The Huffington post is reporting that Pelosi is dropping the public option. Pelosi has also said that if health care doesn’t pass by Christmas then the American people will have a New Year’s Day present according to Politico. I’ve said it before. If Obamacare doesn’t pass by Christmas, no bill will pass. Very interesting developments in the last couple of hours. Also, Olympia Snowe is rejecting the Medicare buy-in compromise. I can’t see any way something passes now. Thoughts?
Reid and Obamacare on fumes
Mitch McConnell has denied Harry Reid’s request that the GOP drop their debate time so staffers and Senators can go home for the weekend. Reid also has a fundraiser that he wants to attend to in New Orleans (what about going to your own home state) because his re-election chances are in the crypt right now. In reality, Dingy Harry is using desperate measures to get Obamacare done by Christmas and even Reid is beginning to realize that Senators are going to have to vote for Obamacare in an election year. Too much to do and too little time. Combine this with some salty outrage from constituents during the recess and it is very hard to imagine a bill is going to come out of the Senate before the 2010 elections. I wouldn’t count the Democrats out for anything but given Reid’s actions in the last week, I don’t see Obamacare coming out of the Senate.
The Thornvultures
I am reminded of the 1982 mini-series “The Thornbirds” starring Richard Chamberlain and Rachel Ward. “The thornbird at the end of its life impales itself upon a thorn. However, in it’s pain it sings the most beautiful song and the world stops to listen.”
Fast forward to 2009. Another breed has come to fruition. It is the thornvulture. It is a foul, horribly corrupt bird that sucks the life, liberty, prosperity, and happiness from a nation and will do everything in its self-righteous power, even impaling itself upon the thorn of the will of the people to succeed in systematically destroying a free nation. And when it does, there isn’t the sound of a beautiful song. It is a screeching, squawking ballad that causes nearby free American citizens to cringe.
“My gosh!!! What is that sound?? Put that creature out of their misery!” One says.
“It is. It has gone against the will of the people and are now dying a righteous death because the old bird tried to slay liberty.” His friend replies while trying to comfort his frightened, crying child.
“Good riddance!! I hope I never hear something like that again but I will have nightmares of hearing that while I sleep now.”
And so it has come to pass that tonight 58 Democratic Senators and two independent senators have voted to debate that it is in the nation’s best interest to cede more individual freedom to a pure, serving, uncorrupt government that will fix everything. Some thornvultures in the Bird House already have the people’s thorn poised to pierce their political career’s heart. Unfortunately, there are some that are immune to the thorn because the people they live with will not pierce them. Those people are agreeable to eventually having all of their individual liberty taken away. They cannot be helped because it is too late.
In the last month, I cannot remember in my lifetime when I have seen so many individuals descend into insanity and be willing to kill their political careers so they can kill a free nation. The Democratic Party is being destroyed by Barack Obama. The 2010 elections are going to be catastrophic for the Democratic Party now. The harder they push against the will of the majority of Americans, the worse the loss in 2010 is going to be. Joseph Lieberman and Blanche Lincoln (I say this with a grain of salt) are now saying they will not support a public option though they voted for cloture to allow debate to proceed. Two things that look to be monumental hurdles for any legislation to pass. The public option and abortion funding. These are non-negotiable to the liberal caucus. If some bill does come out of the Senate, it will likely not have a public option or have abortion funding (Ben Nelson). The liberal caucus in the House will try to get the public option and abortion funding back in conference but then that bill would get filabustered effectively when it went back to the Senate (yes, bills out of conference can be filabustered) unless Lincoln, Nelson, and Bayh have a death wish. Landrieu? She is a sell out politician, nothing more. She will only vote for the filabuster if any of the other three do. If a public option is in the final bill, Lieberman will support the GOP filabuster. If abortion funding is in the final bill, Nelson and possibly Lincoln will support the GOP filabuster. In all reality, the abortion issue is what would kill Obamacare.
