republican president who led the Union against the Confederacy, and so implies that they would “vote for a yellow dog before they would vote for any Republican”. Currently, the term is now more generally applied to refer to any Democrat who will vote a straight Party ticket under any circumstances.
“I am a Democrat from inheritance, from prejudice and principle, if the principle suits me. But I have passed the yaller dog test.”
yor bro ken
If ms Pelosi and the ‘wax-man’ were to conceive a child together I would have to re-consider my pro-life/anti-aborition position if for no other reason than ‘ascetics’!
yor bro ken
Mods please remove my post. I didn’t read the entirety of ken’s before posting my own. >_
Ken,
Very interesting. Thank you.
It’s not “Blue Dog”. It’s “Blue Cross”…lol
Dan Boren, from my state even admitted that he was trying to protect the insurance industry.
Let’s analyze what X said shall we?
First the quote: “Hmmm…are these Blue Dog Democrats only now realizing that their party does NOT care about anybody else except their liberal agenda? ”
Liberal agenda = health care for everyone.
Blue cross (GOP)agenda = the millions who do not have health insurance can just go to the ER. For those that do have health coverage, we like your medical decision to be between you, the HMO beauracrats (as they keep our campaign coffers full), and your doctor. (Sidenote: You see either way, we pay for it!!)
Liberal agenda = conserve energy, clean air & water.
GOP agenda = If it doesn’t make $$$, to heck with it! Drill baby, drill. We will worry about running out of oil in 30 years…..WHEN we run out of oil. Ah, what the heck, a few more toxins in the air and water, keeps people employed and makes our friends RICH$$$
Liberal agenda = Let’s go after the enemies of the US (i.e. OBL in AFGHANISTAN!)
X & GOP agenda = Hey, that other country has lots o’ oil. Let’s send people to their deaths so we can get rich off of their oil. There’s no right wing extremism here. The SLPC & the Anti-defamation league are full of crap. Just some good ‘ole boys playing army over the weekend.
Liberal agenda = Equal Opportunity for all.
X & GOP agenda = “new haven firefighters! New Haven firefigthers!..” But, please, don’t do any research about Lilly Ledbetter and the subsequent supreme court decision by the Roberts court that it’s ok to discriminate as long as you don’t get caught with in a 6 month time frame. (Go read about it. Lilly Ledbetter!)
Liberal agenda = Kill the racism, sexism..etc..etc.
X & GOP agenda = Blacks are lazy and degenrate..see (“Barack the magic Negroe”) Obama in the presidential potrait as just a set of white eyes and black face. Michelle Obama speaks to her kids using monkey sounds..I could go on..and on..and on..
Thank God, those Dems only care about their liberal agenda.
X, I believe your grandmother is a lot wiser than you give her credit for!
Liberal agenda = health care for everyone.
Hardly. The liberal agenda is government-dictated health care for some, palliative care and termination of care (cessation of hydration, nutrition, etc) for others. The liberal agenda, as reflected in the health care bills, is care for some based on decisions of a board of political appointees.
Liberal agenda = Equal Opportunity for all.
I think the libs in Washington didn’t get the memo on that, soonerman. Their healthcare takeover bill discriminates against the elderly and disabled. They also want to control which private health insurance companies can do business and which can’t. Where’s the equal opportunity in that? Finally, where’s the equal opportunity for every patient when federal appointees determine which options for care can be offered to a patient? What’s offered to you isn’t what’s offered to someone else under the mandates of this bill. Where’s the equality and equal opportunity in that?
Liberal agenda = Kill the racism, sexism..etc..etc
What about ageism? What about discrimination against people with chronic illnesses and disabilities? These individuals are singled out for mandatory end of life counseling. If libs were for killing discrimination, they wouldn’t be so gung-ho to kill off patients whose care is expensive.
Soonerman, the liberal agenda is government TAKEOVER and CONTROL of health care decisions that are presently made between patients and physicians. It’s loss of privacy of medical records. It’s a restriction on physicians’ ability to offer choices to patients. It’s a government power grab over a significant chunk of the economy. And worse, it puts the government in a position to make life and death and quality of life decisions that until now have been YOURS and MINE to make. You libs aren’t for killing discrimination, you’re for controlling who gets discriminated against.
Look, everyone! Soonerman was able to make the drive out here all the way from Liberal La La Land! But with gas at .99 cents a gallon, how could he resist, right?! 9_9
Liberal agenda = health care for everyone.
Oh, so you think they’re going to provide you and everyone else something for nothing. NOW who’s the unintelligent one?
They can’t give everybody something for nothing. We are all going to be giving up a huge portion of our freedoms (when THEY are the ones who decide what medical procedures we can and cannot have and when we may have them), and A LOT of hard-earned taxpayer money. So go ahead thinking that they can just *POOF* everyone magical free healthcare.
…the millions who do not have health insurance can just go to the ER. For those that do have health coverage, we like your medical decision to be between you, the HMO beauracrats (as they keep our campaign coffers full), and your doctor. (Sidenote: You see either way, we pay for it!!)
My mom and dad had to take my brother to the ER for a severe allergic reaction. He had no insurance. They paid off the cost of the visit last month. You’re being ignorant in assuming that EVERYONE who heads to an ER uninsured will never pay for it.
And, at least my doctor can CALL the HMO bureaucrats and get them to change their decision as it stands. Do you really think that a doctor will be able to call a GOVERNMENT BUREAUCRAT (because the government is full of more bureaucrats than the insurance companies could ever imagine…have you had much dealings with the government, soonerman? I have.) and have them do ANYTHING? Fat chance.
