ObamaCare vote in the Senate

12/11/25:

  The GOP needs to unite and begin offering a real alternative to the Dems, or they will lose ground. This AP story may not be totally accurate in all aspects, as I haven't followed it that closely. But seemingly doing nothing in response to the Democrats just isn't going to cut it with a lot of voters.

   A small subsidy that encourages thrift is a good and reasonable compromise. If these people won't compromise, and at least offer something to people to replace what they've come to depend upon, then they will be playing right into the hands of the Democrats. The Democrats may not win this particular battle, but they may win the WAR, which will be at the ballot box in November 26.

   The GOP is misplaying their hand on a misguided adherence to what, exactly? Fiscal restraint? Yea, verily, but that battle cannot be won at this time. Haven't any of them heard of the necessity of a strategic retreat?

  The Dems are playing the people like a Stradivarius. Unfortunately, it will likely succeed, unless the GOP gets its shit together, and soon. End the filibuster, and pass the GOP plan, dammit.

12/10/25:

   The outcome of this vote may leave a bad taste in all of our mouths--regardless of your politics. You may have to do something, or accept something that you don't like. Otherwise, you may have to prepare yourselves for a big loss here. If you are the GOP, your inflexibility may result in electoral losses. That same can be said of the Democrats. Whoever handles this best is likely to win in the end. That's a warning for all concerned.

   How are things going with this? Very badly, I see. At least according to AI, both measures are unlikely to pass. The GOP plan would likely reduce costs, meaning that it COULD work, but won't because of politics.

   The Democrat plan might pass except that it would be filibustered on the GOP side. Actually, the GOP bill would also be filibustered, because the Democrats already did that prior. So the AI is being presented as a GOP filibuster as the stumbling block, but the Dems are just as likely to filibuster the GOP plan.

   The difference is that the GOP could work in reducing costs, but the Democrat bill would continue to fund the soup-to-nuts version that will cause premiums to rise.

   The Democrats are using this as an issue to win the mid-terms, but they are actually to blame for the pain, as in the shutdown. They may get rewarded for this, and have their malice being covered up by the legacy media.

   The public won't get the whole story, and will tend to agree with the Democrat propaganda.  What's at stake here is our personal freedom to choose what we want for ourselves.  We are at risk at getting stuck with nationalized health care, or a continuing worsening financial circumstance that could lead to even a worse outcome.

   What to do about this? End the filibuster. The Democrats are abusing it. The GOP plan is a reasonable one, but the Democrats are playing power politics. The legacy media will help the Democrats fool the public. The Democrats REALLY want universal health care. They are tanking the system in order to have the excuse to take it over.

   The GOP needs to do what it has been forced to do--end the filbuster. I hate that, but that is what it is. The way I see it, the Democrats have no ethics, and will take advantage of anything they can. They are taking advantage of the rules which favor the tactic of filibustering in order to defeat a reasonable bill that could solve the problem that they claim to care about, but don't really. If they did, they would sign on to the GOP plan.

   If the facts are that the GOP itself refuses to pass this bill, then it should result in a faction fight within the caucus to get this bill passed. It should be passed even though it is not the best policy, however it is likely the best that we can get. By demanding everything, you are risking the loss of everything.

   The GOP is a reasonable bill and should pass. Let the Dems filibuster it, and maybe the blame will fall upon them. If the GOP won't end the filibuster, and won't pass the GOP bill; then they are shooting themselves in the foot. Once again, that is a faction fight that has to be taken to voters in the primary.

   You may not like that, but that is how it is.  Personally, I don't like ending the filibuster and I'd prefer not to subsidize health care, but the Democrats are forcing the issue.  The situation is what it is, and it is better to accept this, than be forced to accept something even worse down the line.

12/9/25:



  It's the deal that ended the shutdown. The Senate will vote on the plans, the GOP one; and the other guy's one. (ooh. How sensitive of me!)

  This other stuff has distracted me from the subject, but there was something about it regarding Dick Morris' comments on it. If there's a "soup-to-nuts" that funds a lot of useless stuff, then it will be a failure. Trump doesn't support that. He favors the GOP version of the bill. Hopefully, this can pass, and the POTUS will sign it.

  The other guy's soup-to-nutso drove up the health care premiums, and therefore this GOP should be a big improvement. That's why the other guys are opposed.

  I'm still a bit incensed with these people, but I am controlling it a little. How sensitive of me... /sarc