More Vaporous Threats on the Left - Patrick Murphy Earning Murtha's Seat

Greg Sargent challenges whether Rep. Eric Cantor "jumped the gun" in referencing a bullet shot through his campaign office window during a press conference on Thursday.  Sargent questioned Cantor's spokesperson Brad Dayspring making continual reference to a police report that concluded the incident was an "act of random gunfire."  Sargent presses Dayspring on details of Cantor's statement in light of the conclusions from the police investigation in a "what did he know and when did he know it" report including whether details of the bullet's trajectory had been discussed with police prior to Cantor's press conference.  This is the hard-line investigative journalism that gave Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford the opportunity to portray Woodward and Bernstein in "All the President's Men" after all.

Contrast Sargent's hard-hitting investigative reporting with that of The Philadelphia Inquirer" report on "threats" to Congressman Patrick Murphy (D PA-8) after he voted for the health care legislation last week:

U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy has received threats since voting for the health-care overhaul last Sunday night but there have been no acts of vandalism against his home or his district offices, a spokeswoman for the congressman said today.

Kate E. Hansen declined to disclose details of the incidents, which she said are under investigation by the FBI and the Capitol Police, the agency charged with protecting members of Congress.

"It's being handled," Hansen said.

 The very last line of the Inquirer report adds, "Local police said they had no recent reports of vandalism at Murphy's district offices in Bristol Borough and Doylestown Borough, nor at his home."  Funny how that works out, no police report, no hard-hitting investigative journalism.

The report goes on to mention the "flurry of threats" and includes a quote from Rep. Bob Brady (D PA) who is "a little worried about people going home now - there are going to be a lot of town hall meetings."  It will come as no surprise to Patrick Murphy's constituents there would be no quote from Murphy let alone one referencing town hall meeting.  Murphy only conducts town halls via telephone with the able assistance of  the AARP.  Still, one wonders, did the Inquirer attempt to obtain a quote from Murphy and why the inclusion of one from Brady.  Is Brady an easier "get" now that Murphy has been given the nod for a seat on the Appropriations Committee vacant since the death of his mentor John Murtha?

It would be shocking had there been  any credible reports to police of acts of vandalism or violence to Congressman Murphy's offices or  residence.  His constituents fully expected him to vote with Speaker Pelosi as he always does.  Still, Congressman "Patlosi," as he is known locally, mentioned listening to thousands of his constituents when announcing his decision to vote for the bill despite the obstructionist strategies by national tea party groups evidently designed solely to prevent Murphy from hearing from constituents who opposed the health care bill. Murphy's spokesperson Kate Hansen  explained their phones were jammed with tea party phone calls when pressed for an explanation why constituents who opposed the bill were unable to get through to voice concern:

 "These calls are not organic and are being organized by a number of different national tea party activist groups that are executing an obstructionist strategy to deliberately prevent offices from functioning as they're supposed to (and) be able to accept feedback from constituents."

We are asked to believe then only pro-reform calls and inorganic tea party calls got through to Murphy's office.  These are the pro forma explanations Congressman Murphy's constituents have come to expect and are rarely disappointed.

Further complicating Murphy's ability to listen to his constituents was a power failure that forced his Doylestown PA office  to close for several hours the Monday prior to the vote.  You can read this on the sign posted on the door to his office quite plainly thanks to the light shining behind the sign.  I guess tea party folks in Florida and Texas were behind that obstruction as well.

To say that Hansen and Murphy have something of a credibility problem is a bit of an understatement.  Still, Murphy's alleged threats get none of the scrutiny that Cantor's statement enjoys.   Cantor's office had a bullet penetrate the window at some trajectory and the left all but calls on Arlen Specter to reassemble the Warren Commission.

Congressman Murphy, through his spokesperson, advances another vaporous threat, without a shred of evidence, as contribution to the growing liberal narrative those who oppose health care are dangerous.  The media laps it up and regurgitates without question.  Never let it be said Murphy isn't doing his part for the cause.    This is a fact that is widely known locally.  Murphy doesn't concern himself with local opinion, however, his loyalty is saved for Nancy Pelosi.  Murphy will be richly rewarded after having proven himself loyal and every bit as worthy as John Murtha to fill that coveted seat on the Appropriations Committee.   It would be a pity if Democrats "jumped the gun" and presumed Murphy re-elected before voters have their say in November.

Kill the Beast

On the eve of the health care summit, CNN is the bearer of bad news for ObamaCare, the crucial voting block of Independents are screaming, "Kill the Beast."  A full 52% of Independents think Congress should start over while another 27% say stop working on health care altogether.  They are not the only ones though, Democrats appear to be joining the mob with 4 in 10 saying start over and another 10% saying stop all work on health care.  As you may have guessed, Republicans are overwhelmingly opposed with a mere 6% supporting the current legislation but 94% believe Congress should halt work on health care or start over from scratch.

More bad news for Kabuki theater, most believe the Democrats need to give up ground in order to gain bipartisan solutions:

Even though more people think Republicans are not doing enough to reach bipartisan consensus, 54 percent believe the Democratic party should take the first step toward developing bipartisan solutions to the country’s problems, the survey says. Forty-two percent say the GOP should take that first step.

