First impressions and reactions can be dangerous, but here goes:
Passing the monstrous health care bill by just 5 votes in the House is a pyrrhic victory. Yes, it is a victory tonight for Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama, but at an enormous political price.
There will be hell to pay for Democrats who voted in favor of the Stupak amendment banning any federal funding of abortions or any use of the new health care provisions for abortion. Very, very sweeping. Hell to pay from liberal Democrats who are fuming foaming at the internet mouth as I type.
There will be hell to pay for Democrats from red states and swing states, from Republicans, independents, and moderate Democrats. Names are being taken, and 2010 will be the most vicious political campaign any of us have seen. Ever.
There will be hell to pay for any of the moderate Democrat Senators who are sitting on the fence, if they vote in favor of the Senate version, or vote for cloture.
The health care legislation is so sweeping, reaches so far into our pocket books and lives, that there is no room for forgiveness this time.
Just a first reaction, subject to that caveat.
UPDATE: From someone who should know, one is the loneliest number for Anh Cao. Tough day for her [Pat at And So It Goes In Shreveport], first LSU loses to Alabama, then the American people lose to Nancy Pelosi. Take a look also at Tyranny of the Left Marches On.
For left-wing reaction to the Stupac amendment, check out 64 Dems Ask for Primary Opponents and Obama’s Failed Promise, and In Pelosi’s House, 64 Democrats Sell Women Out.
And see my new post, NY Times Names Names.
——————————————–
Related Posts:
Destroying More Jobs Cannot Wait Until Monday
It Took Just Minutes To Find Profound Stupidity In Pelosi’s Bill
Alphabet Soup of Health Care Delusions
Follow me on Twitter and Facebook
DONATE
Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.
Comments
Does this pass the Senate easily or is there still hope to stop it there?
@uncledan — Reid does not have the votes in the Senate yet to halt debate (he needs 60 votes), so the fight will be over whether he can bust a filibuster. If not, then it doesn't pass. If some moderate Dems vote to cut off debate, but against the bill itself, then it will pass because Reid already has over 50 in favor. That's the difference between the House (mere majority) and Senate (60 votes needed to get an up or down vote).
Thank you for the info! Now it's time to go after our Senators!
I watched the debate today. The Dems argued it was "nice" to do this. The Reps argued we could not afford the cost of "nice". There seemed to be no real intersection of debate.
The right should buy an hour of prime-time and agree they want "nice", but spend the time breaking down the cost of "nice".
I watched C-SPAN all day. I learned a lot about what the members of Congress think (or what they said anyway). I pressed my congressman up till mid-morning with emails and faxes. He voted 'no'. One of the few Dems to do so.
Tomorrow I start on my Senator, again, Hagan…not so easy to move her and she doesn't re-elect till 2016, so is not worried – yet.
I may wait till tomorrow to blog, am too mad right now. Thanks for your insight, I always look to you for a sensible point of view.
Lieberman (I) will not vote for cloture he said and I believe him. Snowe (R) would not either unless she is already on board for this … it's hard to tell; I do not think she votes for cloture whatever her final vote. If they do by-pass cloture procedurally via "Reconciliation" I'd be surprised because Senators would be reluctant to permanently disable themselves; the filibuster is one of their most cherished priviledges. Moreover, the bill could then similarly simply be overturned via "counter-Reconiliation" if the GOP sweeps in 2010.
PD
PS 2010 tsunami alert.
Professor,
I haven't given up yet. I was just part of Michelle Bachmann's DC rally on Nov 5 and was struck by the sizeable number of Democrat and Indie voters in the crowd that also saw through the Obama-Pelosi healthcare deception, contrary to how the liberal media has pegged these protests as exclusively right-wing.
I'm certain these fiscally minded Democrat and Indie voters will compel their Democratic representatives to 'Kill the Bill'
My question is, in an unlikely apocalyptic scenario where the Bill is signed, is there a means to repeal it? Is there a precedent?
There is no guarantee that Democrats will pay a heavy price next year based on the fact that the American electorate is ignorant and uninformed…
In 2006 after 2 years of Democrats doing every damn thing possible to secure defeat in Iraq and screw every single one of our soldier for their own damn political gain, you would think they would pay a heavy price,..But it didn't happen, election night, Democrats gained 31 house seats and 5 senate seats…
In 2008, the American people followed the lead of the left wing media and blamed the economic crisis of Mid-September on Republicans and George Bush(McCain led prior to that in the polls if you remember)…Giving the Democrats the Presidency, 21 more House seats and 5 more Senate seats…
So everyone thinks right now that there's gonna be hell to pay for Democrats on election day, that would be true if the mid term elections were tomorrow…But after watching this time after time, and thinking the American people won't stand for this, election day comes around and this is ancient history…..
