Free Republic

... Maine is the Charlie Brown of health care. The state’s legislators have tried for decades to fix its system, but their efforts have always fallen short: health insurance premiums are still among the least affordable in the nation, health care spending per person is among the highest and hospital emergency rooms are among the most crowded. Indeed, many overhauls to the system have done little more than squeeze a balloon — solving one problem while worsening another. ... Maine’s history is a cautionary tale for national health reform. The state could never figure out how to slow the spiraling...

A day after Tim Pawlenty took a few shots at Olympia Snowe, RNC Chairman Michael Steele came to her defense. Asked on Morning Joe whether there was room for the Maine centrist in the GOP, Steele responded "absolutely." Welcome! Welcome! Because--you know why that's important? Because every footprint of this party is different from region to region, from county to county. I can't win in the northeast with someone who'd be a better candidate suited in the south....So the reality of it is I'm looking to find my candidates where they are. And I want to lift them up because...

A pretty good interview of Gov. Tim Pawlenty about NY23 and Scozzafava on Morning Joe, by Joe Scarborough, and his crew of lefties, some of whom were out for blood. I think Tim Pawlenty gave a pretty good account of himself, despite some pretty hostile questioning. Dang, I just can't stand that Ariana Huffington. Just hearing her voice makes me want to smash something.

Snowe to TPaw: GOP should "borrow" my approach Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) is sending a don't-tread-on-me message to Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty -- dismissing his claim that party moderates need to obey the conservative base -- and suggested her critics "borrow" from her middle-of-the-road model. Snowe, often the target of the Republican right flank, turned the argument back on the possible 2012 contender -- saying "litmus tests" of Republican candidates will guarantee the party's position as a two-House minority. Pawlenty, speaking early Monday on MSNBC, said many Republicans were "mad" at Snowe for working with the Democratic majority on health...

"Republican Dede Scozzafava today endorsed Democrat Bill Owens, her former opponent, in Tuesday's election to fill the North Country congressional seat formerly held by John McHugh. Scozzafava suspended her campaign for the 23rd District seat Saturday, citing weak poll numbers and inadequate campaign funds. In a statement released this afternoon, she called Owens ''an independent voice devoted to doing what is right for New York.''"

In explanation for her "yes" vote on the Max Baucus created health care bill, Maine Senator Olympia Snowe said: "Is this bill all that I would want? Far from it. Is it all that it can be? No. But when history calls, history calls." Senator Snowe is probably right. History is calling. What she has wrong is history's message. History is calling with the warning that tyranny is at our doorstep. The tyranny that threatens us is not the same brand as the violent police states of the 20th century. Tyranny in America will look more like the misguided utopianism...

Link only - Baucus Ballistic, According to ABC News

The lone Republican senator to back any Democratic healthcare proposal says she could support a filibuster When it comes time to pass a final healthcare reform bill, Senate Democrats may need help from Maine's Olympia Snowe, the only Republican senator thus far to vote for a Democratic proposal. And if they do, that could spell doom for the public option. Snowe was asked Thursday whether she'd vote for cloture -- that is, to end a filibuster -- on a bill that includes a provision for a government-run insurer. "I'd say I'm against a public option, so yes," she replied. Pressed...

WASHINGTON — One week after lending her vote of support to the Senate Finance Committee’s health care reform bill, Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, has gained countless column inches of newspaper exposure and at least 115 pounds of rock salt. Though the analysis and recaps were inevitable, the influx of rock salt came as a surprise to the senator’s staff, who said they received a bundled UPS shipment of 23 5-pound bags of salt to Snowe’s Portland office. Popular conservative blog RedState sparked the makeshift protest with a post a week ago. In a play on Snowe’s name, Erick Erickson, managing...

