Thursday, September 21, 2017

If the Cassidy-Graham health care bill passes, blame Bernie

I have come to loathe Bernie Sanders, even though he ostensibly favors many policies which I also favor. In fact, I suspect him of being a secret operative of the GOP.

Consider the Cassidy-Graham health care bill, the last-ditch attempt to pass Obamacare repeal while it is still politically possible to do so. Timing is all: The Republicans need a simple 50-vote majority if they get a bill passed in the Senate this month. Next month, we're back to the 60-vote hurdle.

From yesterday's Washington Post:
Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) sounded downright giddy. His own legislation to curtail the Affordable Care Act, and block grant Medicaid, was released just a few hours before Sanders’s, to a smaller but just as skeptical group of reporters.

“You’re skipping Bernie for this?” he joked. Before he got to the substance of the Cassidy-Graham bill, the senator framed it as an alternative to the Sanders bill, a way to stop an inevitable lurch toward European-style universal coverage: “Hell no to Berniecare!”

The momentum for Graham’s bill, and the surprise reanimation of a repeal effort that has been declared dead twice before, has sparked one of the Capitol’s most cherished traditions: panicky Democrats taking shots at each other. Egged on by Graham, and by a snarky Republican National Committee, a few liberal analysts and Democratic pols have asked whether Sanders bears some responsibility for the 11th hour repeal fight.
You bet your ass he does.
More baffling to Democrats was Graham’s Sanders-focused selling point: That if his bill passed, a federal Medicare for All program would become impossible. By block-granting Medicaid, Republicans would prevent Democrats from going back to the well when they next controlled Congress, because states would have set up their own insurance systems.

“Bernie, this ends your dream,” Graham said last week.
I'm not saying that Bernie should never have submitted a "Medicare for all" proposal. I'm just pointing out that doing so in September spurred the Republicans into action. Once again, Bernie Sanders "inadvertently" helped Trump, as he always tends to do.

Because he acted prematurely -- because he refused to wait until Trumpcare's corpse was autopsied, embalmed and buried -- Sanders single-handedly revived the effort to repeal Obamacare. He put the fear of God into the hearts of Republicans who don't like single-payer.

I have no doubt that most Republicans in Congress would have preferred to let the month of September slide by without giving one further thought to the health care battle. Frankly, most of them would have preferred to forget that a health care debate even exists.

If Bernie Sanders was serious about his single payer proposal, he would contented himself with being Mr. October. And I'm not the only person who comprehends this. Here's a tweet from Ezra Klein:
Never understood why Sanders didn't wait till after the 9/30 reconciliation deadline to release his bill.
You should read what the BernieBros have to say in response to this point. Their affected obtuseness -- their pretended inability to comprehend the wait-for-October argument -- is nothing short of infuriating.

Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski was one of the three GOP senators who gave the previous incarnation of Trumpcare her thumb's down, so now they are making her an offer difficult to refuse:
According to the aide, here is a summary of what the new draft of the bill entails:

"This draft includes 3 separate provisions benefitting Alaska.

Alaska (along with Hawaii) will continue to receive Obamacare’s premium tax credits while they are repealed for all other states. It appears this exemption will not affect Alaska receiving its state allotment under the new block grant in addition to the premium tax credits.

Delays implementation of the Medicaid per capita caps for Alaska and Hawaii for years in which the policy would reduce their funding below what they would have received in 2020 plus CPI-M [Consumer Price Index for Medical Care].

Provides for an increased federal Medicaid matching rate (FMAP) for both Alaska and Hawaii."

The changes aren't final, and it remains to be seen whether they'll be enough to win Murkowski's vote.
Will she go with her party this time? They've offered her a lot, but she previously made clear that she thinks her constituents don't want to return to a system in which premiums go up for those with preexisting conditions. Most people think that Cassidy-Graham will undo the part of O-care that most Americans like best.

If Murkowski makes the switch, blame Bernie. If not for him, there wouldn't be a Cassidy-Graham bill. By choosing to introduce his legislation in September rather than October, Bernie is either complicit or an idiot.

12 comments:

nemdam said...

If this isn't bad enough, don't forget that Bernie is doing a speech promoting Medicare-for-all TOMORROW! (http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Bernie-Sanders-to-visit-SF-on-Friday-for-state-12209283.php)

And if that's not bad enough, he has agreed to debate Graham and Cassidy on healthcare on Monday on CNN. There is a 1000% chance that this will devolve into single payer vs. Graham-Cassidy which common sense dictates is absolutely NOT the fight the Democrats should be having to save Obamacare.

At this point, I hope Mueller is checking Manafort's emails to see if he ever contacted his buddy Tad Devine during the campaign or since. Bernie is getting really suspicious lately.

Even if Bernie is merely a narcissistic old fool, this is probably all triggered by Hillary's book tour being orders of magnitude more popular than his.

nemdam said...

Forgot to add, I make no predictions, but I have a bad feeling about this one. McCain is Graham's buddy so it's no hard to him supporting it. And with Bernie's sabotage, I could easily see that putting it over the top. Phone calls and prayer.

nemdam said...

REALLY sorry for the triple post, but I have to add that if anyone needs convincing that this debate is a bad idea, there is a 0% chance Graham and Cassidy do it if Bernie isn't involved. I only had to say that because that's the latest Bernie Bro spin that because Amy Klobuchar is tagging along (no doubt to babysit Bernie), then that means Democrats are also trying to sabotage Obamacare. Reasoning with Bernie Bros is as pointless as reasoning with Trump cultists.

Commander Zaius said...

Bernie is either complicit or an idiot.

