By Dan Perrin
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. Weve gone from passing bills without reading them to passing bills without voting on them."
They havent 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. (Its 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 its just that its a bi-partisan alliance against his bill. What is causing
cognitive dissonance in the White House and among the Democratic Partys cognoscenti is the simple fact that the only thing bi-partisan about ObamaCare is the opposition to it.
And the Slaughter plan of passing ObamaCare without voting on it in the face of the Senate Parliamentarian decision the current political anti-incumbent environment the views of independent voters and seniors about ObamaCare is as if the Democrats are like the self-immolating monks protesting the Vietnam War.
The Speakers problem is that not every Democrat has signed up for the ObamaCare self-immolation school of Pelosi politics.
If the Dems actually try the Slaughter (no pun intended) plan Americans will burn down the Dems house. Really. No kidding.
In the meantime the House Republicans should petition the Supreme Court to hear their case against the-pass-the-bill-without-voting-on-it should the Dems try it. The Supreme Court would quickly declare it unconstitutional. But just the fact that I am writing this sentence makes me feel like I am writing about a banana republic you know where the rules are ignored and a small minority is imposing draconian changes and hated laws on a public straining to also play by the rules.
But in banana republics where leaders give the Constitution and the public the middle finger the public eventually gets really very angry and starts doing more than breaking windows. Something like this could persuade some that it is just not fair if only one side plays by the rules.
Meanwhile outside of the Slaughter-Pelosi fantasy land the news keeps getting worse for the Dems. The Hill ran a story today titled: House Democrats no votes are piling up as healthcare reform moves forward" and Talking Points Memo reports another No is still at No.
An undecided who was not even listed on the NRCC whip count (meaning they did not think he would switch from Yes to No) but was listed in The Hills whip count as undecided is sounding very much like a No vote as Talking Points Memo reports.
And the Hispanic Caucus has seemed to learn their lesson from Rep. Stupak and Senator Lieberman if you want a change that the House Leadership will not give you take their bill hostage until they cave.
Of course the Hispanic Caucus must shoot the hostage if the Leadership says No and the perceived credibility on the shoot-the-hostage-part is really low for the Hispanic Caucus. Their beef is they want illegals to be included as beneficiaries in ObamaCare.
Regardless of whether or not you think the Hispanic Caucus has the cajones to pull the trigger the Leadership is now faced with another pool of possible
No votes against the Senate bill just like the pro-lifers maybe.
What is beginning to happen is pretty clear: since Members believe the leadership does not have the votes and ObamaCare will fail in the House there is a line forming in front of No so Members can get on the right side of their voters the Speakers pleadings for her caucus to self-immolate notwithstanding.