(By the way, Bill Clinton gained seats in the House of Representatives one month before 2 articles of impeachment were approved against him in 1998)
From your typing fingertips to God's ear, Professor.
I doubt my skyrocketing blood pressure will allow me to rest tonight. My Congressman is Anh "Joseph" Cao — need I say more?
I am totally blown away by the one Republican vote.
http://josephcao.house.gov/Contact/
"He's a coward who believes that if he supports the health care bill he'll get re-elected in his 60% black district"
He might as well go Specter now. It's clear he was bought out to break the -0- Republican stand then next year run on the democrat ticket to win the re-election.
I'm furious! And I agree with your first gut feelings, "Names are being taken, and 2010 will be the most vicious political campaign any of us have seen. Ever."
Ever!
GRRRRRR!
I just hope that some people with money begin the process of going to the court against this "bill" because it is unconstitutional.
I suspect that there are quite a few Democrats who voted aye who are hoping the whole thing dies in the Senate.
Speaking of which, the exceedingly close House vote doesn't exactly throw a lot of new momentum behind this thing. Moderate Democratic Senators will have their hand strengthened further by being able to tell Reid, "Look, this stuff is so toxic that Nancy could only manage a squeaker by heaping blandishments and twisting arms, and you want me to risk my seat and my career on it? You first, Harry."
Let me repeat my recommendation to all conservatives that the death knell for health care reform lies in the Medicare cuts that account for half the cost of these bills. You either have to really make huge cuts — eliminating programs and pushing more docs to refuse Medicare — or you have to acknowledge openly that you're not really going to make those cuts in which case you'll need a whole new set of taxes.
This is the Achilles heal. The Democratic leadership is still getting away with the flim flam about Medicare cuts relating to "waste" and paying insurers too much. For all that, seniors are the group most opposed to these bills anyway. The level of senior opposition is not nearly as high as it might be if this issue was front and center every day. And there are a lot of people under 65 who are counting on Medicare staying the way it is who have no idea that it's supposed to pay for half the new stuff at their expense.
Abortion, public option, all these things can be finessed by the Democratic leadership one way or another. They can't possibly explain where they'll get $400 billion if they don't make the cuts and don't raise everyone's taxes.
I thought liberal Ivy League schools didn't hire partisan GOP hacks to be members of their faculty. I guess Cornell made an exception in the case of William Jacobson, giving them at least one more conservative on their payroll than Fox News has liberals.
Please, do us a favor: Keep pretending there's nothing wrong in right-wing Republican land. You'll just be in the wilderness that much longer. It's all in the demographics, folks. Long term, you're dying out.
Maybe what all the health insurance companies should do on Monday, is to drop all their clients and layoff all their employees and tell everybody that the government can take care of them. Wonder how that would pan out in Obama-land?
Well it may have passed in the House but it will not in the Senate. Im predicting that it'll be DOA.
greendonutzzz, go tell that to the voters in New Jersey. Oh and while you're at it, please tell me that wasn't the liberal intelligensia waiting in lines for their "Obama money"?
Gasp! Professor! A "long day for her"? Are you questioning Joseph Ahn's manhood? I'm not sayin', I'm just sayin'.
Correction to my earlier comment: Should have read Joseph Cao.
@pasadenaphil – the "her" refers to the author of the link, Pat at And So It Goes In Shreveport; I should have been more clear.
Congressman is Anh "Joseph" Cao
The very picture of what a Jesuit education will do to the mind.
Great post! I excerpted, linked and built upon it. I hope you like it.
The Left has started this war and we have to be the ones to end it on our own terms, with no quarter given to the enemy. They are seeking nothing less than to own us and control our fates, as Mark Steyn has said. That is unAmerican and, while it probably doesn't meet the legal conditions, it most certainly is moral treason. To paraphrase Bob Mitchum: Hang their gallows high, baby.
Quoted from and Linked to at:
THE BEST PLACES TO GO FOR OBAMACARE NEWS & ANALYSIS
—–
It's Time To ROC 'N' ROLL: Restore Our Constitution & Restore Our Lost Liberties