Recess Is Over

Heaven only knows why (AllahPundit doesn't), but Obama is backtracking from his controversial recess appointment of Donald Berwick as administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.  Instead, the Senate gets to puzzle over this.

Let's get the White House perspective:

The president put Mr. Berwick in the job July 7 using a recess appointment, a procedure that lets the president fill positions without confirmation when Congress is not in session. Resubmitting the nomination is “simply a formality,” said Reid Cherlin, an administration spokesman.

Business as usual.  Uh huh.

Comments

[As evil as they come.]

Berwick the Killer.
==========

[Clarice]

I think they counted and decided they could get enough votes to appoint him indefinitely and they are CLUELESS about how damaging the appointment and further debate about Obamacare is for them.

[Danube of Thought]

Minus 17 at Raz today.

[Sue]

A new senator from WV probably had something to do with it. They can stop the filibuster.

[jimmyk]

They can stop the filibuster.

Which of the three usual suspects (Snowe, Collins, Brown) will vote for this monster?

[Rick Ballard]

Sue,

I believe the calendar windows are too small. The Reps can stall this easily past Aug. 6 and I sincerely doubt that the Dems want it on the front page in September/October.

I think we'll see a withdrawal by the Granny Killer himself.

[Janesquaredance]

I can't believe all those democrats getting destroyed at home for their vote for Obamacare will actually vote for the guy.

[BobDenver]

If I have this right, recess appointments end when the Congress ends, and this one ends 12/31/10. If Obama had waited until 1/1/11 to recess-appoint this guy, he would have locked him in for two years with no public brawl. It does seem that this administration is insanely certain that only more focus on the details of Obamacare will bring the public around to loving it.

[Sue]

Rick,

Good guess.

[Ranger]

Good point Rob. My guess is that the internal polls at the White House are starting to look like losing the Senate is a real possibility, and if that happens, this appointment might never make it out of committee next year. So, now they get the worst possible result... They did a recess appointment when they really didn't need to, just to avoid the hearings. Now they are going to have to have the hearings anyway.

[Old Lurker]

Bob, is that right? I thought recess appointments are term to term, not session to session. The current "Session" ends Jan/11, but the current "Term" lasts until Jan/12.

Somebody here will know I am sure.

[BobDenver]

From Wikipedia, re: John Bolton's recess appointment: "Having failed to win Senate confirmation, he resigned his office in December 2006 concurrently with the adjournment of the 109th Congress."

That case was what gave me the sense that the two-year Congressional session was the measure.

[Neo]

The recess appointment is only good till the end of the year.

[BobDenver]

Ranger, I hadn't thought of that. It makes a little more sense than my analysis that the entire administration is just plain crazy.

[Old Lurker]

I see you guys are right...recess appointments expire at the end of a Session, not a Term.

[Melinda Romanoff]

Snowe AND Collins will both vote for Berwick because the Maine Healthcare system is broken. It's an older version of Obamacare and they'll get the kudos for bailing out Maine.

Not that I'm cynical or anything.

[Ignatz]

I don't think there is some cluelessness on Barry's part here; I think he's doing exactly what he wanted and it's the typical cynical politics he loves to condemn.
Recess appoint a tough sell first, then hold hearings. As the saying goes, possession is 9/10s of the law, and once the guy is sitting behind his desk it's a lot tougher to get rid of him.

[NK]

Ignatz correctly spells out the Obamaniacs' thinking here and corectly notes Barry O's cluelessness. Barry O actually believes that the more public debate, the more popular Obamacare will be. Oi Vey; better yet Berwick is a true believer in rationing care based on the values of a benevolent dictator, such as... let's see... Dr. Donald Berwick! They'll coach Berwick all they can, but Berwick is no Kagan, he'll get under the klieg lights in hearings and say exactly what he believes. Lifetime caps on healthcare costs, don't spend on terminal patients, definitions of a "good life" are needed, government should tell families how to give parents and sickly children a "dignified" death. The public will be appalled and the Senate Dems running in 2010 will be furious. Barry O will say this is not the Dr. Donald I knew, Donald will resign at the end of the December recess.