If something does make it to President Obama’s desk for a signature it will probably get very, very ugly and a very scary time for our country. I probably would expect a legal challenge brought immediately somewhere in a conservative federal district and an injunction sought to prevent the government from taxing the people until the Supreme Court hears on a likely landmark constitutional case. Plenty of lawyers will be itching to argue a case that will define the direction and survival of our country. If the case is lost, two possible things. The GOP regains power in 2010 in the Congress and wins the 2012 presidency. At that time whether the GOP has or doesn’t have 60 votes in the Senate, they could go the route of reconciliation and systematically defang the health care legislation. The other is more doomsday. National strikes and the 2nd amendment may come to life. Sensationalism? Far from it! The people are clearly fed up with the government and what both political parties, Democrat and Republican have done over this past decade in growing it.
Time to send all thornvultures to feed on their own carcass and get some politicians in who won’t have their convictions bought and are for limiting and shrinking the government.
I WANT NAMES!!! Coburn gets torpedoed by friendly fire
According to the AP, Tom Coburn in an interview has backed off from having the Senate bill read on the floor after being pressured by unnamed GOP colleagues whom would have assisted in having the bill read. Coburn’s reasoning was that aside from pressure from the GOP to step down was that Americans would have a hard time understanding the Senate bill line by line.
This has me so angry. When our “leaders” start to play not to lose, always appear saintly and…nice…so we don’t turn off any voters because it is all about us getting back into power, these stupid “leaders” still haven’t learned the lessons from 2006 and 2008. You know, when they watered down conservative in the vain in foolish hope of skimming off voters on the left. We want FIGHTERS WHO WILL NOT LEAVE ANY BULLET LEFT UNUSED IN SUCH AN IMPORTANT FIGHT AS THIS ONE. We want leaders who will stick by principle, draw a line in the sand, say to the other side “You will not infringe any further on the freedoms of the people that our ancestors bled for.” consequences be (you know what). The longer this gets delayed, the less likely Obamacare will pass. Throw every parliamentary procedure and Senate rule at this thing then you, our GOP Senators, will realize just how much and how large a majority of Americans support you and will harden in their support and belief in you.
I think I have a good idea who these colleagues are. They probably are some of the Gang of 14 (McCain, Snowe, Collins, Graham, etc.) who want things to remain “civil” (GAG!!!) and think they know how to play this. NEWS FLASH!!! The American people are as smart or smarter than you!! We follow fighters who stand upon principle and conviction, not Nancy-pants-Depends-diaper wearing political figure heads who wet themselves every moment at the possibility of making the wrong strategic move.
According to Senator Coburn, there were six colleagues who pressured him to back down. Call up his office, request the names of these Senators who pressured him so we all can melt their phones, and request that Senator Coburn have the bill read in its entirety for the alloted three times on three different days he is allowed to. We will be listening and we will pass this on to all we know. The more the people know about what is in this, the further this bill will sink into oblivion.
(Update) The One Year War
Update: According to The Plum Line, 41 liberal congressmen will oppose any amendment in the final bill that bans abortion funding. Debbie Wasserman-Schulz vows that the Stupak amendment will NOT be in the final bill.
Ed Morrissey beautifully illustrates the task ahead here.
As we all know, the House passed the Pelosi/Obamacare abomination late last night. The lynch pin that Pelosi used to get this passed was the Stupak Amendment which succeeded with 60+ Democratic congressmen voting for it. This amendment was obviously a way to give Blue Frauds Dogs some cover and political capital for their re-election chances. There has been a lot of dissent and grumbling this morning among some conservative blogs that the GOP should have let the amendment fail so the chances of killing the bill would improve. Initially, I agreed with this strategy. I am strongly pro-life but saw that this was a ploy by Pelosi to get a bill passed and save their liberal voting base from abandoning them in 2010. Looking back in retrospect, this had to be a very difficult decision for Boehner and the GOP House leadership to make. I believed strongly at the time that the GOP should have ensured the failure of the amendment. However, if you go with the risky strategy where it may or may not kill the Democratic bill, it is reasonable to think that this would have strengthened the Blue Dogs’ cover by a substantial degree. On top of that, this would have fractured support among pro-life voters and left the GOP congressmen who would have voted present in an awkward situation to explain this to their constituencies. It very well could have conceivably weakened the GOP. I thought this wouldn’t be too difficult to explain but at the same time, when you are truly in a no-win situation, always choose principle. It keeps everyone united and emboldens the voter base to win the future battles that are sure to come now to November 2010. Remember how the way Reagan handled himself in a very tight loss to Gerald Ford in the 1976 GOP presidential primary.