<p>There are 18 states, as columnist Mark Shields recently pointed out to me, that have gone Democratic in each of the last five presidential elections.</p> <p>Of the 36 senators who represent those states, only two are Republicans. Both are from Maine, one of the last, storm-lashed, surf-pounded footholds of the Yankee GOP. So it is hardly shocking that the lone Republican supporter of Democratic health reform on the Senate Finance Committee should be Maine's Olympia Snowe.</p>

Okay let’s do the math President Barry Hussein Soetoro wants Health Care Deform passed. He has 58 votes in the Senate, just filled Sen. Kennedy’s seat by end running Massachusetts state law. He has 2 Independent votes that vote to support Democrats, let’s see I get 60 votes and with 60 votes in the Senate Democrats can pass whatever they want and there’s not a darn thing Republicans can do about it. Add that to the 256 Democrat members in the House of Representatives compared to the 179 Republican members there, Democrats have a super majority and again Republicans can...

Rockefeller Says Democrats Can’t Tailor Health Care to Snowe (Bloomberg can only be linked to)

Saint Olympia is getting the full media treatment. By providing the only Republican vote for Obamacare, she is being hailed as a courageous statesman (stateswoman?). Charlie Gibson interviewed her live on "World News." She made the morning TV rounds, mapped strategy in the Situation Room, played Hardball. Dana Milbank's tribute to her political skill (and gibes at her studied indecision) landed atop The Washington Post's front page. Check out this AP piece: "Forget Sarah Palin. The female maverick of the Republican Party is Sen. Olympia Snowe. . . . 'When history calls, history calls,' Snowe told her colleagues on the...

Mitch McConnell and his deputies in the Senate Republican leadership are responding very cautiously to Olympia Snowe’s decision to become the first GOP vote for a Democratic health care reform bill. That’s about all they can do. “My job as whip is not to twist her arm but to bring all the information that we can bring to bear on the issue and hope that people vote the way we would like to see them vote,” said McConnell’s No. 2, Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.). Kyl said a heavy-handed approach “doesn’t work.”

Senator Max Baucus, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, shakes hands with Senator Olympia Snowe after the Committee passed the Democratic healthcare reform bill with a 14-9 vote on Capitol Hill, October 13, 2009.

(Oct. 14) -- As Republicans search their ranks for a new leader, there's also a bit of competition developing for the title of party maverick. The AP is hailing Olympia Snowe as the GOP's new female maverick -- supplanting Sarah Palin -- because the senator from Maine is the only Republican who voted for the Finance Committee's health care reform bill Tuesday. But when it comes to going rogue, Snowe's Senate colleague from South Carolina appears to have the edge. Lindsey Graham teamed up with Democratic Sen. John Kerry for a New York Times op-ed pushing climate change legislation a...

Snowe's vote isn't all that popular in Maine, assuming these are all Maine votes.

Yes No

Do you support Sen. Snowe's decision YES NO I'll never vote for her again

Krauthammer says that Obama will be stung by Olympia Snowe because the health care bill has to be merged with the other bills which will move far left, causing Snowe to bail out on supporting it...(Video from Special Report)

WASHINGTON - Nobody knew for sure what Senator Olympia J. Snowe would do yesterday when the Finance Committee gathered to vote on its health care bill - not even Snowe. Chairman Max Baucus, Democrat of Montana, had been courting her vote for months, investing long hours in closed-door negotiations with her and the other members of the “Gang of Six.’’ In the late summer and early fall, President Obama spoke with her on the phone and invited her to the White House to address her concerns.

Let's conduct a little experiment. We all heard today, in breathless email alerts from CNN, the Washington Post, and the New York Times, that Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) went all mavericky and bravely bucked her party to vote with the Democrats on the Finance Committee in support of the Baucus health care bill. Of course, mathematically speaking, this is a non-issue. The Democrats outnumber the Republicans on the Committee by 13-10. They didn't need her and there was no danger that the bill would not pass.