[Danube of Thought]

I'd love to see the GOP go ballistic on this fascist bastard at the hearings (and no, I'm not really expecting it). It would be child's play to paint him as the capo of the death panels, based on stuff entirely out of his own mouth.

One of my favorites is where he says managing one's health care and insurance is just too difficult for the average dude; it has to be done by leaders. Of course, he himself managed to get himself and his wife insured for life at the expense of the non-profit he was heading at the time. Health cared paid by the insurer for as long as they live, already locked in. But we're too dumb to do stuff like that.

[Thomas Collins]

I wonder whether it is possible that Obama realizes that much of the of pallor independent and Reagan Dem vote is lost, and hopes that the hearings on Dr. Death will rev up the base (African Americans, the governing class and aspirants thereto and admirers thereof (see the Codevilla Am Spec piece referred to at JOM a few times in the past few days)), public sector unions, and the low income entitlement class). Obama may realize that he is a one term Prez, and is doing everything he can now to leave America as a Euro-Social state no matter how hard his successor as Prez tries to undo the damage. Revving up the base can minimize his losses in 2010, and getting Dr. Death in until Jan. of 2013 may will establish Deathcare mentality into the interstices of America's health care system.

Remember that Obama's folks were very effective at slice and dice politics in the caucus states. Slice and dice won't keep control of the House in the November elections, and may not even keep control of the Senate, but slice and dice may leave enough Dems in Congress to prevent undoing of Obama's Euro-Social policies (especially in light of the fact that in December, a lame duck Congress can move America further along the road to Euro-Social policies).

Helping Obama to increase the grip of his ideas on the American polity is, as Codevilla discusses, the fact that a significant part of the Republican Party is in the grip of effete elite ideas.

[Captain Hate]

Ignatz correctly spells out the Obamaniacs' thinking here and corectly notes Barry O's cluelessness. Barry O actually believes that the more public debate, the more popular Obamacare will be.

He feels this despite every time the stuttering imbecile addressed the nation on deathcare support for it dropped? But next time will be different, I guess...

[lyle]

Cynicism much, TC?

(j/k)

[Neo]

Calm... calm myself? How can I be calm when Obama's stupidity, STUPIDITY! is losing the economy!

[Sandy Daze]

O/T:

20 July 2010
Baghdad

Lindsey Graham (LUN):

"She will serve this nation honorably," he said. "It would not have been someone I would have chosen, but the person who did choose, President Obama, did choose wisely."

Graham said Kagan passed all the tests to be on the Supreme Court and he wouldn't hold back her nomination because of his political disagreements with her.

"While it is our responsibility to challenge the court, to scrutinize the court, it is also our obligation to honor elections, respect elections and to protect the court," he said.

I'm not a trained legal professional, so I do not want to try this at home, But I gotta ask, am I missing something?

Damn Lindsey Graham and the horse he rode in on.

Take good care,
Sandy

[Barbara]

I'd love to see the GOP go ballistic on this fascist bastard at the hearings (and no, I'm not really expecting it).

I'm not expecting anything from the Republican leadership either. If you put a mirror under their collective noses, I doubt that it would fog up.

[Old Lurker]

Cut to the chase.

I hate Lindsey Graham.

[Thomas Collins]

Lyle, I wasn't going to post my actual "cynicism much" thought, because I figured I might get a slap or two. But here it is:

It looks as if the only difference between Senator Brown and Senators Collins and Snowe is that Senator Brown makes a better centerfold.

[narciso the harpoon]

You know we have to take a page from the left, when they took power in '74, they purged the old dead weight from their chairmanship on the committees.

[Thomas Collins]

Sandy Daze, I don't think you are missing anything. Graham wants to be well thought of in "respectable opinion" circles. In these circles, GOPers need to vote for anyone a Dem Prez puts up for SCOTUS, while Dems can trash top notch legal minds that a GOP Prez nominates (see the Bork hearings).

Senator Graham is not quite yet in Brown/Snowe/Collins territory, but he's getting there. And Graham doesn't have the excuse of being a GOP Senator in a New England state.

[sbw]

The horse he road in on had little choice in the matter. The voters on the other hand...

[lyle]

Touche, TC, touche.

