We avow the First Amendment, We stand with that and say that people have a right to have a gun to protect themselves in their homes and their jobs, where, and that they — and the workplace and that they, for recreation and hunting and the rest. So we’re not questioning their right to do that.”
Wow.
Quotes from welfare recipients in New York City given to none other Alexandria Pelosi. Yes, that Pelosi, Nanny’s daughter. Maybe now Ms. Pelosi, you can sit down with your mother and make her see how dangerous the policies that she has pushed on the American people really are.
I don’t bash all people on welfare. Some are down and out, some are too ill to work, some truly are just using this as helping hand while they are out of work. But far too many have made this a way of life, then look at themselves as victims. The welfare system is broken. We are not helping people, we are creating an environment of entitlement that is getting harder and harder to break.
Another sick thing is that she was advised not to run this clip on television by people at HBO. Heaven forbid we tell people the truth. Any wonder why I don’t get HBO anymore?
H/T to The Blaze
Sadly I don’t think Nancy “Stretch” Pelosi (one more face lift and her eyes may just pop right on out..) cares one whit how many folks abuse the dependency system in the US. She knows that the vast preponderance of those folks will “repay” her and the Democrat Party with votes.
I still hold out hope that some will see that they have been enslaved by the democratic party instead of helped.
Reblogged this on Inspiredweightloss.
Ed Morrissey on the end of Pelosi’s higher-cost (predictable), higher-carbon emissions (heh!) “Green the Capitol” agenda in the cafeteria:
Eating has returned now to its previous purpose of feeding people rather than lecturing them on tastes and energy policy, and costs have returned to normal as well. But the exercise did have its value. It showed that far from looking to deliver cheaper, cleaner, and more reliable energy resources, the “green” movement instead exists to lecture people not just on energy consumption but on a wide range of lifestyle choices. It is much more efficient at distributing condescension than actual energy, and hypocrisy over tangible results.
Bonus: no more useless, compostable cornstarch sporks!
Like Obamacare, green environmentalism (unlike stewardship) isn’t about the environment (or our health) but about centralized control and engineering of society. As my husband likes to say whenever some blowhole starts telling us how to live our lives, “You first.” Although Glenn Reynold’s take of “I’ll believe its a crisis when they start acting like its a crisis.” is good too.
I like the watermelon analogy: green on the outside…
Back in high school, I had my biggest part in a musical, “Little Mary Sunshine.” One of the songs involved the stout-hearted scouts/fiancée’s coming to the sound of their lady loves crying out in fear and terror. The girls put on a brave face because they know they cannot reveal their plight by singing, “Nothing that Concerns You Has Happened…..Nothing that Concerns You Has Taken Place!”
The current DNC and President and those in the media insist that it wasn’t a message about the content of any programs whatsoever, but only about the speed “the people are frustrated by the pace of the recovery.” which means logically, they’d vote for “Gridlock” to speed things along right?
Ah…but that’s explained by the fact that the voters are afraid and thus don’t apply science and logic when they go into the voting booths. The people of America also apparently even though they were enlightened enough to vote for Obama and the Democrats in 2008, somehow became mind numbed robots and victims of FOX news in 2010. Maybe Tina Fey needed to do more SNL skits than 30 rock? What happened that it was a failure to communicate, a problem of processing tone and messaging, rather than the message received was subsequently and summarily rejected?
Does anyone saying any of this actually believe what they are saying?
I mean, Nancy is saying”Well, let me say why I believe that it would be very difficult for the Republicans to take over the House of Representatives. Let me tell you right here and now that I would rather be in our position right now than theirs.” This would be indicative of really not getting it prior to election day. That Pelosi is still running to spearhead the Democrats in the house indicates it doesn’t matter what the whole of the nation does, she will act as she always has and that she, like the President, (amazingly given their smartitudeness and sophisticatedness that hayseeds like those who vote Republican can’t even aspire to on their best day), still doesn’t get it.
One has to wonder if every voter hand painted a sign and sent it to the DNC office with the stated rationales for why they voted as they did, explaining there was too much spending, too much regulation, too much too much; would the message be received? I doubt it. It’s as if all of those in the White House and DNC have bad cell phones or at least, bad reception.
