Democratic Senators need to fall in line

Honestly, this is why people vote Republican. If a popular President with strong majorities in both houses of Congress can't get through his own proposal then what's the point?

Republicans fight for what they believe in and they stick together, even if it will cost them personal political capital. Do you think all of the congressional Republicans wanted to vote for Bush's tax cuts? No. Do you think all Republicans wanted to vote for the creation of Medicare Part D, one of the largest -- and unfunded, I might add -- parts of the welfare state? No. Do you think that Rep. Joe Wilson wanted to apologize for his "You LIE!!!" outburst? No, but Boehner and McConnell made him do it anyway. Sometimes you gotta take one for the team and Republicans do that when they've got one of theirs in the White House. And politically, I respect them for that.

But the Senate Dems don't believe in team. They believe in holding onto their jobs and lining their campaign coffers, so they can be ultra cautious for the 2010 elections. That's why you do things in the first year of a cycle, so you have a year to recover and distance yourself!!!

Look, I believe in democracy, I really do. But I believe every president, regardless of party, should get roughly one year of a gimme. Heck, I'll only give the President 10 months to November, but he should receive a rubber stamp from at least his own party to try out his proposals. Obama's policies were voted on by the public and those policies won by a significant margin. Everything that this debate has brought up was talked about in the campaign and Obama's proposals are similar to Mitt Romney's (creating an online insurance exchange for individuals to purchase) and include ideas from John McCain (taxing healthcare benefits above a certain threshold as income). These ideas are hardly radical or revolutionary.

Bush won in 2000, I'll give Repubs that. But he won by a margin of -0.49 percent. Obama won by 7.3% with a majority of the votes. Give him until November of this year, if the ideas don't work that's why we have November 2012.

And if some Republicans and moderate Democrats really think that the public option is socialism then I suggest they start protesting outside of UMass or UDel, because it's the same damn thing. Just sayin'.

Tucker Carlson seems like a really nice guy

He just played an asshole on TV. This is my feeling about Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity, they are conservatives/republican no doubt, but they are playing a cartoon version of themselves that is merely for the ratings.

I pretty much hated Tucker when he was on CNN's Crossfire with his stupid little bow-tie, but I always assumed that there was a somewhat decent person underneath. I'm glad that this segment from FunnyOrDie has proven me right.

Enjoy.

The Uncle Sam Interviews: Tucker Carlson from Tucker Carlson

Faith Reconsidered...

NASA released new images from the newly repaired and updated Hubble Space Telescope on Wednesday and they are absolutely astounding. On one hand, these images make me feel infinitesimally small, like there is nothing in control and that there is absolutely no plan at all for everyone and everything. Yet at the same time, these images which reveal the places where stars are born are of such immense beauty that I question that any such thing could be so random and unintended.

Click the picture above for a full-(internet) size rendering. And for more of these new Hubble pics, click here.

Watch Al Franken slay at a Minnesota state fair

This is what happens when you have a real person elected to Senate, not just a regular lawyer douchebag. This is how America needs to have its discourse if we are going to survive as a nation; calmly, with disagreement and with FACTS.