218 Votes Needed.
Nancy Pelosi's remarks this news cycle on the healthcare package do not convey confidence on the date, the content, the votes. Mostly she floats the idea that she can get the vote done by Turkey Day. Smile. Mrs. Pelosi is a fidgety and slightly manic communicator, so it is difficult to know if her words have hidden meaning or subtext. In the past, Mrs. Pelosi has been capable of loose lips, zealous accusations, undisciplined divergences and vague misstatements, all typical of a mechanical imitation of the genuine looniness of Speaker Gingrich once upon a time. The game is to campaign for what you want by overpromising with what you have. Mrs. Pelosi mentions the strong support for the public option in her caucus. She is then asked about 218 votes, and she demurs. A possible translation of this hocus-pocus is that the House is maneuvering for a narrow public option victory in order to force the Senate, which votes first, to confront the war between the Democrats. There is so much noise going on here, like a B-52 releasing chaff to distract enemy SAMs, that it seems futile to speculate what Mrs. Pelosi believes is credible. My best estimate now is that if the Democrats had the 218 they need for the health package with the public option, then they would be boasting in order to sway the reluctant Democrats in the Senate (Conrad, Lincoln, Carper). And to intimidate the United States of Snowe and her pal Susan Collins. And if Waving a Turkey Leg at Snowe and Collins does not do it, then this campaign will easily go to a Crisis Vote before Christmas. Much more of this nervous prognosis. Lots of weeping and threats. Earmarks like wildfires. Thuggery cannot be ruled out. Home for the Holidays with a new government mandate for the beaten up members of Congress to use at the Federal ER.
My intuition tells me that the only significant change we've seen in the last few days was in the form of the Senate voting down the "doc fix". Reid must have been furious with that vote. Again, it may just be wishful thinking on my part, but I'm hoping that many Senate Democrats are planning to vote very conservatively when actually faced with a merged bill and amendments, but they are hoping and praying that somebody else will come out and take the fall for it. I find it ironic that all along the Democrats have been shopping around for a couple of Republicans to help them make 60, but then when push comes to shove, the defections are in the other direction. Hope that keeps up. I hope, I hope, I hope.
John, do your sources tell you anything about how the merger of the Senate Finance and Health Committee bills is going? When can we expect to learn more about that?
How are we going to pay for it? Or doesn't any of that matter anymore? It's the new world order, after all. The Obamanation, where the rules of economics no longer apply. The question remains, "Does the public support this?"
This administration has zero credibility. Any rational argument regarding any aspect of Obama’s policies confirms this. Unfortunately, critical thinking has become a lost art in our nation and has been replaced in some quarters by an arguably more primitive form of ‘hero worship’. As long as the object of worship can be said to move and talk, no one is allowed to question even his own individual circumstance. (This form of worship goes back to even before the stone idol (which marks the very first departure into the religious abstract.)
Obama has literally become America’s national religion along with a full array of religious paraphernalia: ceremony, sacrifice, music, sin, excommunication and deliverance. Today's health care battle can even be considered as one of the stations of the cross. We can not yet determine whether or not Obama is a perpetually angry god or a kind god. We do not know if he is vengeful or forgiving. We don’t even know if he’s competent.
This is where faith enters in. Faith as pertains to religion is generally seen as unshakable. In some religions a breach of faith is punishable by death.
For clues as to the state of the nation, we watch what happens to our media’s angels. They are closest to the sacred perimeter that gives our president his magical shield, designed to both dazzle and protect (his vulnerability inside).
No doubt, the MSM has been taken hostage. They can collectively be compared to Jean-Dominique Bauby, a real-life Frenchman, who lost all voluntary motor function due to a stroke, save for being able to blink the left eye. The 2007 French film, “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” dramatizes his almost superhuman effort to complete the writing of a book (with help from three exceedingly beautiful women who acted as translator scribes).
