Tuesday reads: Kick through and Slaughter

Quoth Madame Speaker, “. . . once we kick through this door, there’ll be more legislation to follow.” But kicking through doors doesn’t go over well with voters.

“Whose door is the Speaker kicking in?” asks Brad Dayspring, a spokesman for Republican Whip Rep. Eric Cantor. “People tend to prefer a polite knock, and after a year of having their doors bashed and kicked in by Speaker Pelosi, President Obama, and Harry Reid, we’ll see how the American people respond this November. Right now, they are trying to reinforce those doors with steel.”

“The American people aren’t stupid,” says Kevin Smith, a spokesman for House GOP Leader Rep. John Boehner. “We know this is just the beginning for Speaker Pelosi and her comrades. Their government takeover of health care is the first step toward a single-payer system, and that’s another reason we are doing everything within our power to stop this bill and start over with real reforms that actually lower health care costs.”

“She’s got a long way to go before she kicks down the door,” says Matt Lloyd, a spokesman for House Republican Conference Chairman Rep. Mike Pence, “and if she wants to keep going against the will of the American people, I guess that’s her prerogative, but I think folks are going to have long memories.”

WSJ: Slaughterhouse Rules

So at the Speaker’s command, New York Democrat Louise Slaughter, who chairs the House Rules Committee, may insert what’s known as a “self-executing rule,” also known as a “hereby rule.” Under this amazing procedural ruse, the House would then vote only once on the reconciliation corrections, but not on the underlying Senate bill. If those reconciliation corrections pass, the self-executing rule would say that the Senate bill is presumptively approved by the House—even without a formal up-or-down vote on the actual words of the Senate bill.

Democrats would thus send the Senate bill to President Obama for his signature even as they claimed to oppose the same Senate bill. They would be declaring themselves to be for and against the Senate bill in the same vote. Even John Kerry never went that far with his Iraq war machinations.

Even David Brooks knows that reconciliation is a bad idea.

Pelosi is  “working the hard nos.” Not a good sign for Dems, but don’t get excited.  No one knows the real count.

This WaPo headline is unusually blunt: House may try to pass Senate health-care bill without voting on it

Sarah P. on Alan G.:

Alan Grayson. What can you say about Alan Grayson?” Palin, the former GOP vice presidential nominee, asked the audience. “Piper is with me tonight, so I won’t say anything about Alan Grayson that can’t be said around children.”

That doesn’t leave much.

No surprise department: Journalists demonstrate their profound ignorance of American history, fail to identify most famous war photo of all time. (h/t: Instapundit)

Cross-posted at P&P

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