Obama announces that he wants to get the snow plowed, but that he wants bipartisan consensus and compromise instead of unilateral action, and that instead of him pushing a particular bill, he wants Congress to work out the details. The Republicans, seeing that Obama is for cleaning up the snow, decide that they must be against it, and they negotiate the plan down to clearing half the snow and doing it very slowly. Then they still refuse to support it. Joe Lieberman expresses his intention to join Republicans in filibustering the bill if it comes to that.

Eventually, the Republicans have whittled it down to a ceremonial resolution expressing support for the idea of somebody plowing the snow at some point in the future, and the Democrats have thrown in some tax cuts to appease them. It finally passes, still getting zero Republican votes despite all that (other than Olympia Snowe, since it reminds her of her name). Republicans attribute this to the Democrats’ hyper-partisanship and unwillingness to negotiate. At this point, it is July.

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© Ruben Bolling

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I love political comics that are subtle enough that you might not be able to figure out which side of an issue they are on. In fact, without the very last line (“Next Week”) I’m not sure if I could have figured this one out. It is getting to the point where reality is so bizarre that it is hard to make fun of it.

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“President Obama is very shrewd about bringing the Republicans into the White House for the Super Bowl party, because he feels like if he can get them to pass the dip, maybe they’ll pass health care.” – David Letterman

“President Bush told Obama, he said, ‘Listen, you get 10 Republicans to show up, and I’ll drop in and choke on a pretzel.’” – David Letterman

“The president is really trying to bring people together. He told Senate Democrats that politics can’t be just about scoring points. Then today, he was sued by the Knicks for stealing their motto.” – Jimmy Fallon

“‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ could be a thing of the past, very soon. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Michael Mullen, says he believes gays should serve in the military, all gays, whether they want to or not.” – Jimmy Kimmel

“Oh, here’s something interesting and important. The Pentagon now wants to allow gays to serve openly in the military. You know what that means, ladies and gentlemen? More parades.” – David Letterman

“Everybody’s talking about the military’s ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy. Admiral Mike Mullen said it’s wrong to force people to lie about who they are in order to serve their country. Then Congress was like: ‘Who cares? We do that every election.’” – Jimmy Fallon

“I think it was Bill Clinton who popularized the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy. But don’t confuse that with another Clinton policy — ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Hillary.’ That was a whole different policy.” – David Letterman

“During a town hall meeting in New Hampshire yesterday, President Obama said that using stimulus money to help schools is not sexy, but it’s making a difference. Oddly enough, that’s the same way he describes Nancy Pelosi.” – Jimmy Fallon

“At the town hall event, President Obama also said jobs will be our number one focus in 2010. He then added, ‘Specifically, mine and Biden’s jobs.’” – Jimmy Fallon

“Obama also had some economic advice for the American people. He told them not to blow a bunch of cash on Vegas when you’re trying to save for college. Though to be fair, most recent college graduates would probably have more luck in Vegas, I think.” – Jimmy Fallon

“President Obama is getting more angry criticism today. Boy, this guy can’t get a break. Apparently, though, he told a group of high school kids in New Hampshire, and I quote: ‘When times are tough, you tighten your belts. You don’t go buying a boat when you can barely pay your mortgage. You don’t blow a bunch of cash in Vegas when you’re trying to save for college. You prioritize.’ And needless to say, people in Vegas are extremely upset. In fact, the mayor of Las Vegas said the president is not welcome in Las Vegas. I happen to agree with the mayor. How dare the President tell high school kids not to blow their college money in Las Vegas. We’re in a recession right now. What about Siegfried? What about Roy? What about their tigers? The tigers cannot survive on eating magicians alone. They need money.” – Jimmy Kimmel

“President Obama has announced his administration’s plan to build a new $8 billion high-speed rail system. Have you ever ridden on Amtrak? We can’t figure out how to keep a low-speed rail system from crashing, O.K. Do you really want to go off the track at 150 miles an hour?” – Jay Leno