Similarly, the MSM appears dead; totally in the tank for Obama, grotesquely twisting some stories in his favor while withholding others altogether. Obama, Democrats and the media appear to be in total lockstep; so tight, daylight is impossible to penetrate. They’d surely win the gold in Olympic synchronized swimming were they to compete in Rio come 2016… all except for the media’s one blinking eye.
It’s a small but significant gesture – like the shiver running through a Kerala Kathakali dance figure: It’s those approval numbers that continue to slide. Rasmussen’s (and all the others’) poll results are regularly and dutifully reported. It puts the lie to all the other spin that tells of how swimmingly our president is doing.
I, for one, don’t believe the press is collectively that stupid or even unduly mesmerized by the White House celebrity glitz parade. I think they’re afraid and trying to survive – like the rest of us – in this somehow seductive little dictatorship we ourselves have let slip into place. It’s a small miracle that anyone is still willing and able to report on the president’s crashing poll numbers; all of which is meant to tell us, “Don’t pull the plug just yet! We’re still alive and we know what’s going on.”
Peter, not all Democrats are that in love with Obama. You ought to skim over some of the recent posts on No Quarter. Some of those people (professed liberals) have an even more vitriolic dislike for the Obameister than you do. This is borne of their bitterness over Hillary Clinton's defeat in 2008, but no matter. Dislike is dislike. Latest CNN and Rasmussen polls show Obama's approval rating at all-time lows. I hate to burst your metaphor to the pre-stone-idol days, but I don't think we're the only ones with concerns at the moment. The "MSM", on the other hand, is absolutely nauseating with their fawning over the man and his policies.
Supposedly the rumor is now that Reid and his group are "leaning towards" a public option, perhaps with an opt-out provision in it. But by my math they don't have 60 votes. Lieberman has said he's opposed to any bill with a public option in it (I think), Nelson is opposed to the opt-out provision, and Snowe has just said, once again, that she will not vote for a bill with a public option. So, I don't see how they expect to get 60 votes. I'm counting 58 or 59 at the very most.... more likely less than that. I agree with Reuters' take on this "rumor" - it's a trial balloon to test party unity among the Democrats. So far none have risen to take the bait, but we'll see.
Man oh man, I wish this was over.
Lou - Important distinction: Most Dems hate Obama because he's not radical enough.
Exactly my point. Obama is not the main problem.
Obama is in Stamford, CT today, Home of Senator Lieberman, Fundraiser for "Friend of Angelo", Dodd. Not a mention of Joe in the press. Radical liberals in the Nutmeg state Despise him, while the rest of the State appreciate Joe's even keel.
~He might not be the main problem, but he seems to be a pliable tool and a willing face for radical schemes.
~The fawning is sickening. Virtually every line the MSM reads is tweaked to make it seem B.0. is doing Herculean work cleaning up W's lingering messes.
Not to mention, it seems like all the MSM reporters and interviewers start out with questions like "What's it going to take for us to get reform?" "What's holding up the reform?" "Is there a chance we'll get reform?" Etc. Nothing whatsoever along the lines of "Is the reform really best for the country?" "Is the reform going to help?" "Is reform really needed?" "Why is all the attention being focused on coverage and almost no attention being focused on holding down healthcare costs?" ETC.
It's like the MSM are just a bunch of "reform fans" rooting for the good guys (Dems and maybe Olympia Snowe) versus the bad guys (Republicans). I can almost hear Tweetie Bird saying "ooooohh...... bad ol' Wepubwicans!!"
I don't see Health Reform passing or even coming to the floor. The administration needs to bring in Rep. Paul Ryan and start from scratch. His last proposed bill is workable and not too far from where Pres. Obama was on this issue in the election.
Sure hope you're right, Dwight
Mark Steyn of the OC Register refers to Anita Dunn as "Mao Ze Dunn" - ROFL! I don't know if he thought that one up himself, but it's the first time I've seen it. Absolutely hilarious.