No Runny Eggs

Mark Tapscott has this morning’s episode of Rank Hypocrisy. Paraphrasing Mark:

• In 2005, due to a transcription error by the Senate secretary on a single item, the House passed a debt-ceiling-raising bill that was slightly different than the version that passed the Senate. The Senate clerk, realizing the error after the House passed it, changed the item, presented it to the presiding officers, who both signed it and sent it to President Bush, who proceeded to sign it.
• Public Citizen filed suit in an attempt to annul the law (ultimately unsuccessful), saying that it violated the requirement that identitcal version of a bill be passed by both Houses of Congress before it becomes law.
• Joining Public Citizen with amicus briefs – Nancy Pelosi, Louise Slaughter and Henry Waxman.

Nothing more needs to be said.

I don’t believe I can do a better job than Charles Krauthammer explaining the failure of PlaceboCare. I’ll “borrow” the part where Krauthammer explains why the sum is worse than the parts:

Allow me to demystify. Imagine a bill granting every American a free federally delivered ice cream every Sunday morning. Provision 2: steak on Monday, also home delivered. Provision 3: A dozen red roses every Tuesday. You get the idea. Would each individual provision be popular in the polls? Of course.

However (life is a vale of howevers) suppose these provisions were bundled into a bill that also spelled out how the goodies are to be paid for and managed — say, half a trillion dollars in new taxes, half a trillion in Medicare cuts (cuts not to keep Medicare solvent but to pay for the ice cream, steak and flowers), 118 new boards and commissions to administer the bounty-giving, and government regulation dictating, for example, how your steak was to be cooked. How do you think this would poll?

Perhaps something like 3-1 against, which is what the latest CNN poll shows is the citizenry’s feeling about the current Democratic health care bills.

However, I do disagree that the body blow was how to pay for it. The Senate had before it, at a point when they needed absolutely no Republican support and no need for what Michelle Malkin has aptly called “Wreconciliation”, a bill that did everything the Left has ever wanted out of PlaceboCare but one “minor” detail – full federal funding for and a mandate on private insurance to provide abortion-on-demand. In order to get that into PlaceboCare, they sacrificed the official public “option” (with no real change in the cost), shifted a big part of the payment of the costs from “the rich” to businesses deemed to be too generous with their health-care plans, and threw in so much bribery that the House initially blanched at taking it up.

If you hear the word “jihad,” what comes to mind?  Outside of an immediate thought of “Islam,” how about one of this: 

A crusade or struggle characterized by the participants willingness to sacrifice their own lives for the benefit of said crusade or struggle.

It’s now apparent that the Democrat leadership of President Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Harry, dancing on another 36,000 job deaths, Reid, have decided to do anything and everything they can to pass Placebocare.  Which version or what is actually contained in Placebocare doesn’t even matter to them anymore.  They will enact any version or combination of the government takeover of health care that they can find enough votes or contrivance of procedures to get it passed. 

The vehicle that is getting the most focus for enacting Placebocare is via reconciliation.  For the life of me I can’t figure out how they use reconciliation as there isn’t a bill that both Houses are working on.  In my mind, the only way to get Placebocare passed, as things stand today, is to convince the House to pass the Senate bill just as it stands.

Whether the Democrats attempt reconciliation, pass the Senate bill or use some other mechanism, the implications on their November prospects are the same; Horrible!  Note the following quotes and polls:

“What the President is really asking House Democrats to do is hold hands, jump off a cliff and hope Harry Reid catches them,” Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), chairman of the Senate Republican Conference said.  “And, Harry Reid will have no incentive to catch them because by the time he gets to the reconciliation bill, the President will have already signed the health care bill into law.”

