December 24, 2009

Score one for the opposition in the War on Christmas. This phone call to C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal” was the first thing I heard after I turned on the teevee this morning. The Senate had just passed its version health-care reform when Bunny, a right-wing drama queen from Parson, Kansas, phoned in:

BUNNY: Good morning. Yes, I am… very much. I’m so disappointed. I have taken my Christmas tree down. I’ve taken my Christmas wreath off my house. I’ve taken all the lights down. This is supposed to be a nation under God, and it isn’t. They have absolutely ruined Christmas for all the senators and representatives that are supposed to be under God. This is God’s holiday for the birth of his son…

C-SPAN’s Peter Slen: So you took down your Christmas tree because of the Senate health-care bill?

BUNNY: I certainly did, and I would like to see every light in the nation go out — especially in the White House. This is just ridiculous.

C-SPAN: Why are you so opposed to it, Bunny?

BUNNY: Because it is so divisive between my son — who is younger — and myself. And in many families it’s that way. Either it’s genocide on the seniors with this hospice — that’s never supposed to be supported by federal or state money. They are not-for-profit organization [sic] that Germany has even kicked out.

Passing legislation, it turns out, is a long and ugly process. God, is it ugly. The compromises, both with powerful special interests and decisive senators. The trimming of ambitions and the budget gimmicks and the worship of Congressional Budget Office scores. By the end, you’re passing a compromise of a deal of a negotiation of a concession … It’s not pretty, and it doesn’t necessarily feel like winning is supposed to feel … It’s been a long time since the legislative system did anything this big, and people have forgotten how awful the victories are. But these are the victories, and if they feel bad to many, they will do good for more. As that comes clearer and clearer, this bill will come to feel more and more like the historic advance it actually is.

Day: December 24, 2009

Tea Bagger: I Took Christmas Decorations Down Because Health Reform Passed

Verbatim

— Ezra Klein, writing in the Washington Post, on passage of the health care bill.

Poetic Justice

Verbatim

“One woman at a rally in New Jersey told me last week that she was ‘nauseously optimistic.’ That may capture a lot of people’s last-minute jitters.”

— Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), quoted by Axios, on what Democrats feel ahead of the midterm elections.

“I think Congress made a mistake not protesting turning the Rose Garden into what looks like the entrance to Liberace’s bathroom.”

— Former President Bill Clinton, quoted by The Wrap.

“Boy, they are scraping the bottom of the barrel. It feels like a real desperation play to me, because it has got zero basis in the law.”

— Republican election law expert Ben Ginsberg, quoted by Politico, on the Trump administration’s effort to invalidate Alaska’s election results.

Numerati

3,824

$1.4 billion

-35 points

31%

63% to 38%

KFF Poll: “With the 2026 midterm campaigns in full swing and early voting about to begin, there is a wide enthusiasm gap between partisan voters, with Democratic voters 25 percentage points more likely than Republican voters to say they are ‘more motivated’ than usual to vote (63% vs. 38%).”