There's no questioning the historic nature of the vote. What the Democrats did to get there is pretty ugly (I can't believe we cut a deal with anti-woman C-Street true believer Bart Stupak), but we did get there, and most people will see some real improvements in their lives as a result. Now it's on to the Senate, where hopefully women's rights won't be treated as peripheral to the political process.

And in the meantime, John Boehner warns us that the bill "will dim the light of freedom." Uh huh.

Hours after President Obama exhorted Democratic lawmakers to "answer the call of history," the House hit an unprecedented milestone on the path to health-care reform, approving a trillion-dollar package late Saturday that seeks to overhaul private insurance practices and guarantee comprehensive and affordable coverage to almost every American.

After months of acrimonious partisanship, Democrats closed ranks on a 220-215 vote that included 39 defections, mostly from the party's conservative ranks. But the bill attracted a surprise Republican convert: Rep. Anh "Joseph" Cao of Louisiana, who represents the Democratic-leaning district of New Orleans and had been the target of a last-minute White House lobbying campaign. GOP House leaders had predicted their members would unanimously oppose the bill.

Democrats have sought for decades to provide universal health care, but not since the 1965 passage of Medicare and Medicaid has a chamber of Congress approved such a vast expansion of coverage. Action now shifts to the Senate, which could spend the rest of the year debating its version of the health-care overhaul. Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) hopes to bring a measure to the floor before Thanksgiving, but legislation may not reach Obama's desk before the new year.

At the Capitol, Obama urged the few Democrats who were still wavering on Saturday afternoon to put aside their political fears and embrace the bill's ambitious objectives. "Opportunities like this come around maybe once in a generation," he said afterward. "This is our moment to live up to the trust that the American people have placed in us. Even when it's hard. Especially when it's hard. This is our moment to deliver."

The House legislation would for the first time require every individual to obtain insurance, and would require all but the smallest employers to provide coverage to their workers. It would vastly expand Medicaid and create a new marketplace where people could obtain federal subsidies to buy insurance from private companies or from a new government-run insurance plan.

Though some people would receive no benefits -- including about 6 million illegal immigrants, according to congressional estimates -- the bill would virtually close the coverage gap for people who do not have access to health-care coverage through their jobs.

Mother Jones: Back to Basics

Mugsy`s Rap Sheet: Bi-partisanship is a crock

The Satirical Political Report: Cheney claims detainee torture was merely 'end-of-life counseling.'

Texas Observer Blog: "We Hate the United States": Secessionists rally at Capitol while Perry stays home

Unfogged: A few news items that caught my eye

Open Left: Who could've foreseen the housing bubble? Dean Baker, that's who - in 2002

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(Sen. Everett Dirksen - master juggler, sometimes referred to as "The Wizard of Ooze")

With the current state of "bi-partisanship" having something of a hollow ring to it, I thought I would drag out an episode of Meet The Press from January 24, 1965 to hear how adults used to do it. As a result of the sweep by the Democrats in the 1964 election, the Republicans were the minority party. Everett Dirksen became Senate minority leader - he embodied The Loyal Opposition while maintaining some form of unity within a fractured Republican party.

Lawrence Spivak: “Senator Dirksen, there’s been a good deal debate over a long period of time over what the role of the minority party in Congress should be. How do you see the role of the Republican Party in Congress today?”

Sen. Dirksen: “Well, the role of the Republican party or any minority party for that matter, would be one of constructive opposition, not blind opposition. And by constructive opposition, I mean you accept the things that are good for the country. You try to amend or modify proposals that, in your judgment and judgment of the party, are not good. And if they contain more of evil, shall I say, than of good, then you reject them. But always you try to follow a constructive line”.

Dirksen was masterful at the art of negotiation, as was evidenced by his popularity on both sides of the aisle as well as his gift for abundant oratory. He was a fervent supporter of the Civil Rights Act and subsequent Civil Rights legislation. He was also a vocal supporter of the Vietnam War which put him in a precarious place as our involvement increased with no end in sight.

I suspect Dirksen would be seriously dismayed by the current state of his party - as I think many Republicans of the past would.

Voices of reason appear to be in short supply of late.

You barely see or read anything in the media about health care town halls that are constructive and where people actually ask pertinent questions. The media have also forgotten that the leader of the House Republicans isn't having a town hall either. What's up with that?
Why isn't John Boehner having a town hall?

