General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Third party morons blame President Obama, RBG, and "Democratic normies", [View all]JohnSJ
(98,883 posts)ignorance.
The passage of what it took to get the ACA through is a perfect example:
The U.S. House of Representatives was safely Democratic as a result of the Nov. 4, 2008, elections by a margin of 257 199; the Democrats had gained 21 seats from the 2006-07 Congress. The real interesting ACA political dynamics began during the November 2008 U.S. Senate elections.
Going into the 2008 elections, the Senate consisted of 49 Democrats, 49 Republicans, and two Independents (Joe Lieberman of Connecticut and Bernie Sanders of Vermont) who caucused with the Democrats. When the smoke cleared from those elections, the Democrats picked up eight seats to increase their majority to 57-41 (although Democrat Al Frankens recount victory was not official until July 7). With the two Independents, the Democrats were one vote shy of the supermajority magic number of 60 they needed to ward off any filibuster attempts and move forward with broad healthcare reform legislation.
But on April 28, 2009, the dynamics changed when Pennsylvania Republican Arlen Spector changed parties, giving Senate Democrats that coveted 60th vote.
Now the Democrats had a safe majority in the House and a filibuster-proof supermajority of 60 in the Senate. That scenario lasted only four months before fate intervened. Sen. Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts died on August 25, 2009, leaving the Democrats, once again, with 59 seats (counting the two Independents). Exactly one month later, on September 25, Democrat Paul Kirk was appointed interim senator from Massachusetts to serve until the special election set for January 19, 2010 once again giving the Democrats that 60th vote. But the intrigue was just beginning.
There didnt seem to be an urgent need for Democrats to reconcile both bills immediately, because the Massachusetts special election (scheduled for January 19, 2010) was almost certain to fall to the Democrat, Attorney General Martha Coakley. After all, no Republican had been elected to the U.S. Senate from the Bay State since Edward Brooke in 1972 38 years before! But in yet another twist of fate, Republican Scott Brown ran his campaign as the 41st senator against ObamaCare and shocked nearly everyone by winning the special election by 110,000 votes.
That left House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and President Obama in a dilemma. Everyone assumed that the Christmas Eve 2009 Senate bill would be tweaked considerably to conform more with the House bill passed two months previously. But now that strategy wouldnt work, because the Democrats no longer had the 60th vote in the Senate to end debate. What to do? They decided to have the House take up the identical bill that the Senate passed on Christmas Eve. It passed on March 21, 2010, by a 219 212 vote. This time, no Republicans came on board, and 34 Democrats voted against. President Obama signed the ACA legislation two days later on March 23.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/physiciansfoundation/2014/03/26/a-look-back-at-how-the-president-was-able-to-sign-obamacare-into-law-four-years-ago/?sh=6caf0d19526b
In addition, the reason a public option could not be included was because there were Democrats who refused to vote for it if it was included in the bill. Nelson in Florida, Nelson in Nebraska, Blanch Lincoln, Lieberman, Bayh, Pyror.
It came down to getting something, or have nothing.
For those Monday morning quarter backs who find it so easy to "blame the Democrats" for NOT codifying Roe, they conveniently forget the facts, and as you pointed out, not all the Democratic Senators at the time were pro-choice, and that Roe had been established by the Supreme Court.
The fact that todays SC not only retracted what had been established by the court for over 50 years, all of trump's SC appointments, except barret, said under oath they would honor stare decisis, was a complete LIE, and slap in the face of precedent of the SC.