“It was another emphatic denunciation by [Democratic Rep. Stephanie] Herseth Sandlin of the reconciliation process, a controversial technique allowing Democratic leadership in the Senate to bypass an otherwise required 60-vote super majority. And it also was a clear rejection of the Senate version of health-care reform, approved when Democrats still had the 60 votes needed for a super majority.” (Kevin Woster, “Herseth Sandlin says no to Senate health bill, reconciliation,” Rapid City Journal, 03/04/10)

“House Democrats have said they don’t trust the Senate to actto make changes to the Senate bill, which the House would likely have to pass before they’re able to take up a new bill to make changes to that original legislation.” (Michael O’Brien, “Stabenow: House and Dems hammering out final health bill details,” The Hill, 03/04/10)

 “… 48 percent saying lawmakers should work on an entirely new bill and a quarter saying Congress should stop all work on health care reform.” (Paul Steinhauser, “CNN Poll: Health care provisions popular but overall bills unpopular,” CNN, 02/24/10)

Even Howard Dean, no shrinking violet when it comes to larger government and bureaucratic controls, recognizes that budget gimmickry of Placebocare will cause the Democrats pain not only in 2010 but also in the 2012 election:

“The plan, as it comes from the Senate, hangs out every Democrat who’s running for office to dry — including the president, in 2012, because it makes him defend a plan that isn’t in effect essentially yet,” Dean said during an appearance on the liberal Bill Press Radio Show.

With the heated, negative perception of Placebocare, even amongst the Democrats themselves, a reasonable question would be, “Why, if the results are surely political death, would Obama, Pelosi and Reid push for the passage of Placebocare?”  The answer is very straight forward; the Democrat leadership is perfectly willing to commit political suicide for themselves and all those around them, if they are able to move their crusade forward.  Obama, Pelosi and Reid are American jihadists.

If you believe that my use of the term “jihadist” is nothing but hyperbole, you haven’t been paying attention.  Look at the words of Nancy Pelosi.  Numerous publications including the WSJ, have reported Pelosi telling members of her caucus that she is willing to lose seats if they can pass Placebocare.  More to the point, were the Democrats to lose the number of seats that they are now estimated to lose, Pelosi herself would certainly lose the Speaker position.

One of the confounding challenges of combating Islamic jihadists is that they don’t fear their own death.  In fact, Islamic jihadists are told that they will garner a great reward in the afterlife if they sacrifice their physical bodies.  In like manner, the Democrats are willing to sacrifice their political lives to ensure the securing a key victory in their crusade.  President Obama and Nancy Pelosi have been working hard to ensure the House jihadists that they too will receive great rewards should they lose their political life.

In the end, whether Placebocare succeeds or fails in the House will depend on one thing; will the House members choose the life they know or will they choose the rewards promised them in their political afterlife?

(H/T – Michelle Malkin)

Andrew McCarthy unloaded on the Senate “Republicans” who dumped all over Sen. Jim Bunning (R-KY) for daring to ask that, in a budget of $3,600 billion, that $10 billion in excessive spending (or 0.28%) be found to pay for a month’s extension of unemployment benefits that were already extended from 6 months to 15-17 months depending on the state:

In sum, Bunning’s battle gave Republicans a chance to make points about runaway deficit spending, the fraudulence of PAYGO posturing, the foolish redistribution of wealth to create expensive and unproductive government jobs, unemployment-benefit extensions that Democrats refuse to pay for and that actually increase unemployment, and the monstrous rationing that would be wrought by Obamacare. So, did Republicans rally behind Bunning? Not a chance.

Why? Why abandon this fight when the GOP has the facts on its side? Why no enthusiasm when a year of Obama’s forced march to crony socialism has the public more receptive than ever to the case for slashing government? Simple: Republicans are afraid of being demagogued — as Democrats and the media demagogued Bunning — as wanting to cut off funding (i.e., money we don’t have) for unemployment insurance and the usual laundry list of other Big Government baubles like COBRA coverage, satellite TV dishes, the “highway trust fund,” etc. Republicans also did not want their own sorry PAYGO history rehashed.

Here’s the sad truth: For all the shining they did at last week’s White House “summit” on health care, when it gets down to actually putting the brakes on the Big Gummint Express, most of today’s Republicans are AWOL. They’re great at the debate society. But making the fight on something concrete, really saying no when it means grinding redistribution to a halt, means taking the slings and arrows. No thanks, they say, let’s just make the whole thing go away on a voice vote, the sooner the better. Indeed, while Senator Bunning should be lauded for engaging this fight, it is telling that he took it on only after deciding not to seek reelection.

In a Corner post this past weekend called “Transformation,” I dissented from the heady palaver on the Right about how Democrats are headed for a November Waterloo. I think the Left has already factored in the inevitability of setbacks — perhaps heavy setbacks — in the next few election cycles. While our side swoons over the prospect, the statists coldly calculate that these losses are a price well worth paying in order to impose a transformative takeover of the economy.