I’ll take right here in southern Ohio. My own representative, and the House Minority Leader, John Boehner is not holding any townhalls. Add to that the district directly south of me, OH-02, which is represented by Jean Schmidt (R), and our Republican Senator George Voinovich.

The closest townhall the people of southwest Ohio have had is one held in Columbus last week by Senator Sherrod Brown, however Steve Driehaus (D-OH-01) is also planning an event.

I can fully get behind what the right is doing, but I can’t tolerate partisanship in such an endeavor. To me its amazing, yet not shocking that John Boehner isn’t holding one. Boehner is a pro at ignoring his constituency. A few years back during the Medicare debacle his office flat out refused to talk to seniors, even when there was a large gathering only a couple of miles from Boehner’s house.

Maybe they'll make him cry like he did at the Reagan Statue:

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(Newt Gingrich 1994 - "Who's yer daddy?")

When the party is in power the talk overflows with the milk of human kindness - Bi-partisanship is on the lips of every triumphant candidate. The sentiments "Come, let us reason together" are slathered over every press conference with a spatula - we are all one big happy family and the thought of revenge never enters our minds . . . .much.

And so was the case when the Republicans gained control during the mid-season elections in 1994.

November 11, 1994 - newly designated Majority Speaker Newt Gingrich held a press conference outlining his "Contract With America" - pouring forth big plans, big ideas and big love - all the trappings only one handed a family sized bottle of Power could enjoy.

Gingrich: “It’s very important to understand, this country has sent the congress a very powerful signal for change . . this is a city which is like a sponge; it absorbs waves of change and it slows them down and softens them and one morning they cease to exist. We want to, every way we can, bias the opportunity in favor of the American people, actually getting the changes they’re asking for – and now obviously every member is going to play a major role, every member is going to participate.”

Joining him for this episode of the Love Fest were Dick Armey, Jim Nussle, Frank Wolf, and Pat Roberts. Armey went out of his way to let people know he wasn't "in it for revenge". Although the underpinnings of it were plainly visible - smiling, happy faces notwithstanding.

My, how times have changed.

GOP Leader John Boehner channels his inner Norma Desmond and throws a hissy fit on the floor of the House in response to the stimulus bill. I guess we should be grateful he didn't start crying again.

Funnily enough, Boehner's performance was eerily reminiscent of another Republican temper tantrum:

The press today continues to focus on the GOP doomsday scenarios about what Obama's economic initiative will mean to America and how it's going to gut the economy. How it will put America on the road to "financial disaster," as Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) declared last weekend. And of course, his dire rhetoric generated headlines. (“We’re taking an enormous risk -- an enormous risk -- with other people’s money,” added Sen. Mitch McConnell this week.)

The press takes these swipes very seriously, in part because the press always treats GOP rhetoric about the economy and finances seriously. Why? Because Republicans know economics. Everybody inside the Beltway understands that CW.

Just like the GOP knew economics back in 1993 when the new Democratic president Bill Clinton struggled to get his centerpiece economic legislation passed. Back then the GOP was sure the bill was a recipe for disaster. At the time Newt Gingrich announced "The tax increase will kill jobs and lead to a recession, and the recession will force people off of work and onto unemployment and will actually increase the deficit." He was positive a recession would ruin America's economy within the "next year," or even "over the next 60 days."

And Newt wasn't alone. The whole GOP crew was in Chicken Little mode and the press back then, just like today, made sure to record and amplify every dire warning: "A recipe for economic disaster," warned Phil Crane of Illinois. "It is going to lead to a Clintastrophy, an economic Clintastrophy," added Indiana's Dan Burton.

Yeah, that decade of prosperity...that was hard to take, wasn't it? And the most pathetic aspect of how seriously and credibly the establishment media takes these GOP whingings and sturm und drang is how nakedly obvious--yet unmentioned--the political machinations drive this, just as they have in the past:

December 2, 1993 - Leading conservative operative William Kristol privately circulates a strategy document to Republicans in Congress. Kristol writes that congressional Republicans should work to "kill" -- not amend -- the Clinton plan because it presents a real danger to the Republican future: Its passage will give the Democrats a lock on the crucial middle-class vote and revive the reputation of the party. Nearly a full year before Republicans will unite behind the "Contract With America," Kristol has provided the rationale and the steel for them to achieve their aims of winning control of Congress and becoming America's majority party. Killing health care will serve both ends. The timing of the memo dovetails with a growing private consensus among Republicans that all-out opposition to the Clinton plan is in their best political interest. Until the memo surfaces, most opponents prefer behind-the-scenes warfare largely shielded from public view. The boldness of Kristol's strategy signals a new turn in the battle. Not only is it politically acceptable to criticize the Clinton plan on policy grounds, it is also politically advantageous. By the end of 1993, blocking reform poses little risk as the public becomes increasingly fearful of what it has heard about the Clinton plan.

