60–40
December 23, 2009
It looks like senate Democrats have mustered the sixty votes they need to pass healthcare legislation. They voted 60-40 at one in the morning Sunday night for “cloture,” which is senate-talk for voting to end debate on the matter.
What is it that parents used to tell their children? Nothing good ever happens after midnight?
I will leave it to Harry Reid to explain why the senate was voting in the middle of the night on the Sunday before Christmas when normally congress is adjourned, and during a weekend of record-breaking blizzards in Washington, D.C. I’m sure he has an explanation. Just remember it’s Harry Reid—don’t expect anything even a tiny bit honest.
You need a minimum of sixty votes for cloture in the U.S. Senate so even one vote fewer and the American people would remain unencumbered by this onerous infringement upon God-given freedom. But, hey, that’s democracy, right? The Democrats won the last election, that’s why they have those sixty votes, so this is the will of the people, right?
Wrong. This vote had nothing to do with representing the people. By a large majority the American public is against this legislation and, furthermore, the American public identifies itself as conservative rather than liberal. The fact that Democrats have sixty senators and the Republicans forty is the end result of the collapse of democracy in the United States, something I wrote about in a three-part series earlier this year.
Some people think I’m nuts for saying democracy is dead in the United States but take a look at this 60-40 vote tally:
Paul Kirk is in the senate because Massachusetts Democrats rewrote state law when Ted Kennedy died so that the Democrat governor could appoint somebody in time to vote for healthcare legislation. Previously, the law declared that senate seats remained vacant until a special election was held… a rule put into place by Democrats in 2004 when the state had a Republican governor and they thought John Kerry might leave for the White House.
That’s how Democrats work—their motto is, “If A happens we win, or if B happens we win, and if by some weird chance C happens, we’ll cheat and lie and recount and sue until we win anyway.”
Speaking of cheating, lying, recounting, and suing, Al Franken did not win the election in Minnesota… that is if you define “winning” as convincing more people to vote for you than the other guy. By that definition, the Republican candidate won. The Republican even won the machine recount. But then ACORN and Democrat Party operatives and lawyers stormed into Minnesota, funded by George Soros and MoveOn.org, and with the help of an ACORN-affiliated secretary of state who ran the process deciding which votes to count, Al Franken was declared a senator.
That’s how Claire McCaskill was elected in Missouri, too. She was in a better position that Franken. She didn’t have to rely on no stinkin’ state official affiliated with ACORN to rule in favor of dubious ballots—as Missouri’s state auditor she was the stinkin’ state official. She should have stopped the fraud but of course she didn’t. She needed those votes. After the election, Missouri ACORN people were arrested, convicted, and sent to prison for massive voter fraud but, by that time, Claire was a senator in Washington.
It’s not all about ACORN. The Democrat Party is not a one trick pony when it comes to dishonesty and fraud. Sometimes all it takes is a good lie. Arlen Specter is a Democrat who, back in 1965, decided he had a better chance of winning his first election if he switched parties and called himself a Republican. Then, once he was in office and had worked his way up to U.S. Senator, he decided—in 2009, with Barack Obama in the White House and Democrats controlling Congress—that he could better prosper personally as a Democrat so he switched back. Specter is a man so lacking in principles you wonder if negative principles is theoretically possible.
That question may have been answered by his colleague, Roland Burris, who is on tape negotiating to buy the senate seat vacated by Obama but remains unindicted (so far). Roland lied like a skunk to state officials after Governor Blagojevich appointed him to the senate—shortly before the governor was impeached and removed from office—but hey, there he was, voting for healthcare at one in the morning. A vote is a vote.
Democracy in action, right?
The Dems have mastered that appointment trick. They know if they just get a Democrat’s fat butt into a senate seat, he or she will probably win the next election because incumbents almost always win, no matter how incompetent or stupid they might be, no matter how depraved, dishonest, or embarrassing their behavior might be, and no matter how seldom they actually show up at the office to do their job.
Shoot, sometimes when they don’t show up for work they get promoted to the White House.
