Dems Itching to Power-Ram ObamaCare Through & Ignore American Voters… Queen Pelosi Says “Time Is Up” but Rep. Paul Ryan Says She Doesn’t Have the Votes (video)
Posted By Vicki McClure Davidson on March 1, 2010
Protest in Washington DC, November 2009 | Photo credit: robbybphotos, Flickr
Despite the bitter cold in Washington, DC, things are heating up in Congress over the increasingly unpopular, non-bipartisan, outrageously expensive, government-oppressive health care bill. Even billionaire liberal and Obama supporter Warren Buffet is now speaking out against Obama’s health care bill, saying scrap it.
But, nooooooo…. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has her steel locking jaws firmly latched on the notion that most Democrats in Congress will be willing, thrilled, delighted to fall on their own swords, die from exsanguination, and destroy their political careers by ignoring their constituents and voting for this 2,700-page health “non-care” nightmare, all for Dear Leader.
Not so fast, SanFranNan… some congressional folks actually LISTEN to those who voted for them. Even elected Democrats. And most like their cushy jobs with all the fabulous American-funded perks, thank you very much. Move that pointy sword away, you statist shrew. Obviously, the myriad facts and figures provided by the Republicans during Pres. Obama’s dog-and-pony summit snoozer last week at Blair House have been hastily swept under the Team Obama/Pelosi rug.
Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) says Pelosi does NOT have the votes… just more disingenuous spin from Team Obama, methinks.
From Associated Press: White House: Simple up-or-down vote on health care:
WASHINGTON – The White House called for a “simple up-or-down” vote on health care legislation Sunday as Speaker Nancy Pelosi appealed to House Democrats to get behind President Barack Obama’s chief domestic priority even it if threatens their political careers.
In voicing support for a simple majority vote, White House health reform director Nancy-Ann DeParle signaled Obama’s intention to push the Democratic-crafted bill under Senate rules that would overcome GOP stalling tactics.
Republicans unanimously oppose the Democratic proposals. Without GOP support, Obama’s only chance of emerging with a policy and political victory is to bypass the bipartisanship he promoted during his televised seven-hour health care summit Thursday.
“We’re not talking about changing any rules here,” DeParle said. “All the president’s talking about is: Do we need to address this problem and does it make sense to have a simple, up-or-down vote on whether or not we want to fix these problems?”
DeParle was optimistic that the president would have the votes to pass the massive bill. But none of legislation’s advocates who spoke on Sunday indicated that those votes were in hand.
“I think we will get to that point where we will have the votes,” predicted Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., a member of the Senate Democratic leadership. “I believe that we will pass health care reform this spring.”
In a sober call to arms, Pelosi said lawmakers sometimes must enact policies that, even if unpopular at the moment, will help the public. “We’re not here just to self-perpetuate our service in Congress,” she said. “We’re here to do the job for the American people.”
Pelosi said it took courage for Congress to pass Social Security and Medicare, which eventually became highly popular, “and many of the same forces that were at work decades ago are at work again against this bill.”
It’s unclear whether Pelosi’s remarks will embolden or chill dozens of moderate House Democrats who face withering criticisms of the health care proposal in visits with constituents and in national polls. Republican lawmakers unanimously oppose the health care proposals, and many GOP strategists believe voters will turn against Democrats in the November elections.
Pelosi, from San Francisco, is more liberal than scores of her Democratic colleagues. But she generally walks a careful line between urging them to back left-of-center policies and giving them a green light to buck party leaders to improve their re-election hopes.
Her comments seemed to acknowledge the widely held view that Democrats will lose House seats this fall — maybe a lot. They now control the chamber 255 to 178, with two vacancies. Pelosi stopped well short of suggesting Democrats could lose their majority, but she called on members of her party to make a bold move on health care with no prospects of GOP help.
“Time is up,” she said. “We really have to go forth.”
Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia, the second-ranking Republican leader in the House, made it clear Republicans see a Democrats-only bill as an election-year issue.
“If Speaker Pelosi rams through this bill, through the House … they will lose their majority in Congress in November,” he said.
[...]
Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky renewed his party’s demand that Obama and the Democrats start over and write a bipartisan health care bill. He said that while the reconciliation process has been used to pass legislation in the past, it should not apply to health care legislation.
“There are a number of other Republicans who do not think something of this magnitude ought to be jammed down the throats of a public that doesn’t want it through this kind of device,” McConnell said.
FOX News: Rep. Paul Ryan: Pelosi Doesn’t Have the Votes on Health Care | February 28, 2010
More from Rep. Paul Ryan… this interview was broadcast back in July 2009.
Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) Rips MSNBC For ‘Using Capitalist Rhetoric’ To Move Anti-Market Obamacare | July 2009
From Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion, Don’t Believe It Or Not Believe It:
The Democrats have the votes to use budget reconciliation not only to pass Obama’s health care proposal as outlined just prior to the health care summit, but also possibly to add in a public option – or so the messengers would have you believe.
There is a consistent spin being put out by Democrats since the summit to create the illusion of inevitability to the budget reconciliation process being used to pass non-budgetary legislation.
Don’t believe it, or not believe it.
No one really knows if the votes are there, and if so, how the Senate Parliamentarian will rule on such procedural issues. And even then, there are legislative tactics which may be used either to kill the process or to make it even more damaging for Democrats.
The messengers simply are trying to demoralize the opposition, and to give a backbone to those Democrats who are wavering. It’s all spin.
Keep focused on killing the worst piece of legislation “since the Great Depression.”