Snowe's a backstabbing RINO that just literally sh*t all over 300 million Americans voting for this along with the liberal democrat socialists on the finance committee. We all know that anyway. She just earned her ticket out of the Senate. send her a bunch of these and make sure she knows she's not getting any support from you and that you'll be supporting her opponents financially and otherwise. For the whole series of Zero dollar bills, go here: "Flickr Archive of Zero Bills"

Is Snowe The Real Female Maverick In GOP? Maine lawmaker breaks with her party to vote for Democratic bill WASHINGTON - Forget Sarah Palin. The female maverick of the Republican Party is Sen. Olympia Snowe. The 62-year-old, moderate Maine lawmaker voted on Tuesday for a Democratic health care bill, breaking with her party and giving a major boost to President Barack Obama's drive to expand coverage to millions of Americans. "Is this bill all that I would want? Far from it," Snowe told her colleagues on the Senate Finance Committee. "But when history calls, history calls." Snowe had kept virtually...

The Senate panel approved the "health-care overhaul" and Olympia Snowe to no surprise "joined Democrats for a key vote on Obama's top domestic priority” reads today’s headline (at Marketwatch.com) Snowe like a typical “moderate“ tried to distance herself from it just enough so that she can have something on record to point to after her negligence leads to our demise. The most egregious of her statements I found came after she verbalized that the bill is not what she would have liked “…but when history calls, history calls, and I happen to think that the consequences of inaction dictate the...

You know the Obama administration is living in the ozone when they claim the Baucus bill is "bipartisan" because of one....ONE....Republican vote: “Today we reached a critical milestone in our efforts to reform our health care system, the president said this afternoon,” speaking from the White House Rose Garden. Although the bill drew an “aye” vote from one Republican senator, President Obama touted the bill as a proposal having both “Democratic and Republican support.” “After the consideration of hundreds of amendments, it includes ideas from both Democrats and Republicans, which is why it enjoys the support of people from both...

It's mid October, but all the talk in Washington has been of Snowe. The Snowe forecasts were all over the map Tuesday morning. ABC's George Stephanopolous put the probability of a Snowe vote in favor of the Senate Finance Committee's health-care legislation at 45 percent. Politico's Mike Allen put the likelihood of Snowe falling in favor of the legislation at 20 percent. The NBC News political department put the "chance of Snowe" much higher in its forecast. The source of all these predictions, Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine, walked into the Hart Building hearing room a few minutes after 10:00...

Yeah, it's a sure thing that the controlling Democrats will pass this phase of ObamaDON'Tcare, but we still have the protection of the First Amendment to discuss it, FOR NOW, right? Grab some popcorn and let's listen to the Democrats demean and revile those EVVVIIIIIIIIIILLLLLLLLLLL health insurance companies, who have just thrown a monkey wrench in the 'easy' passage of this big gubmint garbage! Will some of the Democrats actually vote according to their conscience (yeah, I know, oxymoron)?? Will the Republicans hold rank and vote no across the board in protest? Will Olympia, our favorite "moderate" Republican (bwahahahahahahaha!) team...

Will Snowe fall again? Updated: Yes; 2:54pm Eastern Senate Finance Cmte vote is 14-9 By Michelle Malkin  •  October 13, 2009 09:27 AM Scroll down for updates…10:45am – Snowe wanted reassurance from CBO and Baucus that scoring “integrity” will be preserved as conceptual language becomes legislative language…1:04pm Eastern…Snowe will vote YES on government health care takeover…2:54pm Eastern Senate Finance Cmte vote is 14-9 Sen. Olympia Snowe was one of the three members of the Senate GOP Turncoat Caucus who voted for the trillion-dollar Generational Theft Act.This morning, the Senate Finance Committee votes on the tax-and-spend government health care takeover and “all eyes...

Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) said Tuesday he will not support the healthcare bill set for a vote today in the Senate Finance Committee. Though Lieberman is not a member of the 23-member committee that is set to approve the preliminary legislation crafted by Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.), the Connecticut independent is one of a handful of key Senate centrists who are shaping the fate of health reform this year. "No, not the way it is now," Lieberman said during an appearance on "Imus in the Morning" on the Fox Business Network this morning when asked if he could support the...