Even if every American came to the National Mall and said, “We are drowning in debt, we are not prospering under this policy of spend to prime the pump and we do not want our taxes raised to continue programs we can’t afford and start new ones.” (which much of the country did on election day), we’re still having to ask, “Can you hear me now?”
The answer seems to be, “No.” as the Democrats sing as one, “Nothing that concerns us has happened……Nothing that concerns us has taken place!”
I’m really a bit surprised by this response from the dems, I really can’t understand it at all. As a saving face strategy–like when you trip and fall on your face and say “oh, hahaha, I meant to do that”–it’s a bit over the top. And they can’t actually not understand what’s happened . . . and why, or can they be that insulated and out of touch? It’s hard to imagine, but maybe so. Or are they so immersed in their crazy Alinsky stuff (which now that we’re onto it just doesn’t work as well as it did) that they think if they say it often enough it’ll suddenly, magically be true? I don’t get it. But one’s thing’s for sure, they are certainly letting us know how little regard they have for the people of this nation. That photo of Pelosi and her horde triumphantly marching to the Capitol with her gigantic gavel in hand and that superior smile plastered on her face is all I can see when I hear them say how great they are.
They could have been “masters of the House” instead they have proven to be keepers of the zoo “ready to relieve you of a sou or two:”
Every year since 2007, the Democratic advantage in the House has been fewer than the number of seats held by Blue Dogs: If they had wanted to, the Blue Dogs could have made themselves masters of the House. They could have held an effective veto over any bill they pleased, insisting that Mrs. Pelosi, Majority Leader Harry Reid and even President Obama himself heed their call for fiscal responsibility.
Instead, the Blue Dogs became Mrs. Pelosi’s lap dogs, voting with her 80% of the time on economic issues. Every one of them voted for the bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Sixty-three percent voted for the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program; 91% voted for the stimulus package in February 2009; 85% voted for the cash-for-clunkers program; 74% voted for President Obama’s debt-tripling 2010 budget; 73% voted for the auto bailout; and 54% voted for the federal takeover of health care.
The evidence is overwhelming: The Blue Dogs are not fiscal conservatives, and only a few can credibly claim even to be fiscal moderates.
I can think of one who voted for all of it yet still claims to “stand against his party when they are wrong.” Madame Speaker has plenty of “lap dogs” keeping her zoo. Everybody raise a glass this November to the “masters of the House.”
Click over to Ruby Slippers if you want the the George Costanza earworm
They lack spine and integrity but they have plenty of chutzpah!
Scott Swett over at American Thinker addresses a question that has been bothering me for months. Why are BO and his cohorts so completely unconcerned about the will of the people? Why don’t they care that the American people overwhelming think not only that we are on the wrong path but that BO’s entire agenda is bad for this country? Why so flippant with remarks like “that’s what elections are for“?
Lest we forget, Democrats were not given a mandate in 2008 to nationalize General Motors, the insurance industry, and health care. Most Americans want government to be less expensive, less intrusive, and more accountable. Yet despite the looming prospect of electoral dismemberment in November, the Democrats continue pushing a radical agenda: piling up debt and creating new entitlements, with crushing tax increases inevitably to follow. Why the evident lack of concern?
Perhaps they intend to cheat.
Swett then goes on to outline the many and various vote fraud tactics that these people have used in the recent past and will likely use again this November. Read the whole thing, it’s enlightening.
That’s been on the back-burner of my mind as well. You’ve put one of my nagging concerns into words very well.
Seriously: so volunteer as poll watchers or polling place workers.
I did this in January for the Scott Brown election. The trouble is that voter intimidation is not the only concern. As Stalin said, it’s not the people who vote who count, it’s the people who count the votes.
Nancy Pelosi got an extreme makeover Al Gore style, (if you remember that “embellished” cover shot of the Veep and I’m not talking about the planet Earth in his doomsday scenarios), for the cover of Capital File. She looks as good as the numbers on the deficit neutral healthcare bill and just about as real. It makes sense: Imaginary numbers, equally imaginary images of the Speaker of the House: because the real thing ain’t pretty.
Yikes! At least in that picture she looks as real as she acts in real life. ;-)
Botox was not enough?
