“Is this bill all that I would want?” Ms. Snowe said. “Far from it. Is it all that it can be? No. But when history calls, history calls. And I happen to think that the consequences of inaction dictate the urgency of Congress to take every opportunity to demonstrate its capacity to solve the monumental issues of our time.”

Ms. Snowe’s remarks silenced the packed committee room, riveted colleagues and thrilled the White House. President Obama had sought her vote, hoping that she would break with Republican leaders and provide at least a veneer of bipartisanship to the bill, which he has declared his top domestic priority.

So what do those who are invested enough in the debate to write something about it think? Well, as usual, most of the posted opinion is negative. Out on the information superhighway, road rage reigns. Just a smattering:

From Daily Kos

By voting yes, Snowe remains relevant–the Baucus bill passes with that shiny “bipartisan” sheen that seems still to matter in Washington. But don’t forget that she has her finger on the “trigger”–her trigger that would kill the public option… (S)he’s kept the Baucus bill alive, and through it the best chance of making what now seems inevitable–reform of some kind–as watered down as possible.
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The fact that she voted for the bill in and of itself does not make it a bad bill, but it’s a real good indicator.

It means she’ll have leverage further along in the process to make the final bill even weaker.
Her vote is bad just as Baucus’s bill is bad…it contains no public option. It isn’t single payer. It implements mandated insurance. Add that all up and you get Insurance hikes from now until the end of time–and…the end of a Democratic majority for just as long.
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From comments on Ezra Klein’s Washington Post blog

…if (Snowe) manages to improve the bill in any substantial way, she may manage to singlehandedly take the Republican Party out of the hands of the wingnuts. As Obama said on a different subject, “know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy.”

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So this senator whom everyone knows is a RINO votes for the bill and that’s supposed to be a big deal? The Democrats already had all the votes they needed to get the bill passed out of committee. But for some reason, this person’s single vote is sooo important? Is it because the Democrats want to say it was a bipartisan effort (because) they are afraid to take responsibility for it on their own?…One vote, particularly from a RINO, does not make this bombasm of a bill a bipartisan effort…
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From Red State

Olympia Snowe has sold out the country. Having been banished to our world after Aslan chased her out of Narnia, Snowe is intent on corrupting this place too. So we should melt her.
What melts snow? Rock salt. I’m going to ship this 5 pound bag of rock salt to her office in Maine. It’s only $3.00. You should join me. It is a visible demonstration of our contempt for her. First she votes for the stimulus. Now this.
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From Crooks and Liars

The Senate Finance Committee, which was designated by the Pope of Hope as the ostensible central authority in this Kabuki Theater rendition of health care reform, has crafted a bill so bad that one of the Republicans could actually support it.

This is done under the false flag of bipartisanship in order to gain political cover, (which) will be needed when the full ramifications of this sell-out to corporate interests becomes more widely understood.

We haven’t come across that nickname yet, but a perusal of various online opinion shows a marked obsession with the Senator most-likely-to-secede from the closed ranks of the Republican caucus on health care. With 60 votes needed to shut down a likely Republican fillibuster, and considering the uncertainty about Democrats’ ability to hold together all 60 of their members to do just that, Snowe’s vote has become the perceived Holy Grail of success or failure to the whole shebang. That gives her, conventional wisdom says, more leverage on this ever-evolving legislation than any single politician in America, including, perhaps, President Obama.

Snowe’s status as one of the dwindling number of Republican moderates has ensured that she will alienate two sets of constituencies, not just one, however she wields her clout. As one of three Republicans to cross party lines and vote for the Obama stimulus bill earlier in the year, she earned the wrath of conservatives, who have pegged her as a “RINO“: Republican-in-name-only.” To progressives, however, she’s merely another roadblock to creating a “public option,” a government health plan that can compete with the private insurance sector, which Snowe opposes.

However Snowe manages to affect the final legislation, of course, is not just a matter of raw politics, it will have real consquences for everyone who has a stake in the reform debate–which is everyone who is or will ever be sick enough to rely on their health insurance. Which is, sooner or later, everyone.

