Instead of a WTF? that we usually wonder about our Democrats, here's a FTW for our House Democrats today! What's a FTW? It's "For The Win"--a slang commonly used by young people, WoW players, Farmville fans on Facebook, and the internet tubers here on the Great Orange Satan.
The first FTW was the completely unanimous vote against the Paul Ryan plan, which got every Democrat on record as being against Medicare privatization. Only four Republicans voted on the record against the Medicare privatization insurance death panels plan.
House Republicans voted Friday in favor of a vision of the future without Medicare, with a significantly eroded Medicaid, and with lower taxes on wealthy Americans. By a vote of 235-193. Four Republicans voted with all Democrats against the so-called "Path to Prosperity." Two Republicans and five Democrats didn't vote.
Yep, read that again. Only four sane Republicans voted against the Ryan plan. Will this mean they'll be the last four Republicans in Congress come 2016? This progressive gal sure hopes so.
This first FTW sets Democrats up very nicely for 2012, and I'm already anticipating the umpteen television commercials hitting those Republicans and teabaggers for wanting to end Grandma's Medicare plan, and putting her on a death panel administered by private insurance companies. Wouldn't it be wonderful to see a TV ad hitting against Republicans like these?
- MAJORITY LEADER ERIC CANTOR (R-VA): “It’s paid for on the backs of seniors, which cuts Medicare by over $500 billion.” [Fox and Friends, 11/4/09]
Eric Cantor was criticizing the subsidy cuts to Medicare Advantage by President Obama in his health care plan, which were necessary cuts since Medicare Advantage plans received overpayments while traditional Medicare plans didn't get these overpayments.
You see, Eric Cantor pretended that he was against cuts to Medicare by conflating the Medicare Advantage overpayment cuts with benefits cuts to traditional Medicare. And now he voted to privatize Medicare. That's going to be on him, and it will be so delicious watching a TV ad being run on this against Eric Cantor. One down, and so many more of these Republicans to go!
And what was the second FTW by House Democrats today? Why, this awesome sleight-of-hand they pulled on the vote for a more draconian Republican budget plan by the Republican Study Committee. Apparently it was Steny Hoyer who came up with this, and I give him kudos on this one although I don't agree with him much of the time. Here's the run-down on how this almost happened:
When House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD) heard Republicans were going to hold a vote on the extremely conservative Republican Study Committee budget, a lightbulb turned on in his head.
"I thought to myself the Republican leadership is probably thinking we're going to defeat it for them," Hoyer told me in a phone interview Friday. "I said to myself I'm not interested in seeing that happen. I want the Republicans to show what they believe. And if a majority of them believe that that's the kind of budget [they want] the American people need to know that."
He discussed this with Minority Leader Pelosi, and the Democratic House leadership. They were all for it, and he decided to give the Democratic House caucus just five minutes in a heads-up on this voting shenanigans. I'd have to say that was a very wise choice, because it gave very little time for word to leak out. Most of the Democrats went along with the strategy, except for 15 Democrats who refused to change their votes from "no" to "present." If they had changed their votes to "present," the draconian Republican Study Committee budget plan would have passed, with vulnerable Republicans on the hook for what was supposed to be a fake show of conservatism.
The House Democrats today got two FTWs, and I'm very proud of them for doing so! It was awesome. I feel like I need a celebratory glass of wine to toast them all. If you agree, please "like" this diary on Facebook, and share this on Twitter as well! :-)