[Ignatz]

--Ignatz correctly spells out the Obamaniacs' thinking here and corectly notes Barry O's cluelessness.--

I believe Barry is NOT being clueless. I think he is a rigid idealogue who wants this like-minded creep at the helm of Medicare and cynically thinks it will be easier to get him confirmed by first recess appointing him and then having hearings.
I suspect he's right.

[lyle]

Everyone knows Berwick is QALYfied!

[Clarice]

Ol There's something wrong with Lindsey. Really. He's a mental midget.

[Captain Hate]

Senator Graham is not quite yet in Brown/Snowe/Collins territory

I think he's even worse; he's another McCain who talks a good game and then stabs conservatives in the back just because he can to snuggle up to his chat-show friends.

[Clarice]

Hatch says there's pressure being brought on the Chairman of the relevant committee not to hold hearings on Berwick, that the administration is afraid of a public hearing on this guy.

This is getting crazier and crazier.

[lyle]

Graham?

Definitely bi/curious.

NTTIAWWT!

[Janesquaredance]

As Rush says, Graham is trying desperately to get into the ruling class.

[centralcal]

I just want to join the I hate Lindsay Graham chorus!!!!

Insufferable, stupid, little man.

[narciso the harpoon]

That's another intelligence screw up right up there with the Chicago Olympics

[Sandy Daze]

20 July 2010
Baghdad

Lott says: "We don't need a lot of Jim DeMint disciples," "As soon as they get here, we need to co-opt them."

"But Lott said he's not expecting a tea-party sweep. "I still have faith in the visceral judgment of the American people," he said."

So, how does South Carolina send both DeMint and Graham to the Senate? And, did Lott co-opt Graham, as he suggests needs to be done with "DeMint disciples" ?

I keep hearing a mind worm "Death Before Dishonor" Are Graham and Lott deaf? Have they no honor?

TC, I have to agree with CH, Graham is worse than Brown, Snowe or Collins, he pretends to be one thing but he is something else entirely: he is intellectually inconsistent.

Take good care,
Sandy

[Danube of Thought]

This article in CNS makes it appear that the recess appointment has not actually been withdrawn. I'm confused.

[NK]

Ignatz--

I understood your points. and we agree this is a conscious decision by Barry O based on his rigid ideology and his belief that a public hearing of Obamacare -- again-- will make Obamacare more popular. We diagree on the result. I don't think this will make Berwick a confirmed permanent appointee. as I said above, if Berwick honestly answers questions at September hearings (which I believe he will) Senate Dem reactions will force Barry O to throw Berwick under the bus. The Dems will then claim this proves they aren't really for socialized medicene. A cynical ideological play by Barry O, but the Senate dems will blow the plan up based on their own electoral needs.

[narciso the harpoon]

They seem to have gotten the same impression we got from Session and Spence and McDonnell's performance on Sunday in the LUN

[Thomas Collins]

DOT, it makes sense that Obama would keep the recess appointment and also try to have Dr. Death confirmed. The recess appointment keeps him in the job until session end, but if he gets confimed, Obama can keep him on as long as Obama is Prez.

[bgates]

Lott says: "We don't need a lot of Jim DeMint disciples,"

Fuck Trent Lott with the cross he'll undoubtedly be burning when you catch him. Generations of neo-Confederates slandered the Republican Party as nothing but a vehicle for the personal enrichment of men who couldn't be called "corrupt" only because they had no integrity or soul to start with. When Lott joins those people in hell, they'll point at him, look at each other, and say, "This is what we were talking about". What we don't need are Robert Byrd disciples like that perfectly coiffed pork-grubbing piece of shit.

[DebinNC]

Lindsey Graham is odd, bordering on creepy.

[Danube of Thought]

There's an article at HotAir (can't link) suggesting that (a) there will be no hearings, and no confirmaion, and (b) the recess appointment will last until the end of 2011.

[Captain Hate]

I defer to bgates on the trashing of Trent Lott because I couldn't add a syllable to that takedown that would be up to the task.

[Sandy Daze]

bgates, CH:

concur.