I commend John Boehner. I thought Boehner put on a stellar performance last night and I think he will make an excellent speaker. His cross-examination of Charlie Rangel, getting the Democratic leaders to admit there would be no guarantee that the Stupak Amendment would make it out of conference (should a bill pass the Senate) was top notch. Smoking out gutter tricks and politics of the Democrats is going to be something the GOP is going to have to engage in. The Democrats are going for broke. They know they are going to get massacred in 2010 and their chances look even worse in 2012. Aside from passing legislation that the majority of public opinion is against, every action of (deliberate?) incompetence on how free economies work, running the greatest economy in the world into the ground, and growing government to control more aspects of an individual’s life is going to have its consequences.
The Democrats realize that their window of opportunity is very, very small. The Obama White House is desperately trying to get something passed out of the Senate by Christmas. Why? When a bill does get passed in the Senate, it has to go to conference so the House and Senate versions of the legislation can be merged into one final bill for both the House and the Senate to vote on. This process takes months. The longer this takes, the more public scrutiny this terrible House Bill is going to get and minority support for Obamacare will drop even further. The day after Harry Reid announced legislation might not be passed until early next year, Rahm Emanuel paid Reid a visit. I have no doubt that Rahm made it perfectly clear that something must be passed by the end of the year. When Tom Coburn announced that he is considering (he is going to) to have the entire bill read in the Senate, senior Democratic aides were outraged. It’s perfectly understandable why. This one parliamentary maneuver alone would likely delay any hopeful passage until the spring at the earliest.
Thus, the scrutiny on the bill increases and the likely negative opinion worsens the prospects of something getting done. Their window grows smaller each day. Reid’s best bet is to get 60 votes to overcome the GOP filabuster. However, with a great deal of red state Democratic senators up for relection next year or 2012, no political cover from the GOP, and Joe Lieberman for the time being adamantly opposed to anything right now for fiscal reasons, this is going to be next to impossible. Reconciliation at this point would be such a long, drawn out process and the GOP is likely prepared to use every parliamentary procedure and trick in the book to grind the Senate to a halt. On top of that, the House Bill would likely be hacked to shreds in reconciliation as well. Tom Coburn and Judd Gregg have strongly indicated they are going to do this. Other GOP senators like Jim DeMint are likely to pitch in as well.
Regardless what colassal pressure the joker Rahm Emanuel brings from the White House to get something done, it is highly unlikely a bill can be passed. The GOP Senate caucus’ objective will be to prevent any passage of a bill in 2010. If they are successful, America will have narrowly missed being fatally pierced and individual liberty will not be further marginalized for the time being. Nancy Pelosi’s victory will transform into a Waterloo and the Blue Frauds Dogs in the House will be hung out to dry. What can we do? Keep the pressure and the calls on the red state Dem Senators. Keep the calls of support coming to Joe Lieberman and his current position. Inform your neighbors, friends, and anyone else who will listen of the enormous peril that now faces this country. Doing so and making people aware will improve our chances. Donate to conservative candidates in the House and the Senate who will challenge Democrats in 2010. Until the next Congress is sworn in, be vigilant and disciplined every day. The right to live in freedom must always be fought for and last night’s vote should be a huge wake-up call to this truth. Godspeed GOP Senators and Joe Lieberman. We stand behind you.
(Update –PASSES) Stupak Amendment going down?
Sounds like Mr. Stupak wasn’t too happy about getting smoked out. Curious that we can’t get a gauge on how strong Stupak’s support is. Lib Dems trying to marginalize Stupak? The way the language reads is kind of vague. It says that the noes won out on not adopting the amendment. Someone clarify this for me as I’m not a politician.
