This post is completly out of boredom.
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Originally Posted by Professor S
If I had to "blame" one side over the other, it would be the dems because:
1) They had the supermajority and I believe that puts the responsibility of inclusion on them as they could have just as easily completely ignored their opponents (and they would have IMO if not for the public outcry against the plan)
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So the fact that they chose not to ignore their opposition, and tried to reach out to them makes them less bipartisan? I don't get the logic behing that point. If they weren't trying to be bipartisan, they could have just passed a bill that they believe in with no compromise.
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2) Republicans were never invited to help create the bill, only to either vote on it or add limited amendments.
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They were invited to help mold the bill on a public forum, and they could have used that time to make legitamate criticizms of the bill.. which they did, but they spent more time trying to kill the bill then trying to help mold it. And, much like this point, they wasted too much time and energy trying to oppose how the bill was written, instead of opposing actual content in the bill.
I really don't think that can be blamed on the democrats..
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3) The Republicans actually got bipartisan support for their opposition to the bill. Not one Republican was in favor of what passed.
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That's because the republicans are united in their exteme right-wingness. The Democratic party now has conservitives, centrists, and people on the left. Which is a big reason they built the majority to begin with. I'm waiting for an article to come out asking why the house democrats voted against it. I'm sure the reasons will range from the bill being too weak, and not including the public option at least.. all the way to democrats who are more sold on the conservative ideology.
I'm pretty sure there wasn't "bipartisan" opposition to the bill for the same reasons.
And as for the last point.. introducing unreasonable tax cuts, not putting it up for debate, and not even pretending to be interested in what the opposition has to say about it... then putting it up for vote instantly with the same "tactic" the dems used for healthcare... and saying 'if you don't vote for this you're for raising taxes, and we're going to pass it if you vote for it or not'... worked fine for getting votes.
I wouldn't personally call it bipartisan though.
But then again.. it got the votes.
So like I said earlier.. it's a matter of perception.