When it comes to appointments, the second worst (after Burris) of the lot is Frank Lautenberg from New Jersey. New Jersey has always been a cesspool when it comes to politics but Frank’s story is unique. He wasn’t appointed to the senate—he was appointed to the ballot.
In 2002, the Democrat nominee for the senate seat, Bob Torricelli, was indicted for corruption and the party saw that his unusual level of crookedosity was going to lose him the election. (Being a crook isn’t necessarily a handicap when you’re a Democrat but Torricelli had apparently gone too far even for desensitized New Jersey voters.)
After taking a good long look at Torricelli’s poll numbers, and adding the usual votes that come in from the cemetery, plus making an educated guess about how many votes ACORN could manufacture out of thin air, the Democrat Party didn’t like the total. They wanted to run somebody else instead but it was too late, by law, to replace Torricelli on the ballot. No problem. They simply took the case to the New Jersey Supreme Court which is stacked with Democrats of the same ilk as Torricelli and Lautenberg. Voila! the state supreme court said—pardon the legalese—“Go ahead, put any dope you want on the ballot, just tell the guy to remember that judges have financial needs, too. Capiche?”
Whether Frank actually remembered those judges and their financial needs, I don’t know. Frank is about a million years old and may not even remember how to spell “yes” when it’s one in the morning and Harry Reid needs healthcare votes. That’s why they let him and Byrd sit next to each other… so they can cheat off each other.
We still aren’t done counting appointees. Bob Menendez (New Jersey) and Daniel Akaka (Hawaii) were also appointed to the senate originally, from which positions they got to run for “re-” election as incumbents. (If you want to see “stupid” in action, watch Bob in this YouTube video.)
If you’re counting, that’s eleven dubious (if not outright fraudulent) votes among the sixty Democrats mustered in the middle of the night. And we still aren’t done.
Up in Alaska, Ted Stevens, a Republican, had been a senator since approximately Roman times. He seemed unbeatable. Unfortunately, “unbeatable” to a Democrat means reach a little deeper into the muck and throw bigger, more damaging globs of dirt. Suddenly, (and, coincidentally, in an election year) Stevens was under federal indictment for corruption and screaming bloody murder that he had done nothing wrong.
Of course, politicians always scream that they’re innocent, right? But we’ve learned that they seldom are so most of us didn’t believe Stevens anymore than we believe Dick Murtha… the big difference being that Republicans show a reluctance to cast votes for a crook, whereas Democrats are generally unburdened by such scruples. When Stevens demanded a quick trial so he could get a verdict before the election, well, it seemed like grandstanding. The verdict came back guilty, right before the election, and that was the end of Ted Stevens. Mark Begich, a Democrat from a fundamentally Republican state, now sits comfortably in a senate seat and there he was at one in the morning dutifully toeing the party line and voting for healthcare legislation, regardless of the contrary wishes of his constituents in Alaska.
Democracy, ya gotta love it.
A funny thing happened after the election. The judge in Stevens’ case threw out the guilty verdict and announced that the U.S. Attorney’s office prosecuting the case was corrupt, had violated the law numerous times trying to railroad Stevens, and the judge ended up initiating a criminal contempt investigation of six members of the federal prosecution team.
The Justice Department is not even pursuing charges against Stevens anymore. Crazy as it sounds, a politician was actually innocent. Who knew that was possible?
So what the hell occurred here? It sure looks like the Democrat Party used the Department of Justice as a political tool to sully a seemingly unbeatable Republican senator just in time and just enough to beat him in the election. The timing had to be perfect—guilty verdict just before the election, malfeasance of the U.S. Attorney’s office after the election—otherwise Ted Stevens would still be in the senate and Harry Reid wouldn’t have sixty votes.
Good job, Democrats. You squeaked out a win, 60–40. Here’s some advice though: don’t try selling the bullshit notion that this was the culmination of a democratic process. Nobody’s buying it.
From Reno, Nevada, USA Tweet
What is it that parents used to tell their children? Nothing good ever happens after midnight?
