This isn't "breaking" nor is it a surprise, but I'm watching Hardball tight now, and Tweety is making this Republican Senator Barrasso look like a complete idiot. FIRST he asked if the Republicans have a plan for health care because while they do a good job of pointing out the problems in the Democrats bills (I disagree with that), they do a rather shitty job of coming up with their own bills. Sen. Barrasso said that the Republicans DON'T have a plan for health care. Apparently, the only "plan" the Republicans have is to allow people to purchase insurance across state lines. Unless I missed something, doesn't the current bill do that with the insurance exchange? So if that's ALL they want, they should be behind this bill 100%.
But THEN he asked him about yesterday's exchange between Al Franken, Joe Lieberman, and John McCain and also played a clip about McCain whining about that earlier today. Well, Think Progress shut McCain's BS whining down:
In case you forgot what McCain said:
McCAIN: I’ve been around here 20-some years. First time I’ve ever seen a member denied an extra minute or two to finish his remarks. ... I just haven’t seen it before myself. And I don’t like it. And I think it harms the comity of the Senate not to allow one of our members at least a minute. I’m sure that time is urgent here, but I doubt that it would be that urgent.
But oh how archives work out:
On October 10, 2002 — just ahead of the looming mid-term elections — the Senate rushed a debate on a war authorization giving President Bush the power to use force against Iraq. The resolution ultimately passed the Senate after midnight on an early Friday morning by a vote of 77-23.
During the course of the frenzied floor debate, then-Sen. Mark Dayton (D-MN) spoke in favor of an amendment offered by Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV) that would have restricted Bush’s constitutional powers to wage war against Iraq. After a minute and a half, Dayton ran out of time, prompting this exchange:
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator’s time has expired.
Mr. DAYTON. I ask for unanimous consent that I have 30 seconds more to finish my remarks.
Mr. McCAIN. I object.
Byrd stepped in to grant Dayton time to finish his remarks. But just moments later, Byrd asked for more time to speak for himself. Again, McCain objected, prompting Byrd to chide him for doing so. "This shows the patience of a Senator," Byrd said. "This clearly demonstrates that the train is coming down on us like a Mack truck, and we are not even going to consider a few extra minutes for this Senator."
My my my Mr. McCain, looks like you're consistently proving what you proved repeatedly during the election, that you are full of shit.
Anyway, Barrasso just said something about Sen. Franken letting him be the Chaplin last night and how they want bi-partisanship. In other words, he spewed more BS. I swear the more I hear Republicans talk, the more I wonder why Democrats in Congress are so afraid of them. It's so easy to shut down most of the crap they come up with.
BTW, if you haven't seen this, it's absolutely HILARIOUS: