Posted on 11/08/2009 7:32:08 AM PST by Bill Dupray
Democrats are certainly jubilant over the passage of PelosiCare last night by a vote of 220-215, a margin of just 5 votes. But one wonders how comfortable supporters of the bill are with such a razor-thin victory. After all, Cap and Tax passed the House by 7 votes and that is, in all likelihood, dead in the Senate.
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Exactly, its like cheerling the first touchdown of agam early in the first quarter. Yes, its something to cheer but the battle has just begun. Cap and Tax passed last summer by 7 and just flounders in a dark void and will probably never get out.
With every unpopular bill, the dems plan a very narrow victory. The discriminator is that those at risk in an upcoming election can have cover- I did NOT vote for X, it’s in my record.
Likewise the need for ONE Pubbie vote to make it “bipartisan”.
If they allowed all the dems to vote and ignored the pubbies, two or three would lose their next elections, the real unthinkable to them.
So expect “razor thin margins” as a political strategy.
In any case, I hope I am wrong and you are right.
I am afraid Pelosi-care, Cap-n-tax, are not dead in the Senate. I have no special insight to the process - I only see that they have been able and willing to ram through their schemes, regardless of what the average American thinks. Dems 1) have big majorities, 2) have a kool-aid drinking base pushing these schemes, 3) have cover from the media and 4) have roped-in many big lobbying and special interest groups to also give them positive spin (AMA, AARP, etc...)
Just for the record, it didn’t pass by 5 votes. It passed by three (presuming the three would have voted no instead of just abstaining). Take three from the 220 and you have 217. Add three to the 215 and you have 218. And, one of those votes was a RINO. So, the difference between passing or not passing this bill was two democrats and one RINO. Tells you something about what a piece of garbage this bill really is.
The left have shown over and over thy are relentless and fully capable of moving their agenda against the will of the american people and the useless republican party. There is no hope only the darkening and relentless encroachment of totalitarianism.
Our choice it the way of Masada or the Alamo but the outcome will be the same regardless. We live in a country that has perverted its people to lay claim on their neighbors property by voting for the government to do it for them. It is those who seek such that are evil not the rich.
We will die from the virus of power lust and greed. Greed being the insatiable desire for anothers money with out the willingness to work for it and power the desire to control others lives.
This national suicide is sad but unavoidable.
To be fair, Cao has been with us on everything else. He voted against Capp and Trade despite being personally wooed by Obama. He’s not a RINO and his election was an anomaly. A significant portion of Dollar Bill Jefferson’s supporters had thought he won and didn’t show up to vote in the December ‘08 runoff. It’s a lock that this supposed RINO will be replaced by a hardcore leftist that will never vote with the Right. That will be a loss.
Bill, never, ever, ever expect Democrats to “save” you from Dem legislation; nor expect the Court to “save” you. Suddenly, you’ll find “conservative” Dems like Evan Bayh and Ben Nelson “discovered” important “improvements” in the bill so they can vote for it. Combine three RINO idiots, they’ve got the votes, easy.
Bing, bing, bing. We have a winner. This is precisely their strategy and they already know which senators will be allowed to “defect” and which will have to eat a bullet.
There is absolutely no hope that they don't pass this stuff, especially now: they're in for a penny. So they hope they can rig the system faster than we can react. So far, they've been 100% correct.
Well, yes, but it also tells us a lot about the fact that a) 170/171 REPUBLICANS voted against it (pretty remarkable for all the GOP bashers here) and b) the Dems knew exactly who could be “released” to vote against it. But trust me, the REAL margin-—if Pelosi had absolutely needed it, was however many Democrats there are in the House. If it was critical that every Dem vote for this, every single one would have. So, more than showing how bad the bill was, it shows how nazified the Dems are.
If they go for “the nuclear option” all they need is 51 dem votes, then continuous hammering from MSM about how GREAT everything is with health care, until the bill kicks in in 2013.
And a ban on “large assemblies” due to Swine Flu.
“It’s a lock that this supposed RINO will be replaced by a hardcore leftist that will never vote with the Right. That will be a loss.”
I understand. I don’t know him and probably shouldn’t have automatically attached the label. That said, he may have voted that way because he thought this would help him in his left-leaning district. So, he was being representative of his constituents. On the other hand, there were undoubtedly many democrats who put party before what their constituents wanted.
There is a cultural war ongoing in this country that is no less important to the future of our children and the country than the war on terror.
“70/171 REPUBLICANS voted against it”
Yup, another safe calculated act. The bill did not need them, so they can posture any way they want. It would pass anyway, so what’s the best pose to strike for the voters?
Re-elect ME, I didn’t vote for it!
I don’t think that is their strategy. They think this is a winning issue, not a losing issue. They think they lost in 1994 because they didn’t pass health care in 1993. They are often clueless.
Does it matter that it passed by one vote? Or that it passed at all.
So does that mean we just give up? Sorry, I don't accept the premise.
Conservatives are on the verge of a huge victory in 2010.
Never give up!
“They think this is a winning issue, not a losing issue. “
If dems thought it was a winning issue, every dem would have voted for the first House bill, they’d be falling all over themselves and chattering in front of cameras and there would have been no “town meetings” to convince us to re-elect them.
Now I’ve heard everything. You’re getting on the Republicans because they opposed a bill they should oppose. You people are really something. You deserve a dictatorship.
This will pass with about 60 votes.
The republican party will ensure there is no conservative resurgence in 2010 through their incompetence or by intent. They are, after all, just another party of the government.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/17259648/Those-to-Thank-Who-Voted-Against-Cap-and-Trade
Says Cao voted against cap and trade.
Let me be more specific. The leftist Dems in charge think this is a winning issue. The moderates do not necessarily agree. Thus, why would the leadership “allow” Dems to vote no? They didn’t allow it. The moderate Dems voted no because they realize it’s a losing issue.
I don't disagree, but although this might seem like clever politics, the reality is that those representatives had to be ‘released’ to protect their seats, which means they are in districts that could easily go Republican. That said, some will likely stay in those seats, but they will remain at risk, and therefore much more likely to vote against radical legislation.
On the other hand, I would bet that more than a few of those who the democrat leadership thinks are safe won't be. So the worst case scenario in that case is that we pick up seats from democrat hardliners, and maybe some dems stay in place in districts in which they have to avoid voting for radical legislation.
The bottom line is that as I said earlier, this is a cultural war. Like all wars, we will win some battles and lose others, but ultimately the overall battle is what we have to keep our focus on.
But that process of “releasing” them reinforces the myth of the “blue dog” which is why people continually repeat the idiot mantra that “there’s no difference between the parties.” You have to FORCE the differences to be revealed. This was a huge, huge loss. Amnesty is next.
As a doc I can tell you that the people who will be hurt by this legislation more than anyone will be the patients. I can always do something else to make a living. Even if I worked two jobs I would have more free time than I have now. But patients will now have only ‘the system’. Very sad.
Dictatorship? No, I think though that there are Pubbies who would vote YES but are afraid to. The way things work out, they can vote NO, avoid repercussions, and still have the bill pass.
The Pubbies in Congress do not march in lockstep, there are some who are more liberal than others and might like National Health Care.
I’m glad that all but one voted no, but I’m sure that in slightly different circumstances more may have gone Yes.
“The leftist Dems in charge think this is a winning issue.”
I’m a bit more cynical. I think the Dem leadership thinks this is an issue that must be won, and they do not care what we the people think about it, it just has to get passed.
They allow certain ones to vote no to keep power, so that those coming up for re-election soon in close races will have an easier time to keep power. They understand that the voters must keep sending them back to DC if they are to keep power.
It’s a losing issue for some, yes, and the leadership allowed them to vote no to win.
I think it would depend greatly on what those "circumstances" were. For example, a TRUE "compromise" bill that would have included serious tort reform? Yeah, I could see a lot of Republicans backing that. But you can't play these kinds of games, because we have to go with who voted on what was actually presented.
Personally, I think that if Pelosi had needed all 39 of the "blue dogs," she would have gotten every single one, voters be damned.
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