“And the wife of South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford has written a book about her whole ordeal. Remember, he went to Argentina to see his mistress? She says her husband kept pestering her for permission to see his mistress. See, that shows you how bad the Republicans are at cheating, O.K. They ask permission. Republicans, stick to what they know — greed. Leave adultery to Democrats.” – Jay Leno

“ABC News reports that the president of Pakistan slaughters a black goat every day since becoming president in an attempt to ward off the evil eye. It’s good to see these modern, progressive people are our allies in the war against terror.” – Jay Leno

“Here is a historical fact. It was on this day in 1690, the first paper money was printed up in the colony of Massachusetts. The pilgrims realized that when they ran out of money, they could just print more. Thus, the federal government was born.” – Jay Leno

“They’re now coming out with the new, 75th edition of Monopoly, this time with a round board. No more square boards. And actually, they’ve updated the whole game. In the new version, the banker is a Wall Street CEO. He overextends mortgages, he loses the bank, and when things go under, he uses his get-out-of-jail-for-free card. So it’s all very realistic.” – Jay Leno

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For example, remember when Biden’s seat in the Senate was appointed to a “placeholder” so that Biden’s son could run for it when he got back from his military service? Well, after all that, Beau Biden decided not to run, and since everyone expected him to, the Democrats have no strong alternative candidate. Instead, if the governor had appointed her ambitious former lieutenant governor to the Senate, they almost certainly would not be in this position.

A similar thing happened in Colorado, where the appointment of Ken Salazar to Obama’s cabinet created a vacancy in the Senate, which the Governor filled with a total unknown, who is now facing a serious challenge in the upcoming election.

Not to mention how Roland Burris, who was appointed to Obama’s old seat in the Senate, turned out. Now the Republicans have a good shot at winning that election.

And then there was the mess in New York, where governor David Patterson appointed Kirsten Gillibrand to the seat former Senate seat of Hillary Clinton instead of more experienced politicians (or even Caroline Kennedy), angering everyone. So now Gillibrand is facing a long and expensive primary fight from Harold Ford, Jr.

But worst of all was the recent election in Massachusetts, where Republican Scott Brown beat Martha Coakley for Ted Kennedy’s seat (which had been Democratic virtually forever). Here the Democrats made multiple mistakes. First, in 2004 the Democrats didn’t want Republican Mitt Romney to appoint a Senator, so they changed the law so there was a special election. Then last year they changed the law again, so that the new (Democratic) governor could appoint someone until the special election. Then the Democrats just sat back and assumed they had a lock on that seat, pretty much handing it to Brown. Ironicaly, if the Democrats had not meddled with the law, when Kennedy died the governor would have appointed a Democrat and they would have served until 2012 and there would not have been a special election to lose so spectacularly.

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What does this have to do with health insurance? Humor me for a minute.

The article is full of interesting quotes. The “shocked” homeowner who received a bill for $27,989 responds “That’s what taxes are for.” Other quotes accuse local governments of “double dipping” — taxes and usage fees — for the same service. My favorite quote is from an insurance company institute spokesperson, who says “You don’t want to be thinking ‘can you afford it’ when your house is on fire.” Other people who received bills say “We don’t have any way to know if the charge was low or high or accurate.”

In the article, everyone except for the company that collects these debts for the fire departments (and gets a healthy cut) thinks charging homeowners for fire services is despicable and barbaric, to say the least.

And yet, Americans seem to accept a health care system where getting sick or having an accident can bankrupt you, even if you have health insurance. Where all but the richest people have to worry if they can afford it before they go to the hospital. Where seniors have to choose between health care and paying the rent. Where hospitals and doctors charge arbitrary (and huge) amounts of money and there is no way to know if the charges are accurate.

I’ve lived in several other countries, and I can tell you that most people look at our health care system as not only despicable and barbaric, but completely crazy, since their systems provide far better care for much less money. When will we wake up?

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Isn’t it refreshing to see the Democrats finally starting to fight back? In addition to the above graph, David Axelrod recently pointed out that even though the Republicans claim to be for cutting taxes, the Democrats managed to pass 25 tax cuts last year, all of which the Republicans opposed.

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