Take a good look at Pelosi again and then ask the question once more. I dare you…
There are limits to what even injected toxins can do.
Count me among the outraged. From Fox News:
The Navy’s decision to name a ship for the late Rep. John Murtha has outraged some critics who have not forgiven the Pennsylvania Democrat for accusing U.S. Marines of murdering Iraqi civilians “in cold blood” five years ago.
Nancy Pelosi was in attendance as Navy Secretary Ray Mabius made the official announcement Friday at the John Murtha Johnstown-Cambria County Airport in Murtha’s home district in Pennsylvania.
Fittingly, Pelosi and Mabius are among the small number of passengers who have ever used that airport, which offers only three commercial flights and is usually empty. This tiny airport has been the recipient of almost $200 million in earmarked pork funding put together under Murtha’s “leadership.” (And then there was the Abscam bribery scandal . . . .)
San Antonio-class ships support Marines and can carry roughly 700 troops, their equipment and vehicles. They are usually named after cities; the USS Murtha will be a break from that tradition.
As George J. at Monkeys on Horses pointed out:
To name a U.S. Naval warship, whose primary duty is to carry U.S. Marines into “Harm’s Way”, after an elected official that so publicly and unapologetically besmirched the courage and honor of the members of the Corps is unconscionable!
This quote comes from a letter George has composed objecting to the naming of a U.S. Naval vessel after John Murtha, and he recommends others among the outraged send letters to their Congressional delegations. I agree. I don’t think Americans should stand for this.
More at Bread upon the Waters.
I would bet the ranch this is motivated by the election too which makes it more disgraceful. I know you saw my post earlier today on the polling for the upcoming election in PA 12. Pelosi is a conniving you know what. Making this announcement in the district just 3 weeks before the election to fill Murtha’s seat stinks to high heaven.
I wonder how we will make it until this group is out of power but then I really get concerned about what they do to our troops with their insane shenanigans.
Yep. Pelosi and the rest of the Obamatons are trying to wring a few decisive votes out of whatever portion of the electorate is still asleep in Murtha’s district. It might not work, though. Outrage is going to shake a few extra voters out of bed early on voting day.
A precise CBO report you won’t hear Nancy Pelosi raving about:
President Obama’s fiscal 2011 budget will generate nearly $10 trillion in cumulative budget deficits over the next 10 years, $1.2 trillion more than the administration projected, and raise the federal debt to 90 percent of the nation’s economic output by 2020, the Congressional Budget Office reported Thursday.
In its 2011 budget, which the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released Feb. 1, the administration projected a 10-year deficit total of $8.53 trillion. After looking it over, CBO said in its final analysis, released Thursday, that the president’s budget would generate a combined $9.75 trillion in deficits over the next decade.
Unsustainable both, a Democratic majority and their spending. Related: The Tax Man Cometh
Gee, I bet the only way to save the economy is to go to single-payer, slap on a VAT tax, and cut military spending. (grrr)
Funny you should say that. I had a Canadian friend argue with me that Americans could afford to care for everyone if we made cuts to our military. Isn’t providing for the common defense one of the key responsibilities of government according to the Constitution? Unbelievable.
Yes, it is. But cutting military spending is how Europe and Canada manage to drag out the inevitable demise of their socialist domestic policies. They’re all dependent on America to keep them safe, to hold our mutual enemies at bay. They believe (for some bizarre, unfathomable reason) that their safety (i.e. the lack of actual war or attacks from rogue nations) is down to … who knows what? They don’t understand that our military is the only thing that is standing between them and Iran, N. Korea, China, and who knows, maybe even Japan and/or Russia. And that’s where we’re heading if we don’t stop this crazy train–we, and all of our allies, will be completely defenseless. Gee, think our enemies and the tyrants of the world will respect our “civilized” western societies?
Roll Call brings this intriguing bit of news:
Sanchez was nowhere to be found on Saturday — she was in Florida on a fundraising jaunt, two Democratic sources said — and while leaders expected her to return for the Sunday vote on final passage, they weren’t assured. What’s more, leaders now list the Orange County Democrat as a “no” vote.