It’s going to be a very interesting final vote on the bill.
(UPDATE) The GOP goes the route of principle. Looks like they will take their chances in the Senate.
PELOSI/STUPAK SHAM ALERT!!
(H/T Ace and NRO)
The Stupak amendment looks like it is a sham in helping pro-life Blue Dogs get capital to improve their re-election chances. John Boehner has drilled Charles Rangel wanting a guarantee that the amendment would hold in conference after the bill’s vote. This is the lynch pin that Pelosi is using to pass this bill. Rangel snidely blew Boehner off and then George Miller admits he can’t guarantee it will hold in conference. I’m staunchly pro-life but this is just gutter politics that the Dems are exhibiting here. This will get stripped out of the Senate anyway if anything comes of that. Why vote for an amendment when you know it will just get removed in conference? This shouldn’t be too hard for the GOP to explain to their constituencies. This amendment isn’t going to hold but the pro-life Blue Frauds would get their cover here. Any thoughts are welcome.
Hoyer says Dems don’t have the votes
Via Hot Air,
Haven’t we seen this before again…and again…and again. Pelosi is becoming an irrelevant speaker pretty quickly. Everybody knows she is bluffing but the conservative movement (now including a growing number of seniors and independents) doesn’t take any chances and keeps the heat on. Just one big charade. Wonder if those elections and today’s unemployment numbers had anything to do with this? Nancy, I thought you won?
Northern Virginia going RED???!?!
Per Jim Geraghty over at the Campaign Spot:
These Two Rumors Can’t Possibly Be True, Can They?
I’m passing these two observations from liberal Virginia bloggers on to readers, but they’re so out of line with expectations, I have a hard time buying them.
First, from Not Larry Sabato, about the Virginia delegate races: “SIX SEATS ARE GONE- ANOTHER NINE ARE IN PLAY FOR GOP PICKUP.” Yesterday I predicted a GOP gain of six seats; I think most Virginia Republicans saw picking up 11 as their best-case scenario.
Then, from Blue Virginia: “I’m a bit skeptical of this, so take it with as big a grain of salt as you’d like, but it’s from an excellent source. They got exit poll results from a precinct in Arlington that went 60%+ for Kaine in ‘05. With around 250 voters sampled over a 5-hour period this morning, McDonnell is up 22 points on Creigh Deeds. WTF? I mean, if that’s even CLOSE to being true, it’s horrible. Also, even if it gets better through the day, we’re talking about possible margins in Arlington of less than 60% possible for Deeds. For comparison purposes, Tim Kaine got 74% of the vote in Arlington in 2005.”
Are these two trying to motivate lethargic Democrats? Or is there really evidence of a building Republican wave in northern Virginia?
In regards to fraud worries in NJ
Yes, New Jersey is corrupt. Yes, the ACORN/SEIU/NEA and other big union thugs will do everything to prevent Corzine’s ship from going down. However, Corzine needs to be in essence within 1.5 points of Christie at the most to pull this thing off via fraud. 1% is a large amount of votes in NJ (15-25,000) when you think about it. If polls like Rasmussen, Survey USA, and PPP(D) all show Christie with 3+point leads with Monmouth, Democracy Corps, and Quinnipiac using disproportionate weights, this reeks of desperation trying to prop up Corzine. For example, D+15 advantage in Democracy Corps, Christie only up 10 among independents in Monmouth and Democracy Corps, Quinnipiac last week using an absurd +27 Dem weight and then revising it back to 15 or 11 or whatever they said, and Monmouth having a large amount of “undecided” voters in their polling.
I’m sure there are going to be plenty of operatives from both sides keeping an eye on this tomorrow but if these polls are indicating these kind of numbers for Corzine, Corzine is looking to lose soundly. The large momentum Christie has right now will not be determined as far as its size until tomorrow when voters give their verdict. If I am in Corzine’s campaign, I would feel completely helpless right now. Democrat voters are not enthused about Corzine and as they see these numbers going toward Christie big, they will probably vote for Daggett or just stay home. When you’re hard pressed to get your base to turn out for you and the other side is completely energized and in the lead, demoralization sets in. The realization of impending defeat demotivates that campaign, their voter base and with that the curtain falls.
