Surrender Nancy

Daniel Foster at The Corner of NRO online reports Pelosi may have yet another trick up her sleeves for health care; color me shocked.  While many, including me, declared health care DOA after Speaker Pelosi said she didn't have the votes, it appears we may have underestimated the sheer determination of Democrats to commit hara kiri by health care.  Desperate Democrats are working the votes to drum up support for passage of the Senate bill in total in the House with agreements to undo portions House members find distasteful:

Democratic staffers are telling Newsweek that though Pelosi is still “way short” of the 218 votes it would take to pass the Senate bill—with issues such as the Cadillac Tax and Cornhusker Kickback serving as sticking points—that equation could soon change. Democrats are “working the phones furiously to talk up the idea of the Senate promising to retroactively unravel several distasteful components.”

I am pretty sure the voters in Massachusetts hadn't intended to send a man to Washington who campaigned on his being the 41st vote against dishonest efforts to ram health care through at all costs only to sit back and nod in approval once Madame Speaker finds an alternate strategy to ram it through anyway.   Obviously this makes absolutely no difference as Pelosi is arguing this can be done in the House with passage in the Senate requiring 51 votes via reconciliation:

If House Democrats make the good-faith deal, Pelosi is arguing that the Senate promise would be easy to keep. Reconciliation votes require only a 51-vote majority. Or even 50, in which case Vice President Biden could break the tie.

This aide says that leadership considers reconciliation, with the House conditioning its support on promised fixes in the Senate, as the much more strategic route than breaking the package into parts, which isn’t ideal because all of the parts are interlocking. Asked what the timetable would be for that, this aide says weeks, not months.

This would explain the Easter miracle strategy highlighted in my last post.  Foster suggests this is a viable strategy though it ignores the politics.  It also ignores the promise of  Obama and the Democrats they wouldn't attempt the possibility of ramming a bill through before Scott Brown was seated.  Then again, we should all know the value of an Obama promise at this point.

I have absolutely no doubt that Pelosi et al, will examine each and every possibility by which they can put this disastrous bill through against the will of the people.  They have shown utter contempt and disregard for the people they purport to serve every day they have met since Obama took office and then some.  If Pelosi can whip the votes after the clear message sent by voters last week no seat is safe, anyone who votes for her bill should update their resume immediately.

In my own district, Representative Patrick Murphy (D, PA8) has nine, yes nine, Republicans hoping to get the nomination to oppose him.  On Saturday Mike Fitzpatrick announced  he would seek a rematch against the man who won the seat in 2006 when the tide of populist anger turned against Republicans.  Though I have no doubt Murphy would vote exactly as Pelosi told him to, as he has in nearly every other vote since he took office, he would cast this vote with the certain knowledge one of the nine would take his seat after November.  Who would come to save him, Obama?  This is only one district, a relatively safe one for what that is worth, and there are nine qualified opponents waiting to challenge him for it.  Surely those nine smell something in the air even if Murphy and Pelosi can not.

Pelosi and the desperate Democrats should stop to consider the longer they drag this health care debacle out, the greater uncertainty grows.  Uncertainty is killing any potential for job growth.  This is a message sent repeatedly to an administration that chooses to hear only what it wants.  Democrats pursue this path at their peril, which would be fine, if only politics were at issue.  There are families who are hurting, people who are desperate to get back to work, yet Democrats see only their opportunity to pass their hated health care agenda slipping through their fingers.   These are people not worthy to lead this country, November can't come soon enough.