Axelrod, Gibbs, and Pelosi — Why Not Vote Tomorrow?


Axelrod, message maven for Obama, says they will have the votes in the House. Really. It says so right here, on ABC NEWS.

And Chuck Todd of NBC News tweets:

Clyburn on #MTP (Meet the Press) says House Dems do NOT yet have the votes. Matches Pelosi who said “when you have the votes, you call the vote.”

AP is now also reporting the U.S. House Whip Clyburn admitting they do not have the votes. Up until now, Clyburn has been trying to dodge the vote count question by saying he did not have a bill to whip, because they don’t know what is in it. (Vapor bill, part infinite.)

But the crush of events has used up those who-me?-I-dunno excuses. Now, Clyburn must admit the truth, they don’t have the votes.

Meanwhile, at the White House, Gibbs is proclaiming that a week from today ObamaCare will be the “law of the land.”

But they still have not scheduled a vote. And the vote was Thursday, then Friday and now they are talking about Saturday.

Simply put, they do not have the votes, with or without there “we’re going to pass the bill without voting on it” outrage — during “Sunshine Week” for transparent government. Ha, ha, ha.


“Passing Bills without Voting On Them”


In the latest Mad-Magazine-like-Spy-vs.-Spy move, the House Dems have hatched a plan which reminds me of their ill-fated plan to delay seating Senator-elect Scott Brown until they had another ObamaCare vote on the Senate floor.

The Dems backed down. Similarly, they will back down from the Slaughter plan.

Former Speaker Gingrich describes the Slaughter plan in a tweet about a Brian Darling blog:

“Incredible. We’ve gone from passing bills without reading them to passing bills without voting on them.”

They haven’t tried it yet, they are thinking about it.

But now that the Senate Parliamentarian has ruled the obvious, that you can not vote on a reconciliation measure if the bill you are attempting to reconcile has not been signed into law — the Slaughter plan looks both desperate and comical.

It is also (obviously) unconstitutional and will, if carried out, create a public outcry that will make burning witches at the stake look rational.

Just like the Black Spy thought the White Spy was caged and an easy target, the trillion dollar President and the Speaker find themselves without the votes and trying again to cheat the U.S. Constitution, public opinion and voters who want Congress to stop the irrational ObamaCare quest and start over. Their persistent problem is they keep causing their colleagues mortal political harm with their increasingly hare-brained-Slaughter schemes.

You know, like lets-use-reconciliation-to-pass-the-hated-Senate-ObamaCare-bill. (It’s no shock that Obama has hit his lowest Gallup poll approval rating ever.)

Ironically, the trillion dollar President has created a bi-partisan health care effort, it’s just that it’s a bi-partisan alliance against his bill. What is causing cognitive dissonance in the White House and among the Democratic Party’s cognoscenti is the simple fact that the only thing bi-partisan about ObamaCare is the opposition to it.

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23 Dem Yes Votes on ObamaCare Switch to Undecided


The Speaker’s flip-flops are catching up with her.

And the strangeness is starting to show (see the video): we have to pass the Senate bill so the public can see what is in it.

Her famed control over house members minds is fading: She supported Chairman Rangel right up until she dumped him. She did not have the muscle to impose upon the Ways and Means Committee, her choice of Chairman.

And on ObamaCare, the Speaker insisted the Senate go first, that she could not pass the Senate bill, that the House would not be a rubber stamp for the Senate, and that the Senate must prove it will act as she says it will, which is for the Senate to change their own bill into a bill the House wants. Uh, huh.

But the Speaker has flipped on all of it. Now, the House will go first, the House will pass the Senate bill without changing it (i.e. rubber stamp) and the House will act without proof the Senate will actually act in the way the House wants it to act.

Furthermore, the Speaker must now insist the following will not happen: the White House will not take the House passed Senate bill, sign it, declare victory, and move onto jobs.