[Ignatz]

--We diagree on the result. I don't think this will make Berwick a confirmed permanent appointee.--

NK,
I only suspect Barry is being shrewd. It may turn out you're correct and it backfires.
From the weirdness DOT and others are reporting it may turn out he's clueless as well.

[Rick Ballard]

"Lindsey Graham is odd, bordering on creepy."

He's gay as a pocket full of rainbows and scared spitless about coming out of the closet that he's living in. His orientation is very well known in certain areas of his home state and there's plenty of evidence regarding his cruising days.

I could care less about the light in the loafers bit but the fact that he's a base coward makes him unfitting for anything but being McCain's acolyte. He fits right into that position.

[NK]

Ignatz--

we're on the same page.

As to Barry O; I think he is more ideological than stupid. He has no more than average IQ, but he's not stupid. So the logical explanation for the weirdness and insanity is that he really believes what he does makes sense, and no grown up is going to tell him otherwise.

[lyle]

In light of your comment, RB, doesn't this make Kagan a fag hag?

[Rick Ballard]

Lyle,

Kagan's sexual orientation is irrelevant and not worth pursuing. The fact that she's a pinko to the bright red bone is what disqualifies her.

[Danube of Thought]

Dude drops anchor in Poo Bay.

[Sue]

Rick,

If Graham is gay, then it would explain his hot and cold conservatism. I think he is a conservative at heart and it comes through when he gets pissed about something. Then someone taps his shoulder and says...looky here what we have...and he does the about face to keep it quiet. If he is gay, then for cripes sake, someone out him so he can finally be retired or quit worrying about it. If he isn't gay, then he is truly just weird. Like 2 sides to the same coin.

[Chubby (formerly Parking Lot)]

((I could care less about the light in the loafers bit ))

doesn't Kagan share that sexual orientation? which would be major motivation for his supporting her, to further the gay rights agenda.

[lyle]

RB,

Per my former BIL, who is gay, the term "fag hag" does note denote the sexual orientation of the women, only that such a woman--typically a homely woman--prefers the company of gay men.

She sure looks the part.

[Sandy Daze]

20 July 2010
Baghdad

Considering LG's sexual orientation, his public statements which are driven by his emotional construct are not dissimilar to Andrew Sullivan's. . . (Look I don't care particularly, although I find the idea of male<--> male intercourse disgusting and abhorent); however what does bother me greatly is his inability to live up to conservative ideals, while he portrays himself as one.

Didn't he say recently:

"“The problem with the Tea Party, I think it’s just unsustainable because they can never come up with a coherent vision for governing the country. It will die out.” Now he said, in a tone of casual lament: “We don’t have a lot of Reagan-type leaders in our party. Remember Ronald Reagan Democrats? I want a Republican that can attract Democrats.” Chortling, he added, “Ronald Reagan would have a hard time getting elected as a Republican today.”" (lun)

What an donkey, which is another way of saying, what an a$$.

[Clarice]

DoT I can't find the article at Hot Air to which you referred.

[Dave (in MA)]

It's not that Graham might be fond of the dong that concerns me; it's that he's too fond of the donk.

[Rick Ballard]

Sue,

I think you've got it. Lady Lindsay gets reeled back in every time he steps off the path. IMO - Ayers does the same thing to BOzo whenever he drifts towards political reality. BOzo knows that if he slips the Ayers leash he'll be destroyed in short order.

Lyle,

Thanks for adding to my store of information re gay terminology. I wonder if Lindsay was humming a show tune as he cast his vote?

[Old Lurker]

What is remarkable about Bozo is how infrequently he drifts toward political reality. Ayers must read his mind.

What's up with the Gallup flip flop in the generic preference back to the Dems today?

[jimmyk]

“We don’t have a lot of Reagan-type leaders in our party. Remember Ronald Reagan Democrats? I want a Republican that can attract Democrats.”

Because of course, we all know that Reagan appealed to Democrats by moving to the center and compromising on his core beliefs (not that Lindsay seems to have any).

[Danube of Thought]

Here it is, Clarice. A bit muddled.

[jimmyk]

The LUN confirms that we're stuck with this jerk until January 2011. Recess appointments are good through the end of the subsequent session. ("Session" essentially means calendar year, each Congress having two sessions.)