Repeat after me: Boehner and the GOP do not care about Americans. They do not want the stimulus to succeed because it will hurt their party. That's all that matters to these swine.

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John Amato has blogged about this and this clip from this week's The Chris Matthews Show is proof positive that the progressive blogosphere must be smart about picking battles in pushing a liberal agenda for America. Let's face it, you and I and the rest of the liberal blogosphere have been right more often than not and certainly exponentially over the Villagers that populate The Chris Matthews Show. But they're not ready to give up their coveted place at the table, and certainly not to upstart bloggers who don't have the decency to take them at their word any longer.

So to those oh-so-wise Beltway bobbleheads, we will be the "angry left" that Obama must marginalize in order to have a successful presidency. It won't be the Republicans with their bag of obstructionist tricks, ones of which WaPo's Ceci Connolly doesn't even have memory, that give Obama a hard time, it will be us, the "angry left." We are the ones to not give Obama a "honeymoon period" and we will be the ones fighting him as he attempts to execute his agenda.

Sigh. Do anyone of these chuckleheads ever consider that the reason the left has been so "angry" for the last eight plus years is that what we've said and what we've valued has been criticized, dismissed, sneered, condemned, denounced and our characters attacked? Of course not. And when the nation shows that they have awakened to what we've been saying all along and announced with their vote that they want to give the left a shot, we're still criticized, dismissed, sneered, condemned, denounced and our characters attacked because we might like to see some people actually reflective of our values in office.

Good to see the open minds of the Very Serious Villagers remain. Would that they would be so condemning of those who have been so very wrong all this time.

Transcripts (courtesy of Heather) below the fold

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Isn't this so cute? (via email)

Senator Joe Lieberman (ID-CT) today issued the following statement on the election of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States:

"I sincerely congratulate President-elect Obama for his historic and impressive victory. America remains a nation of extraordinary opportunity and the American people are a people of extraordinary fairness. Now that the election is over, it is time to put partisan considerations aside and come together as a nation to solve the difficult challenges we face and make our blessed land stronger and safer. I pledge to work with President-elect Obama and his incoming Administration in their efforts to reinvigorate our economy and keep our nation secure and free."

While I'm trying to get into the spirit of Obama's hope for a post-partisan presidency, can I be allowed this one small, deeply partisan moment and demand the Senate leadership kick this sorry ass out of the Democratic caucus once and for all?

Lieberman is supposed to meet with Harry Reid later this week. Once upon a time, Reid was insisting that Lieberman was "with us on everything but the war." Of course, that was before he said he feared "America will not survive" if Democrats won 60 seats and before he said Obama "has not always put America first" and said he was "not ready to lead."

Lieberman may once have been "an important vote for our caucus," as Reid said in defending Holy Joe this summer. But he's irrelevant now, and deserves the fate he has earned.

The ascendancy of "news" with an attitude - a spin, a bias - is undeniable. Whether it's Moore's determined effort to make Bush look dishonest and stupid; Brit Hume, Fox News Channel's chief Washington correspondent, looking as if he swigged sour milk when he mentions Democratic nominee John Kerry....read the rest of the article from NEWSDAY

Where those seeking their point of view go: Conservatives   Liberals

• Local TV news . . . . . . . . . .  66%     54%
• Daily newspaper . . . . . .       61%     56%
• Network evening news 3      4%      36%
• Fox News Channel . . . . . . . 1%       2 9%
• CNN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 24%     30%
• Morning news shows . . . . . 26%     28%
• Network news magazines . .23%     24%
• National Public Radio. . . .  13%     33%
• News pages of ISPs . . . . . . 12%      22%
• Weekly news magazines . ..12%       16%
• Network TV Web sites . . . .10%      16%
• Religious radio shows. . . . ..20%      7%
• "The O'Reilly Factor". . . . . . 21%      2%
• "Rush Limbaugh" . . . . . . . .. .20%      5%
• "The Daily Show". . . . . . . . . . 2%     14%
• Compiled from staff and wire reports.

  SOURCE: Study by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, June 2004