Senate Finance Panel Approves Health Bill, 14-9 By GREG HITT and JANET ADAMY [Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe smiles at Democratic Sen. Max Baucus (left) moments before she announced her support for the Finance Committee's health-care bill.] Getty Images Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe smiles at Democratic Sen. Max Baucus (left) moments before she announced her support for the Finance Committee's health-care bill. WASHINGTON – The Senate Finance Committee Tuesday approved its health-overhaul measure, pushing a revamp of the U.S.'s health-care system closer to reality than it has been in decades. The vote was 14-9, with Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine the...

I don't think I'm alone when I just assumed Senator Snowe R-Maine was going to help the Dems push Obamacare through. Over and over again we get this build up of 'will Snowe vote for it?' 'Will Collins vote for it?' When everyone already knows they are going to. Well, she's done it. Here's Senator Snowe speaking on the House floor about her decision to help the Dems. "When History Calls, History Calls." VIDEO: http://storyballoon.org/videos/senator-snowe-on-her-decision-to-help-dems-push-obamacare-through-when-history-calls-history-calls/

Sign petition to expel Snowe from GOP at http://gopetition.com/online/27432.html

The surprise endorsement of climate-change legislation by a leading Senate Republican has jump-started the languishing proposal but also has raised the prospect that it will include two major items that environmentalists dislike: more nuclear power and more offshore oil drilling. In an op-ed published Sunday, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina joined with Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, the chamber's leading Democratic advocate of climate legislation, to promote a bipartisan plan to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions. They proposed a compromise that reduces U.S. carbon-dioxide emissions - which are widely considered to contribute to climate change - through a market-based "cap and...

See link. I can not excerpt one line.

Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe broke with her party Tuesday and said she will vote for a Democratic health care bill, handing President Barack Obama a much-sought boost in his quest to expand access to medical coverage to all Americans. Approval of the legislation by the Senate Finance Committee was a foregone conclusion going into Tuesday's vote, since Democrats outnumber Republicans 13-10 on the panel. But Snowe's decision gave the vote a significance that transcends partisan divisions. For months, congressional Republicans have been virtually unanimous in denouncing the Democratic bills as an unwarranted expansion of government influence. The Maine senator kept...

Sens: Snowe's Healthcare Vote Puts Her Top Commerce Perch At Risk By Alexander Bolton - 10/13/09 Sen. Olympia Snowe (Maine) is risking a shot at becoming the top Republican on an influential Senate committee by backing Democratic healthcare legislation, according to senators on the panel. A Senate Democrat on the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee said Republicans on the panel are threatening to vote against Snowe, who is in line for the senior GOP post that is about to come open. “Wake up,” the Democrat told a reporter last week when questioned if the Republicans would retaliate against Snowe for...

Per MSNBC's front page, Olympia Snowe will vote YES on the Baucus Bill. No surprise here....

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe says she will vote for a Democratic health care bill, breaking with her party on President Barack Obama's top legislative priority. The Maine senator kept virtually all of Washington guessing how she would vote until she announced it late in the Senate Finance Committee debate Tuesday. Until then, she told reporters, she had not even let Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., in on her secret. She told her colleagues: "When history calls, history calls," even though she had some criticism of the bill.

No link, breaking on Boston.com

'... the insurance industry is making huge profits off peoples' need for healthcare... I don't want to say whether I will vote for the Baucus Bill or not but we have to reform healthcare...' Folks, she's gonna vote for the Baucus Bill. She's also a coward.

Congress: If the people of Maine want a dysfunctional health care system, that's their business. But why must their senator insist that the rest of us have the same? Now that Rhode Island's Lincoln Chafee is gone and Pennsylvania's Arlen Specter has defected, Maine's senior senator, Olympia Snowe, may be the least reliable Republican in the U.S. Senate. She may have been all along. Which is why Democrats hope she'll vote against her party once again on health care reform. Snowe is the lone Republican on the Senate Finance Committee that's open to the Democrat-backed bill expected to move to...

