Healthcare countdown: do they or don’t they (have the votes)?
House and Senate leadership: Clyburn, Hoyer, Reid, Pelosi, Schumer and Van Hollen
Last week in The Hill, Speaker Pelosi seemed to say she has the votes needed to pass healthcare. On Sunday, House whip James Clyburn said they don’t (yet). John Boehner seconds Clyburn (except for the “not yet” part,) but the White House says it’s going to pass (with Axelrod adding “make my day,” in response to GOP threats to run on repeal.) It’s almost confusing enough to make you listen to Lawrence O’Donnell, who is still scarred by the Clinton healthcare flop and believes that nothing, and I do mean nothing, can pass. Ever. … although he refused to put money on it this morning on “Morning Joe.” Also during the show, Dylan Ratigan made the excellent point that if Democrats are going to put their jobs on the line anyway, they should have done so for a stronger, more game-changing bill. Read more
Oh for chrissakes, Democrats … Stop hiding behind Nancy Pelosi on the public option!
We all know the back story by now. Senate Democrats were too cowardly to include the public option in their bill. Now, Dick Durbin, who supposedly wants to be majority leader someday (keep dreaming, Dick …) enabled by the media, including the liberal blogosphere, is throwing passage of the public option back to Nancy Pelosi, who has pushed through every component of the Obama agenda, including the public option, with not a whit of help from the Senate, or the White House, for that matter (which by the way, cut a deal with hospital lobbyists last year to kill the public option). This has got to be the one of most cowardly statements I’ve ever heard from a politician:
Durbin’s spokesman said this: “I want to be crystal clear: Sen. Durbin and the rest of the Senate Leadership will be aggressively whipping FOR the public option if it is included in the reconciliation bill the House sends over.”
Sorry, I should have said, from a politician’s spokesman. Durbin doesn’t even have the stones to say it himself. This is why Democrats lose. They’re so scared of their own shadows, they can’t even lead on their own stated principles. 
Nancy Pelosi was absolutely right to throw it back at the Senate, and it’s completely unfair for anyone to throw the blame for the imminent death of the public option on the Speaker, as just about everyone is trying to do. Pelosi is a convenient foil, and it’s easy for the lazy media to make her the villain, again … But let’s be honest for a second. There is not equal blame to go around here. The Senate is the problem. They are what’s standing between the Democrats and credibility with the American people, and even with a majority of Democrats, this one included. And second only to them is the White House. I can almost picture the lot of them, cowering behind Mother Nancy’s skirts, peeping around the sides of her to see if there are any mean old Republicans there waiting to jump out and get them. What, does she have to tuck you punks into bed every night, too?
Here is the bottom line, and it’s important to get this if you don’t already.
If Nancy Pelosi were to put the public option in her priority list for the reconciliation bill, and then Durbin was unable to “whip the votes for it,” there’s a possibility that just including the option could bring down the entire reconciliation bill. Then, the Senate would have had it both ways — they’d get their hot mess of a bill, with all of their goodies in it, signed into law; they would have technically lived up to the terms of their agreement with the House, but as usual, it’s the House members who would be stuck with a bill they won’t be able to defend with the “cornhusker compromise” still in place. Speaker Pelosi would be a fool to take that gamble on be half of her members. She wants to send a reconciliation request to the Senate that’s GUARANTEED TO PASS. That’s the only way she can credibly ask her members to walk the plank, yet again, for the untrustworthy, useless Senate and the feckless White House.
Cross-posted at Talking Points Memo.
Pelosi tells her members: brace yourselves for a healthcare vote
From Politico:
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told her members Friday to brace themselves for a climatic health care vote as early as next week, warning them to clear their schedules for next weekend and promising to stay in session until the landmark vote, people present at the meeting told POLITICO. President Barack Obama has postponed an overseas trip until March 21, and Pelosi said, “I am delighted the president will be here for the passage of the bill. It will be historic.”
Here we go!
Really, RNC?