The Speaker must argue that the Senate and the White House will put itself through months of more ObamaCare political pain, by letting the Republicans bog down the bill in the Senate, in a huge fight that will be another example of the Dems changing the rules and ignoring the public to pass a bill independent voters and seniors hate.

But assuming you believe that reality will be suspended — that the irrational is rational — and the White House and the Senate will act to bail out the House from passing a bill they don’t agree with, then there is the immovable Byrd rule problem on any abortion “fix.”

The Bryd rule prohibits legislating on a reconciliation bill. The rule is named after the still-serving Senator Byrd (D-WV). Sixty votes are needed to over-ride the Byrd rule on reconciliation. Both the Byrd rule and Senator Byrd himself stands directly in the path of legislating on abortion on any reconciliation bill.

You see, Senator Byrd is very vigorous in his support of the Byrd rule. He will vote with the 41 Republicans to enforce the Byrd rule. And the Byrd rule is very clear on abortion — precedents have been set — you cannot legislate on abortion on a reconciliation bill.

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Political Instability and the Coming Defeat of ObamaCare


The media is now pulling out all the stops to help Obama win the House vote. They know he is in deep trouble and they need to help. And they will keep helping, reporting as if the vote is in the bag.

But do not fear. Jay Cost has the real house vote count. (Rep. Massa’s claims that he is the swing vote, notwithstanding.)

If you want to help, call the Members of Congress on Jay’s list, and follow it daily. Organize demonstrations in front of their offices. Put them on YouTube. Call them. Email them. Contribute money to their opponents. Seek out these Members of Congress in their districts. Button-hole them. Do not let up until the House votes. (Sorry Jay, your list is better than Minority Whip Cantor’s memo.)

There is more good news. Even former Majority Leader Senator Daschle, who has been the unseen hand pushing Obama on health care, says on video this is the end of the ObamaCare effort. After this, it is over.

By the way, ObamaCare did not die and rise back to life. It has been dead for a long time. The President, the Speaker, Axelrod and Plume keep insisting that it is alive because they live in a fantasyland bubble. (Don’t start living the dream too.) There is a view other than ObamaCare is dead or is alive. You could be like Hennessey: ObamaCare is both dead and alive. His piece is titled Health Care CPR, but in reality, Hennessey’s view is it is mostly dead.

The Speaker and the White House can not allow themselves to believe anything other than they will win, because they have developed the intellectual behavior of the politically irrational.

Look at this quote from fantasy-land-spinner-in-chief-David-Axelrod — the man the New York Times says is the last person the trillion dollar President talks to before making a decision:

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How to End the ObamaCare Nightmare


Ending this health care nightmare comes down to one thing, and one thing only: expend all remaining to defeat the Senate bill in the House.

The Speaker cannot pass the Senate bill now. She does not have the votes. She has never had the votes — ever, to pass the Senate bill. (The AP list of 9 Dems who voted No who may vote yes is a fantasyland list — as in, if you think they will switch to Yes, you are living in Fantasyland. If a member who did vote No, now, when the politics are so clearly against it, switches to a yes, they might as well just resign. Which some might. But, really, it is good-bye for No votes that switch to Yes.)

While No votes switching to Yes is not credible, here is something that is credible. Yes votes that switch to No.

There is one New York Dem Yes vote who announced today, is now a no:

“U.S. Rep. Michael Arcuri, D-Utica, said Tuesday he would vote against the Senate version of the health care bill that could soon go before the House of Representatives for approval.

“Arcuri, who voted in early November in favor of the House version of the health care bill, said he is against the Senate bill for three main reasons:

“He doesn’t want to see the bill passed as a “mega bill,” and he believes more success would be had by breaking the bill apart and passing aspects of it incrementally, he said.

“Arcuri also said he isn’t comfortable with the possible Democratic strategy of passing the bill through reconciliation.”