Sanchez’s office did not return a request for comment Saturday evening. She cast her last vote shortly after 6 p.m. Friday and missed all seven recorded votes on Saturday, a review of the record shows.
Democratic hand-wringing about her status — geographically and intentionally — underlines just how tight the margin has become for leaders trying to zero in on 216 votes as the clock ticks down to their appointed deadline. Leaders are still hunting for a winning coalition of votes — and still struggling for a breakthrough abortion fix that will convert three or four holdouts angling for tougher protections against public funding of the procedure.
Sanchez this week told the Orange County Register that she needs to be satisfied that the health care overhaul is affordable. “The Senate bill is a bad bill,” she told the paper.
This is a very interesting development and doesn’t bode well for Madame Speaker’s command of her caucus. It looks as though the executive order is back on the table. They must be scrambling after spiking the ball in the end zone this afternoon.
Cross posted at Ruby Slippers
pray. NRO totals give us hope. Pray some more.
Cubachi
RT @johnhawkinsrwn Nomentum!!!! Loretta Sanchez looks like a no. That’s HUGE. She’s in a D+5 district & most people thought she would be a Y
I loved this bit from Firedoglake
This makes Nancy Pelosi’s job considerably harder. Sanchez’s jump could be a sign that there are members who have been quiet about their positions and hoping they’d never have to take the vote. But with the fear of tough elections ahead looming large, more could follow her lead. I know there’s a tendency to look at these votes as carved in stone once members commit publicly, but I fully remember what happened to Ciro Rodriguez during the Cap and Trade vote:</blockquote
Ed Morrissey has more on whether they have the votes:
http://hotair.com/archives/2010/03/21/do-they-have-the-votes/
He adds this:
“A Democrat who has long committed to opposing healthcare reform legislation has advised his fellow defectors that they should vote no early on Sunday and then immediately leave the House chamber.
Otherwise, Rep. Gene Taylor (D-Miss.) told The Hill, they will be treated “like a piñata.” …”
Hey Washington, can you hear us now?
First up, Jeff Kuhner of the WaTimes, with strong words that I stand behind 100%.
The Slaughter Solution is a dagger aimed at the heart of our system of checks and balances. It would enable the Democrats to establish an ominous precedent: The lawmaking process can be rigged to ensure the passage of any legislation without democratic accountability or even a congressional majority. It is the road to a soft tyranny. James Madison must be turning in his grave.
Mr. Obama is imposing a leftist revolution. Since coming to office, he has behaved without any constitutional restraints. The power of the federal government has exploded. He has de facto nationalized key sectors of American life – the big banks, financial institutions, the automakers, large tracts of energy-rich land from Montana to New Mexico. His cap-and-trade proposal, along with a newly empowered Environmental Protection Agency, seeks to impose massive new taxes and regulations upon industry. It is a form of green socialism: Much of the economy would fall under a command-and-control bureaucratic corporatist state. Mr. Obama even wants the government to take over student loans.
[…] Mr. Obama is willing to devour his presidency, his party’s congressional majority and – most disturbing – our democratic institutional safeguards to enact it. He is a reckless ideologue who is willing to sacrifice the country’s stability in pursuit of a socialist utopia.
The Slaughter Solution is a poisoned chalice. By drinking from it, the Democrats would not only commit political suicide. They would guarantee that any bill signed by Mr. Obama is illegitimate, illegal and blatantly unconstitutional. It would be worse than a strategic blunder; it would be a crime – a moral crime against the American people and a direct abrogation of the Constitution and our very democracy.
It would open Mr. Obama, as well as key congressional leaders such as Mrs. Pelosi, to impeachment. The Slaughter Solution would replace the rule of law with arbitrary one-party rule. It violates the entire basis of our constitutional government – meeting the threshold of “high crimes and misdemeanors.” If it’s enacted, Republicans should campaign for the November elections not only on repealing Obamacare, but on removing Mr. Obama and his gang of leftist thugs from office.
Got that? Strong words, indeed. Obama/Pelosi/Reid have over-stepped to the tune of impeachment. The dies have been cast; November is not far away. Being a lame-duck president should be the least of his worries at this point.
Regardless of a Yes/No vote, his presidency will never recover. No RESET button can fix the mess he’s made for himself and his party.
