Extra Fizz: Cantwell Plan to Regulate Pharmaceutical Industry Makes it into Baucus Bill

“Classic” Cantwell– the millionaire who bankrolled her own campaign and then helped make it harder for people who declare bankruptcy get out from under credit card debt– is “populist”?

“Classic” Cantwell– the millionaire who bankrolled her own campaign and then helped make it harder for people who declare bankruptcy get out from under credit card debt– is “populist”?

@1
She didn’t vote for the bankruptcy bill, I don’t know where that rumor got started but it isn’t true.

She did bankroll her 2000 Senate campaign but she refused any PAC money too.

@1
She didn’t vote for the bankruptcy bill, I don’t know where that rumor got started but it isn’t true.

She did bankroll her 2000 Senate campaign but she refused any PAC money too.

Trevor @ 1,

Cantwell opened the Obama years as one of just nine Democratic senators who pushed a bill in January http://publicola.net/?p=26 to block the release of $350 billion more of the $700 billion bank bailout money that had been approved in October. (Which she voted against.)

And she kept the pressure on throughout the year: http://publicola.net/?p=2715

And during the GOP-controlled years: She passed a privacy bill to protect consumers, so that if your identity is stolen you have the right to have your credit corrected to preserve your good standing. She passed legislation preventing bankruptcy courts from forcing Snohomish County to fork over money to Enron. She passed legislation to expand a rural health-care program, the National Health Services Corps, by 70 percent.

Yes. Populist. And 2 is correct. No PAC money in that 60% reelect in 2006.

Trevor @ 1,

Cantwell opened the Obama years as one of just nine Democratic senators who pushed a bill in January http://publicola.net/?p=26 to block the release of $350 billion more of the $700 billion bank bailout money that had been approved in October. (Which she voted against.)

And she kept the pressure on throughout the year: http://publicola.net/?p=2715

And during the GOP-controlled years: She passed a privacy bill to protect consumers, so that if your identity is stolen you have the right to have your credit corrected to preserve your good standing. She passed legislation preventing bankruptcy courts from forcing Snohomish County to fork over money to Enron. She passed legislation to expand a rural health-care program, the National Health Services Corps, by 70 percent.

Yes. Populist. And 2 is correct. No PAC money in that 60% reelect in 2006.

@2: You’re wrong on 2001:
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines01/0316-03.htm

I think your confusion might be that Cantwell might have been better on bankruptcy “reform” in 2005.

Not saying she’s a bad legislator. But being wealthy enough to refuse PAC money doesn’t make one a populist. Nor did her support for health “coops” at a critical juncture in the debate (I guess she’s reversed herself now, though we’ll see what effect that reversal has). Not saying she’s bad on all things, or never populist. Just don’t want to give her more credit than she deserves.

@2: You’re wrong on 2001:
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines01/0316-03.htm

I think your confusion might be that Cantwell might have been better on bankruptcy “reform” in 2005.

Not saying she’s a bad legislator. But being wealthy enough to refuse PAC money doesn’t make one a populist. Nor did her support for health “coops” at a critical juncture in the debate (I guess she’s reversed herself now, though we’ll see what effect that reversal has). Not saying she’s bad on all things, or never populist. Just don’t want to give her more credit than she deserves.

There’s no “reversal” Trevor.
Critics on the left pretended she’d abandoned the public option for the “coops,” but that was a canard.

There’s no “reversal” Trevor.
Critics on the left pretended she’d abandoned the public option for the “coops,” but that was a canard.

Of course the 2001 Senate version (supported by 36 of 49 Senate D’s, including Patty Murray) rattled back and forth through a series of amendments and House/Senate compromises, and died in 2002 without being enacted into law.

It’s up to Trevor to explain how this made it “harder for people who declare bankruptcy get out from under credit card debt”.

Of course the 2001 Senate version (supported by 36 of 49 Senate D’s, including Patty Murray) rattled back and forth through a series of amendments and House/Senate compromises, and died in 2002 without being enacted into law.

It’s up to Trevor to explain how this made it “harder for people who declare bankruptcy get out from under credit card debt”.

How will this affect local companies like zymogenetics? Are they going to have to restrict R&D because they can’t create enough retained earnings to pump into research? They certainly aren’t going to get the cash for research from the credit markets (e.g. loans, bonds, etc.), or investors (e.g. venture capital, private equity, etc.).

How will this affect local companies like zymogenetics? Are they going to have to restrict R&D because they can’t create enough retained earnings to pump into research? They certainly aren’t going to get the cash for research from the credit markets (e.g. loans, bonds, etc.), or investors (e.g. venture capital, private equity, etc.).

@5: C’mon, Josh. During the entire month of August Cantwell was trying to redefine the public option to say that support for coops was the same thing as the public option– this at a time when the “coop” non-proposal’s only reason for existence was to derail the plan Obama originally proposed.

Slog tracked Cantwell’s every excruciating equivocation and utterance of double-speak during a time when we needed outspoken leadership on the Senate Finance Committee. Since August, Cantwell’s come out a little stronger. But she can’t rewrite history to say she’s always been for the public option. And you shouldn’t help her do so.

@5: C’mon, Josh. During the entire month of August Cantwell was trying to redefine the public option to say that support for coops was the same thing as the public option– this at a time when the “coop” non-proposal’s only reason for existence was to derail the plan Obama originally proposed.

Slog tracked Cantwell’s every excruciating equivocation and utterance of double-speak during a time when we needed outspoken leadership on the Senate Finance Committee. Since August, Cantwell’s come out a little stronger. But she can’t rewrite history to say she’s always been for the public option. And you shouldn’t help her do so.

@6: Yes I was criticizing her vote, didn’t track the issue for the next 20 months to learn that it didn’t pass due to some extraordinarily arcane legislative maneuvers during a lame duck session of Congress. But the point remains: it was a bad vote, no matter who else voted for it.

An even better example: CAFTA.

Conclusion the same: inconsistency in voting record makes the populist label a misnomer for her.

@6: Yes I was criticizing her vote, didn’t track the issue for the next 20 months to learn that it didn’t pass due to some extraordinarily arcane legislative maneuvers during a lame duck session of Congress. But the point remains: it was a bad vote, no matter who else voted for it.

An even better example: CAFTA.

Conclusion the same: inconsistency in voting record makes the populist label a misnomer for her.