From Thomas Del Beccaro, Big Government, Liberty and Government: An American Tipping Point:
Thomas Paine said that “It is the duty of every patriot to protect his country from its government.” He did so amidst the long shadow of a centralized government which regarded individual rights as secondary to its own. Today, “56% of people questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey . . . say they think the federal government’s become so large and powerful that it poses an immediate threat to the rights and freedoms of ordinary citizens.” They do so in the shadow of a government seeking to take control of nearly 17% of the US economy, if not that portion of our lives, in the name of caring for our health.
For any that have cared to listen to the debates over multi-trillion dollar spending programs, tax hikes, cap and trade or health care, at issue is not simply whether those huge government programs would provide lasting solutions – they will not – at issue is our basic right to Liberty. Quite frankly, it was never the assumption of the Founding Fathers that it was the role of government to provide a moving target standard of living for Americans. It was their sincere hope that the government of limited powers they set up would allow people to pursue their lives, Liberty and happiness. To do so they, wanted to hamstring government’s ability to act – not ours.
Since then, of course, the scale has tipped in favor of government power over our pursuits.
From Michelle Malkin, Dems: Screw bipartisanship, full steam ahead on Obamacare hara-kiri:
This is the new strategy of the Dems — to keep repeating out loud that they have the support and they have the votes (even as they urge their members to commit health care hara-kiri and go down with the ship against the will of their constituents).
Pelosi is looking into her mirror and into the cameras and repeating: I have the votes.
They are counting on wearing down their opponents, catching them off-guard, and taking their silence as consent.
As year two of the Tea Party movement begins, job number one is to stop the Obamacare juggernaut, restore true deliberation to the deliberative process, and revoke the consent of the governed to the backroom deals and generational theft being crammed down our throats in the name of compassion and “reform.”
Additional reading:
GayPatriot: Will Paul Ryan’s statement (that government doesn’t have the answers) come to define the boring health care summit?
Tarheel Pundit: 51 Senators to Give Americans the Bird
Flopping Aces: Pelosi – A Bill Can Be Bipartisan Without Bipartisan Votes and Obama Continues to Push Health Care When Country Needs Jobs
Frugal Café Blog Zone: If Looks Could Kill: Obama’s Face During Rep. Paul Ryan’s Dismantling of Dems’ Health Care Costs (video) and Olbermann Will Freak Out & Call These Health Care Protesters “Racists” & Obama’s Nose Picking During Summit (video) and Obama’s Health Care Summit at Blair House: Big-time Snoozeville, Bring a Pillow — Highlights and Lowlights (video) and Kill the ObamaCare Beast… “Fiscal Gimmicks and Gamesmanship,” Krauthammer’s “Masquerading Travesty” Analysis (video) and Republican Whip Cantor & Rush Limbaugh Let Loose: Breakdown of Obama’s Health Care Plan (video) and Showdown Time: Obama’s Health Care Plan… Congress, Like It or Lump It… 78% of American Voters Believe Health Costs Will Skyrocket and How Much Are Americans Willing to Pay to Insure Everyone on ObamaCare? Most Popular Poll Response: “ZERO”
On My Watch – the writings of SamHenry: Pelosi Making it Hard for Dems to be Loved and It’s Theater of the Absurd, Mr. President.
Nice Deb: Nice Deb: The Obama Dems and Their Flagrant Abuse Of Power and Video: Rep. Paul Ryan Says The House Still Does Not Have The Votes To Pass Obamacare and A Majority of Americans Say “Scrap the Bill” – Dems Determined to Ram it Through, Anyway and By The Way – Obama Was Wrong About Insurance Premiums
Charging Elephant: It’s not About Political Parties. It’s About Liberty
The Substratum: Rule By Tyranny. Senator Byrd’s (D-WV) Thoughts on Reconciliation
Gateway Pundit: Matt Damon Disappointed in Obama; He’s Not Radical Enough and Dems Call to Pass O-Care With Simple Up-or-Down Vote and Gergen at CNN: Republicans Just Had Their Best Day in Years (Video) and Top Dem Says House Will Pass Obamacare With More Votes the 2nd Time Around and House Republican Leader John Boehner: Obama’s Health Care Proposal Jeopardizes Summit and Pelosi Aide Admits Bipartisan Health Care Summit Is a Trick
VotingFemale: Obama, the Nose-Picker-In-Chief on Live TV and Obama vows 2010 campaign war to win back so-called ‘misinformed voters’ after ObamaCare Ram Down is complete
Patterico’s Pontifications: Obama Gets Schooled and “Because I’m the President”
No Sheeples Here: Totally Unnecessary “Nugget” From The Blair House Kabuki Political Theatre
Philip Klein, American Spectator: Zogby Poll Shows Americans Unwilling to Pay Higher Taxes to Insure Everybody
Weasel Zippers: Obama Picked His Nose During Health Care Summit…
Another Black Conservative: ObamaCare 3.0? and Let the games begin
John Nolte, Big Hollywood: Matt Damon’s Upcoming ‘Green Zone’ a Bush-Bash-Athon
Lachlan Markay, NewsBusters: MSNBC’s Norah O’Donnell Bungles the Facts in ‘Truth-squadding’ Attempt
Michelle Malkin: Blowhard-a-thon at Blair House: Health care summit open thread; Update: Alexander calls out Dems on reconciliation; Obama to McCain: “We’re not campaigning anymore” and Lights! Cameras! Health care Oba-kabuki!; Update: WH excludes governors, state legislators
Ace of Spades HQ: Paul Ryan Dismantles Obama’s Claims of Cost Reductions
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