I will leave it to Harry Reid to explain why the senate was voting in the middle of the night on the Sunday before Christmas when normally congress is adjourned, and during a weekend of record-breaking blizzards in Washington, D.C. I’m sure he has an explanation. Just remember it’s Harry Reid—don’t expect anything even a tiny bit honest.
You need a minimum of sixty votes for cloture in the U.S. Senate so even one vote fewer and the American people would remain unencumbered by this onerous infringement upon God-given freedom. But, hey, that’s democracy, right? The Democrats won the last election, that’s why they have those sixty votes, so this is the will of the people, right?
Wrong. This vote had nothing to do with representing the people. By a large majority the American public is against this legislation and, furthermore, the American public identifies itself as conservative rather than liberal. The fact that Democrats have sixty senators and the Republicans forty is the end result of the collapse of democracy in the United States, something I wrote about in a three-part series earlier this year.
Some people think I’m nuts for saying democracy is dead in the United States but take a look at this 60-40 vote tally:
Paul Kirk is in the senate because Massachusetts Democrats rewrote state law when Ted Kennedy died so that the Democrat governor could appoint somebody in time to vote for healthcare legislation. Previously, the law declared that senate seats remained vacant until a special election was held… a rule put into place by Democrats in 2004 when the state had a Republican governor and they thought John Kerry might leave for the White House.
That’s how Democrats work—their motto is, “If A happens we win, or if B happens we win, and if by some weird chance C happens, we’ll cheat and lie and recount and sue until we win anyway.”
Speaking of cheating, lying, recounting, and suing, Al Franken did not win the election in Minnesota… that is if you define “winning” as convincing more people to vote for you than the other guy. By that definition, the Republican candidate won. The Republican even won the machine recount. But then ACORN and Democrat Party operatives and lawyers stormed into Minnesota, funded by George Soros and MoveOn.org, and with the help of an ACORN-affiliated secretary of state who ran the process deciding which votes to count, Al Franken was declared a senator.
That’s how Claire McCaskill was elected in Missouri, too. She was in a better position that Franken. She didn’t have to rely on no stinkin’ state official affiliated with ACORN to rule in favor of dubious ballots—as Missouri’s state auditor she was the stinkin’ state official. She should have stopped the fraud but of course she didn’t. She needed those votes. After the election, Missouri ACORN people were arrested, convicted, and sent to prison for massive voter fraud but, by that time, Claire was a senator in Washington.
It’s not all about ACORN. The Democrat Party is not a one trick pony when it comes to dishonesty and fraud. Sometimes all it takes is a good lie. Arlen Specter is a Democrat who, back in 1965, decided he had a better chance of winning his first election if he switched parties and called himself a Republican. Then, once he was in office and had worked his way up to U.S. Senator, he decided—in 2009, with Barack Obama in the White House and Democrats controlling Congress—that he could better prosper personally as a Democrat so he switched back. Specter is a man so lacking in principles you wonder if negative principles is theoretically possible.
That question may have been answered by his colleague, Roland Burris, who is on tape negotiating to buy the senate seat vacated by Obama but remains unindicted (so far). Roland lied like a skunk to state officials after Governor Blagojevich appointed him to the senate—shortly before the governor was impeached and removed from office—but hey, there he was, voting for healthcare at one in the morning. A vote is a vote.
Democracy in action, right?
The Dems have mastered that appointment trick. They know if they just get a Democrat’s fat butt into a senate seat, he or she will probably win the next election because incumbents almost always win, no matter how incompetent or stupid they might be, no matter how depraved, dishonest, or embarrassing their behavior might be, and no matter how seldom they actually show up at the office to do their job.
Shoot, sometimes when they don’t show up for work they get promoted to the White House.
When it comes to appointments, the second worst (after Burris) of the lot is Frank Lautenberg from New Jersey. New Jersey has always been a cesspool when it comes to politics but Frank’s story is unique. He wasn’t appointed to the senate—he was appointed to the ballot.
In 2002, the Democrat nominee for the senate seat, Bob Torricelli, was indicted for corruption and the party saw that his unusual level of crookedosity was going to lose him the election. (Being a crook isn’t necessarily a handicap when you’re a Democrat but Torricelli had apparently gone too far even for desensitized New Jersey voters.)