It is a perfectly rational calculation for two reasons.

First, with a significantly bigger and more powerful government bureaucracy, there will be many avenues for leadership to reward Democrats who lose their seats after casting the unpopular votes necessary to enact the Left’s program. White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, who spent his post-Clinton wilderness months in a lucrative sinecure at Freddie Mac, knows well how this game works — and, under Obama’s command, the economy is becoming one big Freddie.

Second, and more important, Democrats know the electoral setbacks will only be temporary. They are banking on the assurance that Republicans merely want to win elections and have no intention of rolling back Obamacare, much less of dismantling Leviathan.

For my money (while I still have some), that’s an eminently sound bet. The Bunning battle, in which the GOP was nowhere to be found, is the proof. Bunning just wanted Congress to live within its gargantuan means. Yet, the Washington Post ridiculed him: “angry and alone, a one-man blockade against unemployment benefits, Medicare payments to doctors, satellite TV to rural Americans and paychecks to highway workers.” That’s outrageously unfair, but it is a day at the beach compared to the Armageddon that would be unleashed upon any attempt to undo Obama’s welfare state on steroids.

As it turns out, Republicans didn’t have the stomach for a fight over wealth transfers that plainly exacerbate the problem of unemployment. Why would anyone think they’d take on a far more demanding war, in which Democrats and the legacy media would relentlessly indict them for “denying health insurance to millions of Americans”?

Even if the GOP gets a majority for a couple of cycles, even if President Obama is defeated in his 2012 reelection bid, Obamacare will be forever. And once the public sees that the GOP won’t try to dismantle Obamacare, it will lose any enthusiasm for Republicans. Democrats will eventually return to power, and it will be power over a much bigger, much more intrusive government.

The historical strategy of the Left has been to create a new Leviathan growth of Socialist government every 30 years, stave off defeat of said Leviathan until it becomes so ingrained into the culture that even those that would have worked to kill it both before it its creation and during its infancy accept its place in the culture (which usually takes 15-20 years), then repeat the cycle.

(H/T – Kevin Fischer)

I’m actually surprised that CNN ran with this short montage of Teh Won’s facial expressions while Republicans were making their points at the PlaceboCare “summit” last week….

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Si1Xec3elDU[/youtube]

As Kevin said, “Sure Obama wanted to listen to Republicans….really he did!” And we have a “slightly-used” bridge to sell you.

Folks,

I have run out of words and thoughts that would attempt to explain the thinking of the left.  As the posts by Birdman, Steve and myself discuss, we are each unable to reconcile the high desire of self preservation that every elected official has with the “CHARGE” mentality of forging ahead with placebocare.

In an attempt to create a mental picture of what I’m seeing, imagine that the look out on the Titanic had just spotted the iceberg while it was still about two miles off.  Most of us would expect that upon notification, the Captain would tell the helmsman to slow down and steer a course to avoid the iceberg.  If Nancy Pelosi or Harry Reid were that Captain, I’d see them responding by telling the helmsman to set a course directly for the iceberg and yell loudly for the engines to be increased to “full speed ahead.”  They would do this because while they know there will be casualties, they’re OK with those casualties.

The latest evidence of Pelosi and Reid giving the American people the middle finger comes from Rasmussen.  Amongst their latest findings:

• Seventy-eight percent (78%) of voters nationwide say it’s at least somewhat likely that the health care reform legislation working its way through Congress will cost more than projected.
• Eighty-one percent (81%) also think passage of the legislation is at least somewhat likely to lead to higher middle-class taxes.
• The survey finds that 68% believe the legislation will increase the federal budget deficit.

No more is it sufficient to say that the American people are not in favor of placebocare.  With the latest Rasmussen results, we are now able to say that up to 81% of the American people believe that both Houses of Congress AND President Obama are lying to them about the implications of this legislation! 

Stop for a moment…………………………………………..Just sit still………………………………………Sip your coffee…………………….breath deeply………………………………………consider that last statement…………………

Up to 81% of the American people believe that both Houses of Congress AND President Obama are lying to them about the implications of this legislation! 

And yet, they proceed!