Pelosi and the MSM using the inevitability tactic…again
According to the AP via Yahoo, Nancy Pelosi plans to unveil Obamacare legislation after reaching a deal on “key elements” with moderate Democrats. What these key elements are, who knows. After dissecting the article, this is government run insurance in its purest form, the so called robust public option. No opt-out for the states (that is just a sham anyway) and a nice new tax on the wealthy. It certainly doesn’t sound like any concessions were made to the Blue Dog hold-outs. Nothing in the article mentions if Bart Stupak was going to get a vote on his amendment that would prevent abortion from getting funding with this bill. It looks and sounds like this is the same charade. Why throw a bill out there that will get killed in the Senate and thus hang moderate Democrats in deeply red or red leaning states out to dry who vote yea for the bill? Try to give the appearance that they are getting something done to their kook left fringe? My guess is that it is this and the same old tactic of portraying an image of inevitability to depress the opposition so we just submit to the government’s will. Maybe in their warped thinking this will cause the poll numbers for Obamacare to improve. Rasmussen has consistently shown that the majority of the people are against any healthcare legislation and are happy with their insurance coverage. So long as public opinion is against this, no legislator in a red state or red House districts in their right minds would vote for this. It would be political suicide. Harry Reid met with Blanche Lincoln today. Sounds like Dingy Harry is trying to save a sinking ship. Lieberman (already against), Landrieu, Dorgan, Conrad, Nelson in Nebraska, Tester, Baucus, Pryor, Bayh are just some of the other names I can think of. So, we have two key events upcoming. Pelosi revealing the legislative monster for us to pick apart and next Tuesday’s off year elections where voters are poised to send these Democrats a nasty shot across the bow. This is going to be sooooooooooome FIGHT!!
Dan Riehl blows up the NRCC in regards to NY-23
From the diaries by Erick. Consider this piece by Dan Riehl a must read. I have heard the exact same thing as Dan. In a nutshell: forget the nonsense that the New York GOP picked Dede Scozzafava all by itself. There was actual, tangible involvement from the NRCC leadership in that choice — just another example of the Beltway GOP Establishment screwing things up.
(H/T American Spectator)
Dan Riehl has published an account on the selection of Dede Scozzafava for NY-23. The NRCC is apparently none too happy with Riehl’s report. You can read Riehl’s story here. A lot of interesting stuff in there and some that is bound to make a lot of conservatives angry with how this all went down.
(Updated) The Kill Shot? Lieberman says he’ll vote to filabuster Reid
OUCH!!! That wailing and gnashing of teeth you hear is the people at Moveon.org, the Daily Kos, etc., and they are probably burning up Lieberman’s phones right now. Is this officially the end of Obamacare? I hope so but you cannot underestimate the Democratic leadership and the means they will use to get what they want.
UPDATE: Olympia Snowe follows suit.
Sarah Palin, Rasmussen, and PPP(D) polls this morning bolster Christie
(Edited previous post)
Sarahcuda is on the march. First, she fires the first shot by endorsing Doug Hoffman and now gives a rallying call for Chris Christie and Bob McDonnell but with an emphasis on Christie’s race. Rasmussen shows Christie with a 3 point lead this morning in a poll released. It appears Christie’s attacks highlighting Corzine’s corruption ties in Bergen County and Daggett’s shadowy positions have stopped the momentum and may be beginning to turn things in his favor. The final push towards next Tuesday begins today. Make a donation to Christie here. If Jersey falls, Obama’s agenda will get an Arctic frost from Democratic congressmen up for re-election in 2010.
UPDATE: Voters breaking to Christie? PPP, a Democratic pollster shows that Christie is now up 4. This is a significant increase. PPP had these guys in a dead heat in the past few polls. The poll can be found here.
Hoffman causing temper tantrums from the NY state GOP legislature.