After taking a good long look at Torricelli’s poll numbers, and adding the usual votes that come in from the cemetery, plus making an educated guess about how many votes ACORN could manufacture out of thin air, the Democrat Party didn’t like the total. They wanted to run somebody else instead but it was too late, by law, to replace Torricelli on the ballot. No problem. They simply took the case to the New Jersey Supreme Court which is stacked with Democrats of the same ilk as Torricelli and Lautenberg. Voila! the state supreme court said—pardon the legalese—“Go ahead, put any dope you want on the ballot, just tell the guy to remember that judges have financial needs, too. Capiche?”
Whether Frank actually remembered those judges and their financial needs, I don’t know. Frank is about a million years old and may not even remember how to spell “yes” when it’s one in the morning and Harry Reid needs healthcare votes. That’s why they let him and Byrd sit next to each other… so they can cheat off each other.
“Psst. Hey Frank, is ‘yes’ spelled with an ‘a’ or an ‘e’?”Don’t think for one minute that Burris and Lautenberg are the only appointees included in that 60-vote tally. The 60 also includes Kirsten Gillibrand (New York), Ted Kaufman (Delaware), and Michael Bennett (Colorado), all appointed in 2009 and yet to face an election. In no way, shape, or form can this trio be called “elected representatives” at this point but those three votes counted Sunday night when Harry Reid needed 60 for a government takeover of the nation’s healthcare.
“What?”
“USE AN ‘A’ OR AN ‘E’!”
“Dammit, Byrd, I keep telling you I’m not horny! Buy some lotion!”
We still aren’t done counting appointees. Bob Menendez (New Jersey) and Daniel Akaka (Hawaii) were also appointed to the senate originally, from which positions they got to run for “re-” election as incumbents. (If you want to see “stupid” in action, watch Bob in this YouTube video.)
If you’re counting, that’s eleven dubious (if not outright fraudulent) votes among the sixty Democrats mustered in the middle of the night. And we still aren’t done.
Up in Alaska, Ted Stevens, a Republican, had been a senator since approximately Roman times. He seemed unbeatable. Unfortunately, “unbeatable” to a Democrat means reach a little deeper into the muck and throw bigger, more damaging globs of dirt. Suddenly, (and, coincidentally, in an election year) Stevens was under federal indictment for corruption and screaming bloody murder that he had done nothing wrong.
Of course, politicians always scream that they’re innocent, right? But we’ve learned that they seldom are so most of us didn’t believe Stevens anymore than we believe Dick Murtha… the big difference being that Republicans show a reluctance to cast votes for a crook, whereas Democrats are generally unburdened by such scruples. When Stevens demanded a quick trial so he could get a verdict before the election, well, it seemed like grandstanding. The verdict came back guilty, right before the election, and that was the end of Ted Stevens. Mark Begich, a Democrat from a fundamentally Republican state, now sits comfortably in a senate seat and there he was at one in the morning dutifully toeing the party line and voting for healthcare legislation, regardless of the contrary wishes of his constituents in Alaska.
Democracy, ya gotta love it.
A funny thing happened after the election. The judge in Stevens’ case threw out the guilty verdict and announced that the U.S. Attorney’s office prosecuting the case was corrupt, had violated the law numerous times trying to railroad Stevens, and the judge ended up initiating a criminal contempt investigation of six members of the federal prosecution team.
The Justice Department is not even pursuing charges against Stevens anymore. Crazy as it sounds, a politician was actually innocent. Who knew that was possible?
So what the hell occurred here? It sure looks like the Democrat Party used the Department of Justice as a political tool to sully a seemingly unbeatable Republican senator just in time and just enough to beat him in the election. The timing had to be perfect—guilty verdict just before the election, malfeasance of the U.S. Attorney’s office after the election—otherwise Ted Stevens would still be in the senate and Harry Reid wouldn’t have sixty votes.
Good job, Democrats. You squeaked out a win, 60–40. Here’s some advice though: don’t try selling the bullshit notion that this was the culmination of a democratic process. Nobody’s buying it.