How the Democrats must be privately cursing Obama right now. Things could have been so different. If he had had more political sense and less personal hubris they could have passed a healthcare bill with bipartisan (read RINO) support that would have served as a nifty foundation for an American NHS. Instead, he has squandered his political capital and imperiled his party’s majority. How can they not be blaming him for the gathering tsunami of 2010?
…Obama has already totaled his presidency and his majority, regardless of what happens with healthcare reform. Thanks to him, there is no “good” way for House Democrats to vote. Either choice leads to heartache, and, though he had ample help from Pelosi, Reid, and friends, Obama is the one to blame. Passing healthcare now will not hit the reset button for the Democrats and transport them back to January 20, 2009, when they were riding the giant wave instead of waiting to be swept away by it.
And what’s worse, in addition to ruining his own party, Obama has created a backlash, a populace hypersensitized to and willing to fight against government overreaching. We’re taking part in a national civics lesson — call it No Citizen Left Behind.
I like that – No Citizen Left Behind.
It’s not like the populace is asleep at the wheel. HotAir reports, “In just 14 months, he has made himself more unpopular than his predecessor, at least by the measure of strong disapproval.” See for yourself; here are the Rasmussen numbers. He only has himself to blame.
John Hawkins and Keith Hennessey both have excellent, quick-read rundowns of the bill. It will bury America in a never-ending sea of red ink.
At this point in time, the Red Queen does not have the votes. But who knows what spells she’ll chant or saints she’ll pray to to work her evil deeds.
Demon Pass. Fitting, isn’t it, that the House/Presidential chicanery reeks of Ol’ Smokey…
It’s all about control. Control of people, their behaviors, their health, their very life’s breath. Doesn’t that sound familiar? I’m sure it does to my parents generation, who gave of their blood, toil and treasure to protect America from totalitarianism.
In closing, Smitty offers a palate cleanser.
God Bless America.
Cross-posted at RedState and Obi’s Sister
I couldn’t agree with you more. Every single day I hear people say over and over again, “I no longer trust my government.” They have simply gone too far and people feel as if they are being assaulted by government. When people believe that government is no longer responsive to their needs and in fact, is acting contrary to the will of the people, then we, as citizens, are obligated by our Constitution to take measures to change the government.
Let’s not just look at Obama. Sen. Lindsay Graham is a Republican, i/n/o, and he has shown that he is not listening either. Despite the very clear message that Americans don’t want Cap & Trade he is full steam ahead. At the same time he is working on an immigration bill that includes amnesty.
We don’t need to worry about terrorists destroying our country. Our politicians are doing it for them.
I find it extremely interesting that the Obama administration is willing to bring the KSM terrorists to civilian trials, to show the world how America lives by the “rule of law”, yet they are unwilling to follow that same rule of law with the American people…..
I keep hearing this called “soft tyranny.” Something tells me that it will feel anything but soft.
It’s not because they’re “so precise.” It’s the appearance of precision that she ardently desires.
John Pitney: Tocqueville on the CBO Estimate
“When statistics are not based on strictly accurate calculations, they mislead instead of guide. The mind easily lets itself be taken in by the false appearance of exactitude which statistics retain even in their mistakes, and confidently adopts errors clothed in the forms of mathematical truth.” — Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, volume 1, part 2.
The Anchoress is quite unhappy with Madam Pelosi today.
Thanks. Well worth reading. My post here:
http://www.punditandpundette.com/2010/03/saint-joseph-pray-for-us.html
Following up on the mystery meeting, which occurred today. Will they save the day (for the Dem leaders and the president) or hang it up? TWS:
It seems like Pelosi is trying to do one of two things: persuade the pro-choice women to cave in and accept the Stupak amendment, or persuade the pro-choice women who voted “no” last time to switch their votes to “yes” in order to protect abortion-on-demand.
She apparently excluded pro-life Dem women, a short list to be sure.
…I wouldn’t count on my congresswoman Jan Schakowsky to cave–she is a rabid abortion proponent.
…Of course our answer to her–no government takeover then. These feminists always want to have it both ways. They get to do what they want, and we get to pay for what they want.
