ObamaCare Gets 60 Votes, Clears Procedural Hurdle

As I predicted, the carrot & stick approach to legislation taken by the Democrats has paid off... after some carefully considered bribes (in the form of benefits to their states) were paid to recalcitrant Senators. The vote was taken very early this morning, with 60 Democrats voting "yea" and 40 Republicans voting "nay."

Isn't wonderful how bipartisan and non-divisive PresBo is during the first year of his reign?
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1209/30850.html

The Democratic Party’s decades-long push to remake the U.S. health care system cleared a major hurdle early Monday morning, with the Senate voting to advance a massive $871 billion bill to extend coverage to nearly all Americans and tighten regulations on private insurers.

Less than two days after releasing a bill with 383 pages of changes, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) corralled his politically diverse caucus and delivered the 60 votes necessary for the most crucial test vote in the legislative process so far — effectively assuring the reform package will clear the Senate later this week.

The final tally was a straight party-line vote, 60-40. All Democrats and two independents voted yes and all Republicans voted no – and each side bitterly accused the other of trying to thwart true reform through petty gamesmanship.

The senators voted just after 1 a.m. while seated at their desks, a rarely used practice implemented only for historic votes.

I want to point out the unbridled haste that Democrats are employing in order to keep the public from finding out the details of this legislation prior to its passage. Remember that what they voted on was only released two days or so before, and had been negotiated in secret. Nobody knew what was in it and, to be honest, few really cared. Republicans were already opposed to it, and Democrats were going to vote yes just to have SOMETHING they could point to and claim as "health care reform."

Developing legislation in secret and rushing votes through so quickly that nobody knows what is in the bill is unconscionable. Democrats had to bribe the last few Senators to get the votes, and the majority of Americans DO NOT WANT THIS TRAVESTY FORCED UPON THEM!

Is this "change we can believe in," or is it partisan business as usual? Does the passage of this bill generate "Hope" in the hearts of Americans, or are most of us unhappy with the piece of garbage that Democrats are calling our new health care system?

Here's hoping that the GOP selects GOOD, fiscally conservative candidates for 2010, and that those candidates win their bids for office. With any luck, enough Congressmen can get together next year to repeal this monstrosity before it takes full effect.