[Clarice]

Thanks, DoT.

[lyle]

RB,

Hopefully the text of my comment implied this, but to clarify: the term "fag hag" is a colloquialsim of the gay men's community not (necessarily) a pejorative of the hetero.

Thanks to my former BIL and his lover, I'm (reluctantly) a fount of gay men's argot. (Wow, that sounds gay itself!)

[cathyf]

This is kind of off-topic, but this is the closest we have to a health care thread... Does anyone know for sure whether the bill that was passed has clauses for severability? In other words, if the courts strike down one part of the law, is it all gone, or does everything else stand?

[Clarice]

It does not have a clause for severability. and the individual mandate is so intertwined in the Act it cannot stnd without it, cathy.

Domentech:

"et this is not a true renomination — Berwick’s name will hang in limbo, as he cannot be removed from his post by the Senate, and will wield power over a significant portion of the American economy for at least 16 months.

Even so, it seems the brain trust on Pennsylvania Avenue underestimated the reaction to Berwick’s recess appointment. No one in the White House wanted to allow the Republicans to spend another two months telling voters about rationing, wealth redistribution and Obamacare. Thus far, on that point at least, the recess appointment has clearly backfired."

[JM Hanes]

I wouldn't rule out the possibility that Obama just decided to dump the whole mess into the Senate's lap so that he can climb back out of the public perception hole he accidentally dug himself. He can now go back to blaming Republicans when the hearings don't materialize before the midterms, which they won't. The Senate Democrats are probably trying to figure out if they can credibly tar Republicans themselves, but will probably opt for quietly running out the election clock.

[JM Hanes]

Could have saved myself some trouble if I'd read all the way down to Clarice @ 4:52, before I hit the composition window.

[Danube of Thought]

I couldn't open Jimmyk's link, but tne piece posted at Hot Air says the recess appointment is good for "the next 16 months." That would be until the end of this congress.

[daddy]

DoT,

OT but of interest to me due to never having seen this sort of stuff so far south before and in conflict with International Airways.

Russians were conducting a big live fire exercise yesterday in the North Pacific a few hundred miles south of Petropavlask. All commercial flights had to deviate south of our normal routing for hundreds of miles. Were routed south to Shemya, then to a geo lat/long further off airways to keep us well clear, then after about 500 miles overall off course direct to Omoto and westward on a southern airway to Asia: "NOTE - NON STANDARD ROUTE TO OMOTO DUE RUSSIAN NAVY ROCKET TEST **
** REF PAZA NOTAM A0249/10"

The NOTAM had more input but I can't recover it currently.

[Rick Ballard]

The language in the Constitution is rather clear: The President shall have Power to fill up all Vacancies that may happen during the Recess of the Senate, by granting Commissions which shall expire at the End of their next Session.

The second session of the 111th Congress will adjourn in December, 2010. The next session will be the first session of the 112th Congress which will adjourn in December, 2011. That's where the 16 months comes from.

[jimmyk]

The link says that recess appointments last through the end of the next session of Congress. So if it is made between sessions (say in December), it lasts for the following year. If it is made in January after the session begins, it lasts for nearly two years, till the end of the next full session. Bolton, for example, was appointed in August 2005, and his appointment lasted through December 2006.

[Ann Squaredance]

Tainting the tea party movement with the charge of racism is proving to be an effective strategy for Democrats. There is no evidence that tea party adherents are any more racist than other Republicans, and indeed many other Americans. But getting them to spend their time purging their ranks and having candidates distance themselves should help Democrats win in November. Having one’s opponent rebut charges of racism is far better than discussing joblessness.

-Mary Frances Berry

While we sit here an argue the righteousness of whatever, they take over our country.

[justverg]

Maybe he won't go along with primary care coming from O's volunteers.

[health reforms]

'...for the first time, will also have the option of Medicaid for all low-income population, irrespective of age, disability or the family status.'

'The program will be administered by the Federal Government if the State chooses not to run it.'

www.myfinanceblogonline.com/archives/what-does-the-affordability-act

[Pagar]

"'The program will be administered by the Federal Government if the State chooses not to run it.'"

Because the Federal Government has an inexhaustable amount of money--Right?