Shoebox and Birdman have been having a spirited debate on the future of PlaceboCare. While I hope that Birdman is right that this can still be scuttled, I’m of even a more sour opinion than Shoebox. Allow me to put in my 2-cents’ worth:

• There are actually three versions of PlaceboCare out there: the version that passed the Senate on a party-line vote (the hijacked H.R. 3950), lacking any sort of public option but financing abortion-on-demand; the version that barely passed the House (H.R. 3962), lacking financing for abortion-on-demand but having a public option; and H.R. 3200, still lurking in the shadows and having both the public option and financing for abortion-on-demand. Of the three, only H.R. 3200 and a completely-unamended version of H.R. 3950 would not have to go through a 60-vote test in the Senate.
• The limited debate on H.R. 3950 strongly suggests that there would be 50 votes (plus Biden) in the Senate for H.R. 3200.
• If Nancy Pelosi can get a majority to support an nearly-unchanged (from the Senate-hijacked) version of H.R. 3950 (or even a completely-unchanged version), it is likely that she would also be able to get a majority for H.R. 3200. After all, the bigger stumbling block in the House has been abortion-on-demand funding.
• If Scott Brown pulls off the upset in Massachusetts and wins next month’s special election to permanently fill Ted Kennedy’s Senate seat (and if the ‘Rats seat him), the Democrats would not be able to get to 60 votes for either an amended H.R. 3950 or a Senate-considered H.R. 3962 (at least without the defection of one of the Maine Wonder Twins).
• As Shoebox said, Pelosi doesn’t much care about losing 40 ‘Rats, especially if they’re Blue Lap Dogs. I’ll add to that by saying Harry Reid and company aren’t at all worried about losing a majority in the Senate. Indeed, given the lack of NRSC/NRC support for Brown, I have my doubts about the Republicans’ desire to pick up even one net seat in 2010.
• However, I disagree with Shoebox that just “anything” will mollify the moonbats’ anger that full-out Communism hasn’t broken out yet. If the Dems lose control of the House in 2010, it will be in large part because the ‘bats stayed home to protest “nothing” being done, much like how the Republicans lost control in 2006. That is the threat that Pelosi will respond to.

Damn, I hope I’m wrong. I REALLY hope I’m wrong.

Well, it’s official now.  I feel the need to get it off my chest.

Birdman and I have been having an ongoing, private debate.  He believes placebocare will yet meet its Waterloo.  His primary belief, which he outlines nicely here,  is that the looming deficit will be the piece that brings enough Democrat votes together with Republicans, to kill this freedom obliterating bill.  I don’t want to make Birdman sound like a myopic Pollyanna.  He also believes that abortion, public option or a host of other issues could also cause the bill to stall.  In short, if I may paraphrase, he believes there are too many moving pieces and too many Democrats who will have to face election next year, to hold together the votes that were there on the passage of the original House and Senate versions.

I on the other hand, have complete confidence in the Democrats to push this bill through to the end.  Let me lay out my rationale.

1. As I wrote yesterday, Payola Palooza is now in play.   Any Democrat member that Pelosi or Reid would need in a second vote, now have a price tag on their head.  Most Senators have already been bought.  Representatives go for much much less.  While there is a lot of talk about deficits, Harry, Nancy nor President Obama really care about them when it comes to passing this legislation.
2. Obama is in trouble.  Read any poll you want and it is clear that Obama’s approval is falling on all political fronts.  Heck, even African Americans are down in the 60% approval level.  If Obama fails to get placebocare passed it could be argued that he is Ofer in his first year with no where to go but down.  All of his chips are in on placebocare.   He’ll get Nancy and Harry to do everything possible to keep him from becoming irrelevant before his first State of the Union.
3. Elections – all the talk about Democrats having to face the electorate is a smoke screen.  Nancy Pelosi has already said she expects to lose up to 40 seats next year.  She considers these “transitional” seats.  She believes that they are the Democrat version of RINOS and should be replaced by more vigilant Marxists! 
4. To the argument that Birdman makes about self preservation, I present exhibit A.  Expect to see many more “centrist” Democrats to announce their “retirements” in the next few weeks.  These are people who know they are dead people walking i.e. vote for the bill and they won’t get reelected, vote against the bill and Pelosi will have them cleaning the Republican urinals until they retire.  Oh, and if you think, “poor people, they’ll be out of work!”  Don’t worry, for anyone that goes willingly, Nancy has cushy, high paying and high pension jobs lined up for each of the votes she needs to buy.
5. It doesn’t have XXXXX (name your favorite feature.)  Sorry, it doesn’t matter whether it is the public option, abortion, the deficit or any of the other items id’d as “deal breakers.”  None of them will ultimately be “deal breakers!”  In the end, the far left, the moderate left and all other versions of the left will accept anything that will pass with the understanding that if they pass it now, regardless of what is actually passed, they can fix it later.  Perfection is not required, passing something, anything is!
6. Finally, history!  There is no doubt that every Democrat looks at this bill as historical.  While I admit to not understanding it, I see a similar pattern with placebocare as there was with the election of Barack Obama.  It was clear from early on that Obama was a Marxist and apologist who would do this country harm.  Objective people, people who actually wanted to look at the information, saw through the veneer of public persona that was being created.  Unfortunately for our country, in the end, too many people got caught up in the sale of “change” and the historicity of the first black president.  Placebocare is on the same track.  Any logical, thinking person can see the line of broken promises we’ll experience if placebocare is based.  That said, this isn’t about logic.  This is all about emotion and history for the Democrats.