How about taking responsibility for their actions in the first place.
If she is trying to make changes to the language, it’s all for show. Nothing like that is going to get through reconciliation and they all know it. Anyone, including Stupak, that falls for this is hopelessly naive or looking for a big ole lie to hide behind.
Kent Conrad reportedly already issued a bit of a warning that some of the “fixes” will create problems. There is no doubt that an abortion language change is going to be the biggest hurdle of all.
Strangely enough, I keep going back to that Lawrence O’Donnell interview where he said they are flying in territory no one has ever gone to before. All the usual tactics they have up their sleeves to whip the vote aren’t really there. All the carrots will be scored as raising the deficit and anything that offsets those has to be revenue raising such as more taxes or Medicaid cuts. It’s dicey for sure. That’s why the usual Chicago thug tactics are probably worse here too. All they can use are sticks. It’s got to be really ugly on the Hill behind those closed doors.
Still, I would bet knowing all that the pro-choice posse is still going to have a very hard time taking a vote on restrictive language on abortion would kill them. All they will have to show for it is taking an empty vote that will outrage their liberal progressive base. None of them will give them a pass just because they deemed it instead of voting for it.
Well, to mix metaphors, I hope we are looking at a train wreck.
I like your carrots and sticks and “dicey”:)
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
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
Once we kick in this door –does anyone think they need the voters anymore? We’re just here to finance it.
“Speaker Pelosi and her comrades? Kevin Smith got that right.
Michael Barone makes a good argument that it is. Sen. Kent Conrad’s remarks cast serious doubt on the plausibility of using reconciliation in the Senate, and Pelosi just doesn’t have the votes:
In November Pelosi had 220 votes for the House bill. The one Republican is now a no, one Democrat has died, one resigned last month and another turned in his resignation Friday. That leaves her with 216, one less than the 217 she needs.
There is another problem. The Senate bill lacks the amendment sponsored by Michigan Rep. Bart Stupak banning abortion coverage, and Stupak says that he and about 10 other Democrats accordingly will vote no. That leaves Pelosi around 205. She may have commitments from former no voters to switch to yes (especially from three who’ve announced they’re retiring), but she doesn’t have more than 10 other votes in her pocket or she wouldn’t have accepted the Stupak amendment.
So the House wants the Senate to go first and pass changes to its bill through the reconciliation process that requires 51 rather than 60 votes. But Senate Budget Chairman Kent Conrad says you can’t use reconciliation on a bill that hasn’t already become law. And reconciliation is probably not available on abortion issues.
Jennifer Rubin seems to concur, calling the talk of reconciliation a “dodge”:
Reconciliation has been the buzzword of late, but it is becoming apparent that it’s a dodge intended to keep the hopes of the liberal base alive and to force the House to go first, which then might produce some magic key to unlock health care. But if the Senate budget chair is forcefully calling foul on the process, what then is the point of the House vote? According to Conrad, whatever the House came up with will have to go back and be put through the normal legislative process, subject to the filibuster.
Well, as with so much else on ObamaCare, one has the sense that this is a charade. No bill, no clear process, no public support, and no House majority. Had the summit been the breakthrough moment the Obami had hoped for maybe a groundswell of support could have shaken the pieces loose and then sharp deal makers could have sifted among the debris and constructed an ObamaCare III or whatever they would have called it. But the summit was a bust for the Democrats, and we’re talking specifically about Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, who proved to be just as unlikeable and ineffective as many suspected.
But Obama the Magical was nowhere to be seen. In his place was Obama the Annoyed.
Read the rest of Barone and Rubin.
Wait until people discover the “Twitter” part of Obama’s plan – and SPN Headlines exclusive:
http://stupidassnews.wordpress.com/2010/02/21/final-health-care-bill-doctors-will-tweet-patients/
Have a great day! :-)
Keith Hennessey has a post outlining the hurdles that would need to be crossed to pass health care using reconciliation for a second bill. If you are really in a wonkish mood read Hennessey’s mechanics of a two bill strategy post and keep that in mind as the Democrats and liberal media attempt to frame the process as a “simple up or down vote” on health care.
Thanks. Yes, “simple up or down vote” is the new euphemism for ram-it-through-by-reconciliation.