From Reno, Nevada, USA Tweet
Followup 1: January 22, 2013
Three years after I wrote about the 60–40 Senate vote that rammed through the monstrosity called Obamacare, the Wall Street Journal wrote a similar piece pointing out that two of those 60 Democrats, Evan Bayh and Jim Webb, have expressed regrets about their votes. The article also mentions the Louisiana Purchase, the Cornhusker Kickback, and other special deals used to bribe reluctant members of the 60–40 majority for their votes.
So here's the updated tally of that odiferous December 2009 Senate cloture vote with the Wall Street Journal inclusions (click to enlarge):
Three years after I wrote about the 60–40 Senate vote that rammed through the monstrosity called Obamacare, the Wall Street Journal wrote a similar piece pointing out that two of those 60 Democrats, Evan Bayh and Jim Webb, have expressed regrets about their votes. The article also mentions the Louisiana Purchase, the Cornhusker Kickback, and other special deals used to bribe reluctant members of the 60–40 majority for their votes.
So here's the updated tally of that odiferous December 2009 Senate cloture vote with the Wall Street Journal inclusions (click to enlarge):
Followup 2: January 12, 2015
I’ve always thought this particular column was the best summary anywhere of the sleazy way Obamacare was passed—surely covering everything salient—but then in October of 2013, Megyn Kelly narrated a four-minute video on Fox News that attacks the sleaze from a different perspective, ignoring how the filibuster-proof 60–40 majority was manufactured but reviewing, rather, the questionable legislative maneuvers Democrats used, the backlash among Americans afterward, and Republican promises about repeal. It's not a better summary but it's a great complement.
Meanwhile, information continues to be added and repercussions continue to be felt:
In October of 2014, the Washington Post published the results of a study they conducted which shows that Franken never would have been senator without thousands of illegal alien votes. The source is the stunner here: a liberal newspaper which, like all liberal newspapers, has been denying the significance of vote fraud.
A few days after that revelation, the 2014 elections were held and Democrats were massacred (again). When the counting was finally finished, of the 60 senators who voted for Obamacare in December of 2009, only 30 of them were left in the senate. Considering the well-known advantage incumbents have and their enormous ratio of success when seeking reelection, that's a remarkable spanking by the American people and a piquant comment on what is arguably the sleaziest piece of legislation ever passed by Congress.
I’ve always thought this particular column was the best summary anywhere of the sleazy way Obamacare was passed—surely covering everything salient—but then in October of 2013, Megyn Kelly narrated a four-minute video on Fox News that attacks the sleaze from a different perspective, ignoring how the filibuster-proof 60–40 majority was manufactured but reviewing, rather, the questionable legislative maneuvers Democrats used, the backlash among Americans afterward, and Republican promises about repeal. It's not a better summary but it's a great complement.Meanwhile, information continues to be added and repercussions continue to be felt:
In October of 2014, the Washington Post published the results of a study they conducted which shows that Franken never would have been senator without thousands of illegal alien votes. The source is the stunner here: a liberal newspaper which, like all liberal newspapers, has been denying the significance of vote fraud.
A few days after that revelation, the 2014 elections were held and Democrats were massacred (again). When the counting was finally finished, of the 60 senators who voted for Obamacare in December of 2009, only 30 of them were left in the senate. Considering the well-known advantage incumbents have and their enormous ratio of success when seeking reelection, that's a remarkable spanking by the American people and a piquant comment on what is arguably the sleaziest piece of legislation ever passed by Congress.