There, now you’re on the inside of a debate that Birdman and I have had for several weeks.  Don’t get me wrong, I hope I’m wrong and Birdman is right.  Unfortunately, I’m used to the Democrats going against anything that resembles America but I’m hoping to be pleasantly surprised!

The toner hasn’t yet set on the Harry Reid’s version of placebocare and positions are already being taken on how the House and Senate will reconcile their bills.  The AP has an enlightening article that quotes numerous Democrat Representatives laying out how they see the House and Senate bill harmonizing:

James Clyburn, a strong advocate for the public option, when asked whether the final bill would be required to have a public option answered:

“We want a public option to do basically three things: Create more choice for insurers, create more competition for insurance companies, and to contain costs. So if we can come up with a process by which these three things can be done, then I’m all for it. Whether or not we label it a public option or not is of no consequence.”

Representative Chris Van Hollen said:

“Before the House was to give up the public option, we would want to be persuaded that there are other mechanisms in whatever bill comes out that will keep down premiums.  We’ve got to make sure that the final product is affordable.”

At first blush, these and other similar quotes, look like the normal “congressionalese” that is spoken any time a negotiation is about to take place.  However, in light of what we just watched in the Senate, particularly with the purchase of Ben Nelson’s vote (a side note:  I thought “Pay for play” was illegal?  Wasn’t that what Blagojevich and Burris were/are accused of?), comments like these need to be understood in a whole new way.

“Hey, I’m not fixated on a name.  I want to make sure we accomplish some specific goals,” is what appears to be Clyburn’s thoughtful response.  However, let’s take another look at Clyburn’s quote after putting on our official “Ben Nelson, you too can look like a whore” brand reading glasses.  With our special glasses, what initially looked like a principled, practical response, now reads:

“I could be persuaded to give up the public option.  First, while I don’t care if it actually does it, I need to be able to tell my constituents that the bill does three things:  Create more choice for insurers, create more competition for insurance companies, and to contain costs.  I’m sure we can add several hundred pages of confusing language that will give the impression that we’ve done this even thought we won’t.   Second, after seeing what has transpired in the Senate, I’ve developed a price that my vote can be purchased for.  Whether we end up having a public option or not is of no consequence as long as I get the appropriate gratuity!”

Let’s now look at Representative Van Hollen’s comment.  After you’ve used your official “Ben Nelson, you too can look like a whore” brand reading glasses once, subsequent quotes are much easier to decipher.

“Before I give up the public option, I would want to be persuaded that there are other mechanisms in whatever bill comes out that will keep down premiums.  We’ve got to make sure that the final product is affordable.  I expect other taxpayers to be subservient to the sluggards of my district so that my constituents will not have to pay any of the ridiculous taxes that have been placed in this bill.  With this benefit and the agreed to publicity that the DHCC will guarantee to provide me on this topic, I should be well on my way to buying myself another term in the House!”

Now that we’ve seen the vote purchasing in the Senate we will never again read or hear, any comment by any Congressperson about what he/she will or won’t accept in legislation without thinking, “I wonder how much they expect to be bribed for their vote?”  Keep you pair of “Ben Nelson, you too can look like a whore” brand reading glasses handy.  You’ll be reaching for them every day from now until November of 2010!