Personally, I believe it's both.

Even if Bernie is merely a narcissistic old fool...

I agree with nemdam, Bernie is a failed anarchist who's upset his 1960's-style revolution never happened. He can't stand the fact that his moment has come and gone and Hillary is still actively in the public eye.

Anonymous said...

Why is Bernie Sanders promoting "Medicare for All" when Obamacare is about to be dismantled, and with it Medicaid and Medicare? Why not defend hardwon gains instead of tilting at windmills when everything is on the line, when the left could suffer an irreversible loss? I'm sick of Bernie, and the whole viper's nest called Congress. Kim Jong-un today gave the most bluntly statesman-like encapsulation of our president and by extension our country offered by any world leader since Trump's victory, and he's Kim Jong-un, for Chrissakes. The world has gone stark-raving mad.

Big Guy said...

While Slanders is a greedy, vile, vicious, racist, lazy, arrogant and misogynistic narcissist who has to be the center of attention I also believe he's a willing bad actor subsidized by GOP and Russians. As others have pointed out, why will he be in San Francisco touting his half baked "plan" while other Senators are in Washington fighting C-G? I hope the "Town Hall" exposes him for the fraud he is and that he has a giant meltdown, while C-G is still defeated.

As you can tell, my contempt for him knows no bounds. He's every bit as bad as Trump. Worst, because he cloaks himself with the "I care for the common (white) man" crap.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, Bernie's had a hate on for liberal Democratic women, especially if they are vocal feminists since at least the early 1970's- when he wrote those two grossly misogynist essays- at the peak of 2nd wave feminism. Then there was the 1985 run against liberal Democratic feminist Madeline Kunin for governor of Vermont. He used the same tactics against her as he did against Hillary- and the voters responded much the same way- she won overwhelmingly. Then there was Bernie's vote against Hillary's healthcare reform proposal in 1994 (funny how "mr progressive" voted against a positive healthcare reform when it was proposed by a liberal feminist Democrat. Funny how Bernie trashed Hillary's Obamacare reform plan during the 2016 election, but proposed basically the same plan this year- with his name attached to it and claiming it as his idea.

At best Bernie's a fauxgressive, just like his followers. At worst, he's another one of Putin's paid puppets.

Ciardha

Amelie D'bunquerre said...

Applying logic in hindsight is a betrayal of logic. Were Hillary and President Clinton either idiots or complicit with their health care reform proposal that flipped the House and Senate in 1994, brought Gingrich and the Contract For America, ended welfare-as-we-know-it, and swelled the prison population?

Who was complicit or idiotic enough to permit the 2016 national election to focus entirely on three geezers?

Maybe Bernard 'Bernie' Sanders is another impetuous egomaniac like George Armstrong Custer, but he doesn't want a legacy like Little Big Horn.

Why must the truth about Sanders be interpreted to mean something nefarious? He waited all his Palooka life for the shot, and instead of passing off, he took it. Being short-sighted, old, arrogant, and desperate don't always add up to being wicked or evil.

As flies to wanton boys are we to the gods; they kill us for their sport.

Joseph Cannon said...

"He waited all his Palooka life for the shot, and instead of passing off, he took it. Being short-sighted, old, arrogant, and desperate don't always add up to being wicked or evil."

Waiting until October isn't asking for much, especially when we consider that his bill has no real chance of passing in a Republican congress. I see no desperation in him. I see either foolishness or complicity.

Amelie D'bunquerre said...

You may be right about the distinguished senator from Vermont, but I would like to know how you come to think you figured the guy out. Me, I wouldn't know what to think of an old guy who rolls up the long sleeve of his J. Press or Brooks Brothers button-down collar shirt and leaves open the top button for his promotional persona, and has as bad a comb-over as can be. His fashion adviser may be the same one that had John Edwards announce his 2008 candidacy in Louisiana with a shovel and wearing brand-new faded jeans.

No, you don't wait until October because that's when America's commercial Holiday Season begins: Columbus Day and Hallowe'en are Prologue to Xmas. September is traditionally the start of the new year in politics, education, TV lineups, football, and shopping. It's also the month when Medicare sends out its annual coverage book for the next year. The pools have closed and you can't wear white until Memorial Day.

Anonymous said...

And that's the thing, Joe. Absolutely nothing would have been lost had Sanders waited until the reconciliation deadline to fire up the whole single-payer, Medicare-for-all debate/discussion. But even suggesting it was ill-timed brings down a barrage of howls from Bernie's supporters for whom he can do no wrong. I've lost my patience with all of it.

That being said, I don't ascribe anything dark or nefarious to Sanders himself. His wife Jane has stepped into a financial mess but that's on her. If I had to guess, Sanders entered the rarified air of national prominence and it went to his head. Maybe he squeezed his eyes shut at some point, see no evil, hear no evil sort of thing. If it turns out that Devine was playing games during the primary, it will come out during the investigation and Bernie's 'St. Bernard' status will be dimmed forever. I won't cry over that.

What truly worries me is we get distracted by all these personalities and our house is still burning. Democrats cannot afford all this in-fighting when millions of real people stand to lose healthcare of any sort. Only by winning in 2018 and 2020 can we address and start to fix the damage that Trump and his hooligans have done and continue to do.

We don't get that done? There will be nothing left to save.

Peggysue

Anonymous said...

I respectfully disagree. Bernie has been out there supporting Obama Care at numerous rallies. I believe his introducing Medicare for all may have been a tactic to get people to take the middle ground for now - i.e. Accept Obama Care as a middle ground between this bill and the Republican alternative. Unfortunately that is not how it was perceived.
-Rick Key