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Sen. Conrad: The House Goes First or ObamaCare Dies (Thank You Senator DeMint)


Senator Conrad, the Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee said yesterday that reconciliation can only be used if the House passes the Senate bill first. As Sen. Conrad declared, “I don’t know of any way, I don’t know of any way where you can have a reconciliation bill pass before the bill that it is meant to reconcile passes.” Neither do I.

Then, the kicker: “When reminded that House Democrats don’t want to do health care in that order, Conrad said bluntly: ‘Fine, then it’s dead.‘”

Now, the Speaker finds herself in the position of having to pass a bill she says she does not have the votes to pass.

Without passing the Senate bill she can’t pass, the Speaker can’t do reconciliation. (See Sen. Conrad, above.)

OK. Now, this next part is really, really important.

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Day Two: the Speaker and House Majority Leader Back Away from ObamaCare


Turns out that the interpretation that the Dems are bluffing on reconciliation is a charitable interpretation. It assumes they have a plan.

The other alternative view, that the President really is serious about reconciliation, is so unserious that most in D.C. don’t take it seriously. (Read Eric Cantor’s House Whip Count Memo here about why the Dems do not have the votes in the House for Reconciliation.)

The naivete, the inexperience, the reality-bending-ability to seriously believe that one more speech or one more try will make it pass, must be so pervasive in the mind of the President and those around him, that you have to wonder what will happen to the psyche of these Pollyannas when reality finally and urgently cannot be ignored or hidden, from what will be their ever widening eyes.

Add the irrationality of the Speaker on passing “universal health care” to the mix, and you have the makings of yet another uber-trainwreck — the first was last August, the second December-January, and now, the third in April-May or May-June?

Meanwhile, yesterday, the Chairman of the Blue Dogs Rep. Heath Shuler (D-NC) said “I was actually surprised that they’re pushing it again.” Shuler also said “I don’t think a comprehensive bill can pass.”

The Speaker got tiff-ity when she heard of Shuler’s remarks: “You know what? With all due respect to everyone, we just saw the president’s proposal today. I don’t know that anybody in our caucus is saying we’re not going to pass a bill.”

But the President is not taking about “a bill,” he’s talking (for about the millionth time — including a speech to a joint session of Congress) about passing his bill. Well, it’s not actually a bill. There is no legislative language and it has not been introduced in Congress. Obama has more of a power point.

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Dems to Self-immolate via Reconciliation


Brian Darling of the Heritage Foundation has moved the entire health care world from refitting weapons and/or R & R to DEFCON Two with these two posts, here and here. Darling is not only one of the few real operational experts on Senate Rules, he is a highly effective operative for the good guys. If Darling says the Dems are going to try it, they will. DRUDGE is now on board with his front page all-caps headline: BACK FROM THE DEAD: DEMS VOW TO RAHM THROUGH HEALTHCARE.

Add to this that Senator Reid just gave an interview saying Congress will pass ObamaCare in 60 days, and FireDogLake is reporting the Leadership is on-board for the reconciliation strategy. Also, FireDogLake is pushing the public option to be included in reconciliation. TIME and Washington Monthly are reporting that Reid intends to use reconciliation to insert the public option. Furthermore, former White House Communication Director for Obama, Anita Dunn says ObamaCare will pass Congress by November, just after Obama made another push for ObamaCare at his Nevada town hall.

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The Meeting


No legislation will be signed as a result of the White House health care meeting.

Congress is politically radioactive. ObamaCare is hated. And never has a Speaker’s low approval rating created male-trance-like-obedience to injure themselves like some hilarious Super Bowl commercial.

According to the sisterhood-in-chief: Obama “signaled early on that he could be rolled when he ceded too much power to Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid in putting together the stimulus bill.” Note to historians: Obama’s ‘let Congress decide’ masked the legislative inability of the perpetual candidate, but also the fact he was rolled by her.

And does anybody believe that, to paraphrase Senator Rockefeller, the unbelievable President Obama can talk any thing into existence?

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