Ray Stevens with his thoughts on Placebocare

Late this afternoon, Senate Minority Leader, Mitch McConnell waved the white flag.  As reported by RollCall, McConnell made an agreement withHarry Reid to pass a two month extension on the debt limit and waive the remaining time required to get to the final vote on the passage of Placebocare.  McConnell, recognizing that he never had any bullets (heck, even Barney Fife at least had one bullet) decided it was the better part of valor to waive the time and allow a timely departure for the Christmas holiday for all senators and staff rather than hold to the last second and be labeled a Scrooge on top of the label of “dolt!”

By Christmas there will be two versions of Placebocare that couldn’t be more different.  In fact, about the only thing the two bills have in common are the allegation that they both pertain to health care.  Now that both houses have passed a bill, the questions become these:  Can the two bills be reconciled and if they are, will both houses vote to support the reconciled bill?

The question of whether the bills can be reconciled is obvious.  Nancy, Harry and Rahmwill do anything and everything to get a bill that will go back to both chamber floors.  Don’t think for a second that there will be an issue that one of them can’t strong arm or buy their way through.  So, that leaves the question of whether the reconciled bill can be passed.

There’s lots of new bad news out for President Obama the Democrats and Placebocare.  In a new Quinnipiac poll, 72% oppose using any public money from placebocare to pay for abortions.  The same poll found that by a margin of 52% to 36%, Americans oppose placebocare and by a margin of 56% to 38% they disapprove of the way that President Obama is handling the issue of health care reform.  Perhaps most significant out of the Quinnipiac poll is that there is no economic or age demographic that now supports Obama’s handling of placebocare.  Not even the young people support Obama on placebocare any longer.

The latest Rasmussen polls are even more damaging to President Obama and Placebocare. After having shrunk to about a 10 point deficit, Rasmussen now shows that public opinion is back, and holding, near it’s high of a 15% deficit, and that’s the good news!

Early today, Rasmussen released it’s daily presidential tracking report. After hitting a new high, or rather low, of -19 ten days ago, the trend had been improving for President Obama recovering to a -12 a week ago. However, in the past few days the trend has not only reversed, it’s reversed at a staggering rate. On December 20th, the rating was -15. In just two days the poll leaped to a -21, a 6 point swing! Does anyone thing it coincidence that the health care votes are occurring during the same time frame as this dramatic change? The same daily poll shows even amongst African-Americans Obama’s support is now only 58%. Do you remember when 90% of African-Americans voted for President Obama?

Finally, early last evening, Rasmussen released the latest generic poll. Republicans now lead Democrats by 8 points, the highest level this year and the highest level for a considerable period of time.

Back to the question.  It’s clear that placebocare is shunned everywhere and by everyone.  It’s clear in all the polls, including President Obama’s favorability rating, that the public is rigidly set against the bill.  That said, I won’t put one penny of a bet against Nancy, Harry and company and their ability to rig another set of votes.  I will say this though, if the Democrats manage to pass this bill, the political tables will turn 180 degrees from where they were in 2008.  In 2008 you almost couldn’t buy an election if you were a Republican.  If placebocare is passed, in 2010, Democrats won’t be able to buy an election and that’s saying something!  The fact that the Democrats either don’t see this or believe that they can somehow avoid it is a willingness to suspend disbelief that is far worse than that required by Hillary Clinton when she questioned General Patraeus!

Regardless of the way that placebocare proceeds from here, I have a suggestion for the Republicans.  Rather than the normal congenial hand off of time on the chamber floor i.e. I yield my time to the good Senator from the State of XYZ, I propose that the Republicans brand the Democrats in a way that will keep the issue in the forefront for the foreseeable future.  I propose the Republicans brand the Democrats what they are by saying each time, “I yield my time to the good Senator from the State of Denial!”

This piece from the American Eneterprise Institute could also be titled, “You can have any health insurance plan you want, as long as it’s black Communist Red.”:

All of which brings us to the question of whether you’ll be able to spend extra money to add benefits that exceed the government’s basic package or opt out of that plan entirely. The bill doesn’t address this question directly–yet I can say with great confidence that it will be costly and in some cases impossible.