Liberal agenda = conserve energy, clean air & water.
At the expense of those poor people you guys always act like you care so much about. “Let’s raise existing restrictions and create new restrictions on those mean evil companies for polluting the environment, even though doing so will cause them to leave the area where they employ thousands of people or cut jobs to cover the costs of conforming to environmental standards or paying fines!” You’re proud that your priorities are screwed up. Good for you. Personally, I care more about the people first, then the animals and plants.
GOP agenda = If it doesn’t make $$$, to heck with it! Drill baby, drill. We will worry about running out of oil in 30 years…..WHEN we run out of oil. Ah, what the heck, a few more toxins in the air and water, keeps people employed and makes our friends RICH$$$
You don’t quite understand the idea of “capitalism”, do you? Maybe you should move, since you don’t seem to understand or like the rules this country has been playing by for centuries before you were ever even born that have been working out perfectly fine for us to the point that we’re the world’s greatest superpower and even our average “poor” households have 2 televisions while in other countries, their poor households are starving to death. When we NEED to start extensively using alternative energy sources, we will. It’s a gradual process, and we don’t need the government to interfere in it, either. Have you not noticed hybrids and solar cars in development? It’s becoming less and less economically feasible to use gasoline in large quantities, so car companies are acting accordingly. You’re not very informed, are you?
Liberal agenda = Let’s go after the enemies of the US (i.e. OBL in AFGHANISTAN!)
X & GOP agenda = Hey, that other country has lots o’ oil. Let’s send people to their deaths so we can get rich off of their oil. There’s no right wing extremism here. The SLPC & the Anti-defamation league are full of crap. Just some good ‘ole boys playing army over the weekend.
Umm…first of all, the “enemies of the U.S.” are scattered all over the Middle East. It’s not just a single country’s army we’re fighting. It’s a few cells of extremists and some brutal anti-American dictators. As I said before…Were you ever actually OVER THERE? My husband was-twice-and he told me exactly what the people of the nation think of our liberation effort (consensus states that it was actually a good thing, contrary to what you might think, and I’m a little more inclined to take THE ACTUAL IRAQI’S WORD FOR IT THAN YOURS), and never said one thing about your dumbass fever dream of us stealing all their oil, because it’s not happening, you dolt.
And if you think that Iraq was such a horrible failure, please tell that to all the Iranians who saw what was happening just a short distance away and used that to fuel their bravery to attempt to throw off the horrific rule of a cruel dictator (who, by the way, your precious Obama hasn’t done one thing to help. He’s more than content to let the freedom fighters die in the streets by way of their own corrupt government. What a great guy!). Oh, and I’m pretty sure that WE CONSERVATIVES SAID THIS WOULD HAPPEN IF DEMOCRACY WAS ESTABLISHED IN THE MIDDLE EAST. Nobody wants to be ruled by a murderous despot who kills his own people on the whim of theological advisers. Duh.
Liberal agenda = Equal Opportunity for all.
X & GOP agenda = “new haven firefighters! New Haven firefigthers!..” But, please, don’t do any research about Lilly Ledbetter and the subsequent supreme court decision by the Roberts court that it’s ok to discriminate as long as you don’t get caught with in a 6 month time frame. (Go read about it. Lilly Ledbetter!)
I did read about it. I knew more about the issue the first time you brought it up than you did. So…are you saying you dislike the entire scheme of our judicial system because we set time limits on cases? My goodness…how did your parents let you grow up to be so ignorant? Time limits exist on nearly everything. It’s to preserve efficiency, not to aid discrimination. Where did you get your law degree? I like how you seem to admit that the New Haven firefighters were discriminated against though. Cute.
“Equal opportunity”…if your skin is the color we say it must be to provide you with this “equality”. Oh yes, liberals are so anti-discrimination, that’s why they make such a big deal out of peoples’ race-wait a minute…
Liberal agenda = Kill the racism, sexism..etc..etc.
X & GOP agenda = Blacks are lazy and degenrate..see (“Barack the magic Negroe”) Obama in the presidential potrait as just a set of white eyes and black face. Michelle Obama speaks to her kids using monkey sounds..I could go on..and on..and on..
Ummm…please tell me where I said or even aluded to ANY OF THIS CRAP?! Have you not been reading anything we’ve been typing to you? Where, please give me a quote, in any statement have any of us said in any way, shape, or form, “I do not like Obama and his administration because he is black.”?!
X, I believe your grandmother is a lot wiser than you give her credit for!
No, actually. She thinks the Earth might be flat, dinosaurs never existed, and she’s horribly racist. You know…on second thought, I think the democrat party is the perfect place for her. You guys just keep the (D) behind the names of the people in power, and try not to think too much about what is actually going on.
Soonerman 6:33PM
Get your history straight. It was the Democrats who founded the KKK as their terrorist arm, instituted segregation, opposed anti-lynching legislation, and filibustered the Civil and voting rights acts of 1964 and 1965.
Swallow a lot of bile Soonerman as you thank Republicans for the passage of the Civil and voting rights acts.
About oil Soonerman, its the Democrats that don’t want us drilling for our own!
Oh and another enlightened Democrat, NY congresswoman Carolyn Maloney used the “n” word when telling a story attacking her opponent in the senate race. Of course she loathes the words and NEVER uses it. LOL, right.
X
Outstanding responses.