The Senate Finance Committee is on the verge of approving its long-awaited version of health reform in the coming days, awaiting only a cost estimate of its work by the Congressional Budget Office and a decision by Democratic leaders about what the shape of the bill will be on the Senate floor. Wrapping up work at 2 a.m. Friday morning, the committee's majority Democrats managed to fend off significant changes to the basic blueprint laid out last month by committee Chairman Max Baucus of Montana. But major questions about the measure - including whether the bill will include a public...

OCTOBER 3, 2009 Snowe Vote Looms in the Health Battle JANET ADAMY and GREG HITT WASHINGTON -- The final hours of the Senate Finance Committee's marathon health debate focused on making its bill affordable for the middle class. Now, the question is whether Democrats did enough to win over Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe, and whether they stayed within the budget limits set by President Barack Obama. The committee wrapped up its debate just after 2 a.m. EDT Friday. Its vote, set for next week, could be a milestone in Mr. Obama's drive for a health-care bill this year that would...

It never ceases to amaze me how the busiest woman in Washington remains so accessible. Just this week alone, I am aware of 8-10 hours of direct Washington senior staff time devoted to Maine doctors, patients and health care professionals in reviewing the impact of the Baucus bill on Maine families and businesses. Impressive. Unfortunately, it would appear that there are a number of folks in Washington who are unwilling to make the same time commitment, as they rework one sixth of our economy.

President Obama intends to keep wooing the public to support for his health care goals in a scheduled Monday night appearance on the “Late Show with David Letterman.” Polls suggest he has had mixed results so far. Most critical, however, is his private effort to persuade one person: Senator Olympia J. Snowe, Republican of Maine. And that effort appears to be going very well. Ms. Snowe has not endorsed either Democratic health care bill in the Senate. No Republican has. But in an interview, she offered a surprisingly robust endorsement of Mr. Obama’s skepticism about expanding government too much, his...

It would be understandable for those who closely follow politics to have missed Republican Senator Olympia Snowe’s comments on health care a couple of days ago. The second week of September was an unusually big week for partisan politics (and that’s saying something in this day and age). Commentators on both sides of the divide sparred bitterly over the crowd estimates for the massive 9/12 Taxpayer March on the National Mall. In addition, the drip, drip, drip of scandalous revelations surrounding the ACORN “prostitution sting” further strained the lengths of recent political polarization. And as the weekend neared, allegations of...

Dem Pollster Asked Not to PollSeptember 18, 2009 BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Here is our blowtorch affiliate in Raleigh, North Carolina, yesterday, WPTF radio, the Bill LuMaye Show. He's talking to Tom Jensen, the director of Public Policy Polling communications, and he says, "How important are your polls to a political party, whether Republican or Democrat? Do they look at this and go, 'Holy cow'? They recognize the trouble they're in, don't they?" JENSEN: Absolutely. We've had campaign managers for Democratic candidates in other states call us up and ask us not to poll their states because they don't want the...

Democrats in the Senate had hoped to get a fig leaf of bipartisanship from Olympia Snowe or Susan Collins (R-ME) once Max Baucus rolled out his supposedly moderate bill for overhauling the American health-care system.  Yesterday, Snowe rejected the bill, leaving Democrats isolated and divided on the bill, just days after Obama demanded action on the effort: Senate Democrats are going to have to move forward on healthcare without a single Republican supporter after Sen. Olympia Snowe said Tuesday she could not back the Finance Committee’s bill.Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) failed to win any Republican backer despite weeks of intense...

Senate Democrats are going to have to move forward on healthcare without a single Republican supporter after Sen. Olympia Snowe said Tuesday she could not back the Finance Committee’s bill. Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) failed to win any Republican backer despite weeks of intense negotiations behind closed doors to strike a deal.