March 27, 2014 - Hurrah! I've been saying this for years, Pelosi Reid and Obama bribing Reps and Sens to vote for Obamacare. - Srbboo, California
December 24, 2009 - Well I got the usual conservative/radical right bs.. obfuscation, distortion, historical confusion, and downright lies. So Senator Goldwater who opposed Lyndon Johnson's Civil Rights bill was a Liberal Democrat fighting a Republican. And Senator Strom Thurmond, who fathered a child with an underage black girl in circumstances very close to rape and who left the Democratic Party twice, the second time to become a liberal republican, was well known for his liberal civil rights record... This why I don't get in arguments with people who deny global warming, say evolution is non-scientific, say secondhand smoke does not cause cancer, say Islam is not a religion....well at least you guys have stopped saying the moon landings were a hoax. But you do have something of a sense of humor, even tho it is firmly anchored in dog poop and farts. Merry Xmas - and this is the last time I'll write you. - Jeff, Chicago
December 23, 2009 - I almost asked you to take me off your mailing list because you are the usual blind bigot proto fascist anti science (no evolution, no global warming, etc.etc.) until I read your piece on tiger woods) Just lovely. I don't know if you know German, but years and years ago (late 50's) my German teacher used to teach his all male class the German separable verbs with the phrase "When the dick stands up (aufstehen) the brains (or head) flies out the window (auffliegen)" as near as I can remember it.... By the way, it's the Republican minority that's blocking this legislation. Remember it was the Democratic / Republican conservatives that blocked the Civil Rights Bills? Remember it was the Republican LaFalotte that tried to keep the Democrat Woodrow Wilson from getting us into WW I....How soon you conservatives forget.. - Jeff, Chicago
December 22, 2009 - "The Democrats won the last election, that's why they have those sixty votes, so this is the will of the people, right?" And, it's about time you finally realized this!!!! - Harvey, Arizona
December 24, 2009 - Well I got the usual conservative/radical right bs.. obfuscation, distortion, historical confusion, and downright lies. So Senator Goldwater who opposed Lyndon Johnson's Civil Rights bill was a Liberal Democrat fighting a Republican. And Senator Strom Thurmond, who fathered a child with an underage black girl in circumstances very close to rape and who left the Democratic Party twice, the second time to become a liberal republican, was well known for his liberal civil rights record... This why I don't get in arguments with people who deny global warming, say evolution is non-scientific, say secondhand smoke does not cause cancer, say Islam is not a religion....well at least you guys have stopped saying the moon landings were a hoax. But you do have something of a sense of humor, even tho it is firmly anchored in dog poop and farts. Merry Xmas - and this is the last time I'll write you. - Jeff, Chicago
J.P. replies: It's Christmas, Jeff. You can say it without getting struck by lightning. Even if you're a liberal. As for the nonsense about Goldwater (who opposed the Civil Rights Act because he was passionate about individual rights, not because he was against equal rights for black people) and Thurmond (who was a Democrat when he opposed the Civil Rights Act, and then became a Republican only after he had his change of heart on civil rights... which should tell you something about the two parties), I can't help noticing that you haven't denied one single fact I presented in my reply to your earlier email... which is probably why you felt compelled to resort to name calling.
December 23, 2009 - I almost asked you to take me off your mailing list because you are the usual blind bigot proto fascist anti science (no evolution, no global warming, etc.etc.) until I read your piece on tiger woods) Just lovely. I don't know if you know German, but years and years ago (late 50's) my German teacher used to teach his all male class the German separable verbs with the phrase "When the dick stands up (aufstehen) the brains (or head) flies out the window (auffliegen)" as near as I can remember it.... By the way, it's the Republican minority that's blocking this legislation. Remember it was the Democratic / Republican conservatives that blocked the Civil Rights Bills? Remember it was the Republican LaFalotte that tried to keep the Democrat Woodrow Wilson from getting us into WW I....How soon you conservatives forget.. - Jeff, Chicago
J.P. replies: Some irrefutable facts you should consider... In the 26 major civil rights votes after 1933, a majority of Democrats opposed civil rights legislation in over 80 percent of the votes. The Republican majority favored civil rights in over 96 percent of the votes. It was Democrats who filibustered the 1964 Civil Rights Act, not Republicans. [Link.] The Republican Party is the party of Lincoln. The Democrat Party is the party of the Ku Klux Klan.
December 22, 2009 - "The Democrats won the last election, that's why they have those sixty votes, so this is the will of the people, right?" And, it's about time you finally realized this!!!! - Harvey, Arizona
J.P. replies: Did you read the rest? The part about HOW they won?