Using the Senator as a sort of health care reform Rorshach test, this small sampling of Snowe blogalalia shows just how far apart the most engaged constituencies in the debate are.

Snowe is just playing along and she is not participating in good faith. Negotiating with her on her public option trigger amendment as a way to get her on board is foolish and naive. She might not be at the top of the invite list to lunch with her Republican colleagues, but she’s with them on their delay game… (H)er trigger amendment should be totally unacceptable to any Democrat who supports the public option. Her amendment is intended to kill it. Scratch the surface, and it is no compromise, and no one is going to be able to sell it to the base as one.

-from Daily Kos

It seems to me the (most) obvious person (to be worried about) is Maine’s Olympia Snowe. Very worried. Did you see her interview on CNBC? (She said) Obama’s a moderate who has been very realistic in his views on healthcare, that there aren’t enough low-income subsidies in the healthcare bill and that while the President put forward the idea of a public option, she has thought from the beginning that he’s always indicated a willingness to be flexible on this…We’re in trouble here.

-from Red County

All Snowe cares about are the CEO’s. She could care less that there are some Mainers right now working 3 part-time jobs, don’t qualify for health insurance at their employers based on their status, and these Mainers can’t afford the premium of a private health insurer because it’s too damn expensive! Oh, but mention the public option to Snowe and tell her it would be an affordable choice with no preexisting clause in it for these Mainers? She’ll freak out and mention how there are CEO’s who are suffering right along with those Mainers who don’t have high speed broadband!

-from White Noise Insanity (Maine blog)

Apparently Snowe thinks that supporting traditional Republican principles like “limited government” and “fiscal responsibility” means voting for the single largest deficit spending bill in American history (the “stimulus” bill)…Snowe represents big-government (and) finger-in-the-wind Republicanism, the adherents of which do whatever they think is necessary to cling to power instead of sticking to principle. Snowe hasn’t limited government or promoted fiscal responsibility and neither have many of her fellow Republicans, which is why their party isn’t in power any more. If the GOP wants back into power they have to leave people like Snowe behind.

-from Say Anything blog

When 77% of Americans in general, and their own constituents in particular, want single-payer or a “public option,” I would think that it should be a piece of cake to get a federal jury to convict these greedy, slimy, unprincipled &*!#s for quid pro quo bribery: They took the money, they then voted in ways that betrayed their office and the People…I have been planning on moving to Maine, but now I have the added incentive of going there just so I can vote against Snowe. I hate a crook.

-from Crooks and Liars

Of course, not everyone thinks Snowe should be drawn and quartered, no matter how she votes. On one of the wonkiest online forums, Ezra Klein’s Washington Post column, praise for Snowe can indeed be found:

Snowe is unique among GOPers in having a quaint interest in actually solving problems, although often not the way we would prefer…Snowe understands the scope of being a public servant, though elected by only some taxpayers, mandated to represent ALL of them. Her calm, incisive, persistent determination to do what needs to be done, regardless of how cruelly and ridiculously other legislators respond to her efforts, reflects the very best interpretation of civic responsibility in the social contract that is our government.
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Bipartisanship is a two-way street and it appears that Senator Snowe is the only Republican willing to take on that mantle. If there were more Republicans like her, voters (outside of Maine) would at least have a choice between parties. Right now, those of us who are socially liberal to moderate, and fiscally moderate can only pull the lever for a dysfunctional Democratic party willing to do the job they’re paid to do, i.e., legislate, albeit in a fractious manner. The GOP today is nothing more than a fraternity of Southern Republican Dixiecrats and those who’ve imbibed their ghastly cultural values and lack of responsibility.
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Good for Senator Snowe, and I say that as a far left liberal. I think this country would be in a different situation than it is today if more of our elected politicians worked as hard as she did, even if I disagree with a lot of what she says and votes for (though much less so than other Republicans).

So there you have it. Some think the porridge too hot, some too cold, and some just right. Sounds a little bit like democracy…