[Please note: links to news articles and accompanying headlines and text were valid and accurate at the time of posting but content often changes or is deleted by the original publishers for reasons they feel are warranted…ed]
Is Health Care Reform A Sure Thing?
David Dayen over at FireDogLake has a clip of Emanuel Cleaver giving a less-than-bullish account of the prospects of health care reform in the House:
As Dayen notes, the math is not a slam dunk for House leadership. Consider the following. The bill earned 220 votes the first time around. Yet Robert Wexler has resigned. That puts the total support at 219. Let’s assume that the new bill will lack Stupak language on abortion – a reasonable one, I think. That would lose them Joseph Cao, the sole Republican supporter. Bart Stupak claims that he has 10 to 12 Democrats who would walk away then, too. Assuming Stupak’s number is correct, that puts the bill at 206 to 208, with 218 needed for support. The House leadership would have to find 10 to 12 supporters among the 38 Democrats who voted against it late last year. [If this was such a terrific deal for the American people why are the Democrats having such a hard time getting THEIR OWN members on board? If this is such a terrific deal for the American people why did Congress exempt THEMSELVES from ObamaCare?…ed]
President Obama pushes for a deal on health bill
After an unusual day-long negotiating session, President Barack Obama and top Democratic congressional leaders said late Wednesday that they were making “significant progress” towards reconciling the House and Senate health care reform bills. Obama, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Harry Reid issued a statement at the close of more than eight hours of White House talks – by far the most significant, high-level negotiations undertaken during the yearlong push for health care reform. [Democrats exclusively, behind closed doors plotting to ram ObamaCare down our throats even though the American people have very vocally told these people we are not the least interested in their scheme to take over 1/6 of our economy and put it in the hands of government bureaucrats…ed]
The nation’s labor unions, according to Congress Daily, have cut a deal with House Democrats: Labor will drop its opposition to the so-called Cadillac tax — an excise tax on high-cost employer-provided health-care plans — if Congress will carve out an exemption for plans provided under collective-bargaining agreements. Even after all the unsavory bargains and rotten deals that have characterized the rush to get this thing passed (the “Louisiana Purchase,” the “Cornhusker Kickback,” etc.) the “Labor Loophole” surely takes the prize. A few Democrats in the Senate already tried this trick and were laughed out of the smoke-filled room, so nakedly obvious was the special-interest favoritism at work. That the Democratic party is seriously reconsidering this deal is a sign of how desperate it has become to pass a bill — any bill — that shoves the federal foot through the waiting-room door. [So much for the 14th Amendment guaranteeing equal protection under the law. Get ready for the lawsuits all you ObamaCare proponents…ed]
Majority Would Vote Against Obama
A year into his tenure, a majority of Americans would already vote against Pres. Obama if the ’12 elections were held today, according to a new survey. The Allstate/National Journal Heartland Monitor poll shows 50% say they would probably or definitely vote for someone else. Fully 37% say they would definitely cast a ballot against Obama. Meanwhile, just 39% would vote to re-elect the pres. to a 2nd term, and only 23% say they definitely would do so. Obama’s first year in office has been marked by an unemployment rate that surged to 10%, an increased commitment of troops to Afghanistan and a health care battle that has taken a serious political toll on the WH. Obama’s approval rating is down to 47%, the poll showed, a 14-point drop since the April survey. 45% disapprove, up 17 points from April. [Gee, I wonder why he wouldn’t be president if the election was held today? Could it be that we now know what a disaster it is for this country to hire a no name nobody with zero experience for the top job?…ed]
GOP: We’ll take back the House
GOP leaders have privately settled on a strategy to win back the House by putting the vast majority of their money and energy into attacking Democrats — and turning this election into a national referendum on the party in power. House Minority Whip Eric Cantor of Virginia, one of 10 leaders who attended a strategy session in Annapolis, Md., this week, said the party will attack Democrats relentlessly for the stimulus, health care and cap-and-trade bills. Internally, Republicans call it the “80-20 strategy,” which, loosely interpreted, means spending 80 percent of the time whacking Democrats and the remainder talking up their own ideas. [40 more willow kneed Republicans will do this country absolutely no good. What we need are real conservatives kicking ass and taking names in Congress. Enough of this civility crap, it’s hammer time!…ed]
Scott Brown: Obama not invited to this party
Surging GOP Senate candidate Scott Brown yesterday warned President Obama to “stay away” from the Bay State during his roiling race against Democratic rival Martha Coakley and not to interfere with their intensifying battle in the campaign’s final days. “He should stay away and let Martha and I discuss the issues one on one,” Brown said. “The machine is coming out of the woodwork to get her elected. They’re bringing in outsiders, and we don’t need them.” Coakley’s campaign showed signs of panic as they scrambled to get a last-minute appearance by Obama to bolster their effort before Tuesday’s election. [I say have the light skinned guy with no discernible Negro dialect unless he wants to use it show up in Massachusetts like he did three time during the New Jersey governors race last year. We all know how that turned out…ed]