Irony alert: the party that covered for Mark Foley is going after Democrats on Eric Massa
A new ad from the Republican National Committee brings new meaning to the word “chutzpah.” The ad attacks Nancy Pelosi, trying to blame her for the troubles of Charlie Rangel and of all people, Eric Massa, both of whom Pelosi’s team set aside. Meanwhile, Republicans have hung on to every one of their ethically challenged members, from David Vitter (prostitution) to Larry Craig (Massa-like behavior in an airport men’s room) to John Ensign, about whom the New York Times has a new report, detailing his attempts to find a job for his lover’s husband (after his parents’ pay-off to the hubby failed to sufficiently make nice,) just this morning. Here’s the ad:
Message: let’s bring the Abramoff crowd back to power. That’ll fix everything … Read more
Mother has the votes on healthcare
If the healthcare vote in the House were held today, Speaker Nancy Pelosi would have the votes to pass it. Read more
Healthcare endgame: the House will go first
Washington's toughest customer: Nancy Pelosi
Related: Public option reconciliation supporters now number 30. Durbin says he’d vote yes. (The Plumline)
Mother Nancy will ask her troops to walk the plank one more time for Barack Obama. The Hill’s reports on Sunday’s healthcare chatter had both Speaker Pelosi and her deputy, Steny Hoyer, confirming that the House will take a leap of faith, pass the Senate bill, with the expectation that the Senate won’t completely screw them over by failing to pass a reconciliation fix. Read more
Someone to love
As speaker, Nancy Pelosi adheres to the "ABCD" principle: "always be cutting deals."
They say Republicans fall in line, while Democrats fall in love. Well, Democrats who have been dispirited by the capitulations of the Obama White House and the weasily vibe of Senate “conservadems” yet have a handful of folks they can adore: from sharp tongued Alan Grayson and Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, to Bernie Sanders, to the reignited Howard Dean (all of whom are loved more because they are so despised by the other side.) But no one gets it done like Nancy, most recently, on jobs. Read more
The baddest woman (or man) in Washington
Nancy Pelosi cut deals down to the last minute, fully utilized her House whip, and managed to hold together angry female lawmakers, liberals, and pro-life Democrats (plus a Republican.) And in the end, she got healthcare through the House, even after the Senate forced her chamber to “go first.” And she did it without the painful public dithering and anxiety that we saw in the Senate. The House bill is superior to the Senate version, even without a “robust public option,” and between Pelosi and Reid, Nancy has proved herself the tougher, “better man.” That makes Nancy Pelosi Washington’s biggest bad-ass. Nice work, Madame Speaker.
Now, don’t screw it up, Harry.
Politico: Nancy has the votes on healthcare
UPDATE: Stupak amendment passes (low income women take a back seat to Catholics in the interests of passing the underlying bill.) The tally was 240-194-1, with John Shadegg following through on his “brilliant” plan (almost as brilliant as Maddie the Freedom Baby…) to vote “present,” in hopes of deep-sixing the final bill by causing the Stupak amendment not to pass, which of course would lead conservative/Catholic Democrats to vote “no” on final passage. Kind of a dumb strategy if you’re doing it all alone, though … like a one-nation embargo against Cuba … oh … right … we’re doing that, too …) Apparently, Shadegg did think he’d have 4 or 5 cohorts, but in the end, they did that thing to him like when you were a kid, and a friend said you should both jump out of a tree “at the same time…?) Verdict: Shadegg fears the teabaggers more than he does the right to lifers.
UPDATE 2: No surprise here: the Republican “alternative” healthcare bill goes down on a 176-258 party-line vote. Next up: the big bill.
ORIGINAL POST:
I’ve been tuning in and out of the House debate today, (while actually getting out and enjoying life) and one thing is for sure: Republicans have memorized their talking points. Politico reports, however, that they haven’t rallied enough turncoat Dems to stop the bill. And President Obama reportedly got with Democrats today to warn them: Republicans will go after you either way. You’re gonna want to be on the side with the white hats. Watch the debate wind down live (vote expected around 10:00 p.m. EST)
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Nancy Pelosi: my kind of diva
From the haters at Politico:
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is one of the most despised political figures in the country. And, frankly, she doesn’t give a damn.
“No, I don’t care,” Pelosi told POLITICO last Thursday, laughing heartily as she walked beneath the Capitol dome and plunged into a crowd of tourists.
Last week’s Public Strategies Inc./POLITICO poll brought grim news for Pelosi, revealing that only a quarter of Americans trust the San Francisco Democrat — putting her in the basement with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio).
Mention of the “trust” question halted the click-clack of Pelosi’s heels against Rotunda marble, and she turned to face the reporter who posed the question.
“I don’t know about ‘trust’ — I think I’m trusted,” she said.
“I certainly want to be trusted. I’m not particularly concerned if I’m liked.”
Go get ‘em, girl. The sad thing is, Speaker Pelosi is “hated” because she happens to be the only Democrat on Capitol Hill with verifiable cojones.
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