Just over half of those questioned say the Democrats should give up more ground to achieve bipartisanship, while 43 percent want to see the GOP make more compromises.

“Americans feel the ball is in the Democrats’ court,” Holland added. “They may not be held responsible for the problem, but since they are in charge of the government, Americans appear to think they are responsible for the solution.”

The ball may be in their court but Democrats appear not to know what to do with it.  Both the House and the Senate appear to be engaged in a game of chicken each daring the other "you pass it," "no you,"  leaving Kent Conrad to declare health care dead.  Eric Cantor has been counting votes in the House and seems to agree with Conrad.  Cantor released a memo earlier today outlining the reasons he believes health care can not pass in the House.  Here's  the bottom line:

Cantor says House Speaker Nancy Pelosi “will not be able to muster the votes needed to pass a Senate reconciliation bill in the House.”

He estimates that House Democrats will likely only be able to attract 202 votes out of the 255-member caucus, 15 votes below the 217-vote threshold they need to pass the bill.

Cantor blames weak anti-abortion language in the president’s health care proposal, as well as public sentiment as expressed in polling and the election results in the Massachusetts Senate special election.

Health care has been the B movie monster that continually resurrects from the dead.  There is no dead until  Obama accepts that he's lost or he loses his Democratic Congress.   Can he let it go?  Charles Krauthammer doesn't think so, "He thinks he needs heath care and because he believes in it and secondly because he thinks if he comes away with nothing after a year on health care he’ll be wounded in a way he’ll never recover.”

Health Care Failure: Leave it to the Eager Beaver

John Boehner and Eric Cantor sent a letter to Rahm Emmanuel in response to Obama's request for a bipartisan discussion on health care.  Boehner and Cantor detail their list of "concerns" about the discussion and suggest they would be reluctant to attend unless the current bills are scrapped.  They asked that reconciliation be taken off the table and wondered whether the special interest groups the administration had negotiated with were going to be there as well.  In short it was a laundry list of the failures of the Obama administration that played a huge role in their inability to pass their signature piece of legislation.

Who better to answer such a letter than Baghdad Bob Gibbs?   The response is a stellar piece of revisionist history and obfuscation:

The President is adamant that we seize this historic moment to pass meaningful health insurance reform legislation. He began this process by inviting Republican and Democratic leaders to the White House on March 5 of last year, and he’s continued to work with both parties in crafting the best possible bill. He’s been very clear about his support for the House and Senate bills because of what they achieve for the American people: putting a stop to insurance company abuses, extending coverage to millions of hardworking Americans, getting control of rising premiums and out-of-pocket costs, and reducing the deficit.

The President looks forward to reviewing Republican proposals that meet the goals he laid out at the beginning of this process, and as recently as the State of the Union Address. He’s open to including any good ideas that stand up to objective scrutiny. What he will not do, however, is walk away from reform and the millions of American families and small business counting on it. The recent news that a major insurer plans to raise premiums for some customers by as much as 39 percent is a stark reminder of the consequences of doing nothing.

I think the President's historic moment to pass health care has passed, someone drove a truck through it.  Moreover, it is Obama who must show bipartisanship and repair his standing with Independents and he isn't likely to accomplish that by pretending he actually worked with Republicans when the evidence clearly shows otherwise.  He continues to believe he can pull the wool over voters' eyes with flowery words and a tight script.  He forgets he now has a record and frankly Independents are less than impressed with what they've seen.

Now he is signalling he has no intention of abandoning the bills the public has rejected.  I am guessing he thinks he can recreate the House Republican retreat and somehow convince the public they didn't get his point and make the Republicans look the fools in one fell swoop.  He is repeating some of the language he used that day suggesting he will review proposals that meet his "goals" and ones that stand up to objective scrutiny.  He continues to miss the fact his goals aren't consistent with the voters goals and they have looked at his proposals with an objective eye and found them wanting.

Obama is signalling the posts will always be moved here and likely has no intention of negotiating anything but his image.  He needs to put on a show to back up his positioning with lap dog Katie Couric:

"I want to consult closely with our Republican colleagues," Obama said. "What I want to do is to ask them to put their ideas on the table. . . . I want to come back and have a large meeting, Republicans and Democrats, to go through, systematically, all the best ideas that are out there and move it forward."

so sayeth Eddie Haskell from the White House

Rush Limbaugh wisely pointed out earlier this was all a trap and advises Republicans to just say no.  The Republicans responded by asking that they start over, a position supported by the American people by the way, now Obama has said no.  Well Baghdad Bob said no, technically, as if he wouldn't run that by Obama first.  Obama buys himself a bit of plausible deniability in who backed down on efforts for bipartisanship.  Obama is the supposed eager beaver for health care though and here he proves he isn't serious about bipartisanship.  My advice to the Republican leadership, FWIW, send another letter asking Obama and crew to get back to you when they are genuinely serious about a bipartisan effort to reform health care.  They will be waiting a long time for a serious response.

More on this at Memeorandum