Just on it’s face, the use of Reconciliation in this case is a misuse. As Sen. Conrad points out, it was meant for deficit reduction.
It would by necessity have to bust up the comprehensive bill into eensy weensy spider bills–gutting one of Nancy Pelosi’s rationale’s for shoving this bill through. So why not make a fresh start?
Perhaps the Democrats will redefine the language, a la Bill Clinton, twisting the meaning of the word is, to redefine the rules. After all, the liberals on the Supreme Court do this all the time.
I see I misplaced not one, but two apostrophes. Nancy’s insidious influence no doubt.
Just on its face..rationales…
I think what you mean is Bush did it.
Nancy Pelosi wears me out. On ABC News This Week, talking to Elizabeth Vargas, Pelosi admits that public support for Obamacare is practically non-existent, but they’re going to pass it anyway because American people “need” it.
PELOSI: Well first of all our members — every one of them — wants health care. I think everybody wants affordable health care for all Americans. They know that this will take courage. It took courage to pass Social Security. It took courage to pass Medicare. And many of the same forces that were at work decades ago are at work again against this bill.
VARGAS: But you know that the polls show that the American people are deeply divided on health care. Many of them are opposed to it. Even though they are supporting certain…
PELOSI: Pieces of it.
VARGAS: Specific pieces of it. What do you say to your members, when it does come to the House to vote on this, who are in real fear of losing their seats in November if they support you now?
But the American people need it, why are we here? We’re not here just to self perpetuate our service in Congress. We’re here to do the job for the American people. To get them results that gives them not only health security, but economic security, because the health issue is an economic issue for — for America’s families.
We don’t WANT it, but we NEED it, so they’ll pass it anyway. They know better than we do about what’s good for us. She doesn’t need to worry too much about that self-perpetuation thing.
Shut up and take your medicine.
Nanny state Nancy
I’ve got Nancy-fatigue, too. From Hot Air:
ELIZABETH VARGAS, ABC NEWS: Let’s talk a bit about the coming elections in November. You had recently– and the Tea Party movement, do you think it will be a force to be reckoned with? You had said last summer that it was a faux grassroots movement. You called it the Astroturf movement.
NANCY PELOSI, HOUSE SPEAKER: In some respects it is. Uh-huh.
VARGAS: Is the Tea Party movement a force?
PELOSI: No – No what I said at the time is, that they were — the Republican Party directs a lot of what the Tea Party does, but not everybody in the Tea Party takes direction from the Republican Party. And so there was a lot of, shall we say, Astroturf, as opposed to grassroots.
But, you know, we share some of the views of the Tea Partiers in terms of the role of special interest in Washington, D.C., as — it just has to stop. And that’s why I’ve fought the special interest, whether it’s on energy, whether it’s on health insurance, whether it’s on pharmaceuticals and the rest.
VARGAS: So, common ground with many people in the Tea Party movement.
PELOSI: Well, no, there are some. There are some because they, again, some of it is orchestrated from the Republican headquarters. Some of it is hijacking the good intentions of lots of people who share some of our concerns that we have about the role of special interests and many Tea Partiers, not that I speak for them, share the view, whether it’s — and Democrats, Republicans and Independents share the view that the recent Supreme Court decision, which greatly empowers the special interests, is something that they oppose.
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Ednar and 
just a conservative girl, 
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Teresa in Fort Worth, TX, and 1 other are discussing. 
Potluck 
Don 2:17 PM on 02/11/2013 Permalink |
What beautiful, flowing prose…and to think, they told us G.W. couldn’t speak well.
Ednar 2:48 PM on 02/11/2013 Permalink |
Pinocchio, Snow White & Superman stroll into town. Walking along they see 3 signs:
“Most beautiful woman in the world Beauty Contest” “I’m entering!” said Snow White.
“Strongest man in the world Contest” “I’m entering,” says Superman.
“Greatest liar in the world Contest!” “That’s 4 me!” says Pinocchio
1/2 hr later they all come out. “How’d it go?”
“1st place!” said Snow White & Superman
Pinocchio returns w/tears in his eyes. “What happened?” they asked.
“Who the hell is Nancy Pelosi?”