Evidently, several GOP legislators are throwing a fit with this new Club for Growth poll showing Hoffman in the lead and are calling for Hoffman to drop out of the race. Given Newt Gingrich’s rant on Fox recently, the RINO elites in the GOP, particularly the NRCC, are coming unglued.
Pelosi gives up on robust public option
This is going to make the far left fringe and the Kossacks livid.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20091023/pl_politico/28651
Looks as if the Democrats are going either try to sneak a public option in through amendment back doors or try to get the trigger option. Either way, this is a big win but the battle is not over yet.
Daily Kos puts out a call list to target Dems in the House
While I believe their lean breakdown to be somewhat suspect, call these House congressmen anyway and let them know what you think. According to them, they are 12-15 votes away from securing a majority to vote a public option legislation bill to pass on to the Senate. Hmmm….I thought Pelosi had the votes? Anyway, keep those calls coming and the pressure on!
Lean Yes:
•Ron Klein (FL-22): 202-225-3026, 561-544-6910
•Dennis Moore (KS-03): 202-225-2865, 913-621-0832, 913-383-2013
•Stephen Lynch (MA-09): 202-225-8273, 617-428-2000
•Bob Etheridge (NC-02): 202-225-4531, 919-829-9122, 919-829-9122
•Dina Titus (NV-3): 202-225-3252, 702-387-4941
•John Boccieri (OH-16): 202-225-3876, 330-489-4414
•Steve Driehaus (OH-1): 202-225-2216, 513-684-2723
•Charles Wilson (OH-06): 202-225-5705, 740-633-5705, 330-533-7250
•Christopher Carney (PA-10): 202-225-3731, 570-585-9988, 570-327-1902
•John Sprat (SC-05): 202-225-5501, 803-327-1114
•Ruben Hinojosa (TX-15): 202-225-2531, 956-682-5545, 361-358-8400
•Solomon Ortiz (TX-27): 202-225-7742, 956-541-1242, 361-883-5868
Undecided:
•Marion Berry (AR-1): 202-225-4076, 501-843-3043, 870-972-4600
•Gabrielle Giffords (AZ-8): 202-225-2542, 520-459-3115, 520-881-3588
•Dennis Cardoza (CA-18): 202-225-6131, 209-383-4455, 209-527-1914
•Allen Boyd (FL-02): 202-225-5235, 850-561-3979
•Melissa Bean (IL-8): 202-225-3711, 847-517-2927
•Joe Donnelly (IN-2): 202-225-3915, 574-288-2780
•Brad Ellsworth (IN-8): 202-225-4636, 812-465-6484, 812-232-0523
•Baron Hill (IN-09): 202-225-5315, 812-336-3000, 812-288-3999
•Mike McIntyre (NC-7): 202-225-2731, 910-323-0260, 910-735-0610
•Curt Schraeder (OR-05): 202-225-5711, 503-588-9100
•Jason Altmire (PA-04): 202-225-2565, 724-378-0928
•Lincoln Davis (TN-04): 202-225-6831, 931-490-8699, 931-473-7251
•Bart Gordon (TN-06): 202-225-4231, 615-896-1986
•Glenn Nye (VA-2): 202-225-4215, 757-326-6201
•Zachary Space (OH-18): 202-225-6265, 330-364-4300, 740-779-1636
Lean No:
•Artur Davis (AL-07): 202-225-2665, 205-254-1960, 334-877-4414
•Harry Mitchell (AZ-05): 202-225-2190, 480-946-2411
•Jim Costa (CA-20): 202-225-3341, 661-869-1620, 559-495-1620
•Ike Skelton (MO-04): 202-225-2876, 816-228-4242, 573-635-3499
•Heath Shuler (NC-11): 202-225-6401, 828-252-1651
•Tim Holden (PA-17): 202-225-5546, 717-234-5904, 610-921-3502
•John Tanner (TN-08): 202-225-4714, 731-423-4848, 731-885-7070
•Rick Boucher (VA-9): 202-225-3861, 276-628-1145