The bill leaves these issues in the hands of the bureaucracies that will write the law’s enabling regulations. And it’s clear both what the spirit of the Obama plan and the habits of these bureaucracies will produce.

I’ll temporarily stop the quote to remind you that under the current version of PlaceboCare, anything that the bureaucrats write will essentially not be reviewable by Congress. Let’s continue.

The overriding goal of this reform is to turn health insurance into a more “egalitarian” benefit that’s the same for everyone, regardless of income, personal preference or need. So rules written under President Obama to implement the Obama plan are a sure bet to intentionally curtail anyone’s ability to wrap around this national coverage with a supplemental policy or to contract privately with doctors to pay your way out of its limitations.

This is exactly what the bureaucracy’s done with Medicare. Doctors accepting Medicare can’t contract privately with Medicare patients to bill for services that Medicare doesn’t cover. Nor can patients buy added coverage to help plug Medicare’s gaps. (The “Medigap” that many seniors now buy are tightly regulated by the government to limit how much they expand on Medicare’s basic benefits; they mostly just help defray co-pays.)

In short, beneficiaries are trapped inside the Medicare insurance scheme, just as they’ll soon be trapped inside the ObamaCare exchanges. Doctors can’t offer benefits not covered by the government plans, and patients can’t buy extra insurance to make up for many gaps….

The very rich, of course, will be able to buy their way out of ObamaCare. Many of the best doctors will go cash only, opting entirely out of the Obama program, to cater to a wealthy clientele. But only the truly affluent will have the cash to escape.

Yes, folks, you read the headline right – The Dingy One has, as part of the Dingy version of PlaceboCare, made it “out of order” for either House of Congress to overrule any decision rendered by the Death Panels (aka the Independent Medicare Advisory Boards) (emphasis in the original):

To change the rules of the United States Senate, there must be sixty-seven votes.

Section 3403 of Senator Harry Reid’s amendment requires that “it shall not be in order in the Senate or the House of Representatives to consider any bill, resolution, amendment, or conference report that would repeal or otherwise change this subsection.” The good news is that this only applies to one section of the Obamacare legislation. The bad news is that it applies to regulations imposed on doctors and patients by the Independent Medicare Advisory Boards a/k/a the Death Panels.

Section 3403 of Senator Reid’s legislation also states, “Notwithstanding rule XV of the Standing Rules of the Senate, a committee amendment described in subparagraph (A) may include matter not within the jurisdiction of the Committee on Finance if that matter is relevant to a proposal contained in the bill submitted under subsection (c)(3).” In short, it sets up a rule to ignore another Senate rule.

Senator Jim DeMint confronted the Democrats over Reid’s language. In the past, the Senate Parliamentarian has repeatedly determined that any legislation that also changes the internal standing rules of the Senate must have a two-thirds vote to pass because to change Senate rules, a two-thirds vote is required. Today, the Senate President, acting on the advice of the Senate Parliamentarian, ruled that these rules changes are actually just procedural changes and, despite what the actual words of the legislation say, are not rules changes. Therefore, a two-thirds vote is not needed in contravention to longstanding Senate precedent

And that motherfucker had the balls to say that he hoped the Senate would return to civility once he finishes fucking everybody over. Well, FUCK HIM AND THE HORSESHIT HE SPEWS OUT!

Revisions/extensions (8:40 am 12/22/2009) – With a tip of the hat to Ed Morrissey, here is the video of Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) questioning the Parliamentarian of the Senate on this:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnmvVo_itT0[/youtube]

Michelle Malkin has the sordid details, as well as the newest catch-phrase. We know what Mary Landrieu’s and Ben Nelson’s prices were. The question is, what was Joe Lieberman’s?

Time for a start of another PlaceboCare carol:

On the first day of PlaceoCare, Dingy Harry took from me
My right to not pay for your health care.

On the second day of PlaceboCare, Dingy Harry took from me
Two Senators’ bribed votes,
And my right to not pay for your health care.

On the third day of PlaceboCare, Dingy Harry took from me
Three trillion dollars,
Two Senators’ bribed votes,
And my right to not pay for your health care.

On the fourth day of PlaceboCare, Dingy Harry took from me
Forty Republicans’ Sunday,
Three trillion dollars,
Two Senators’ bribed votes,
And my right to not pay for your health care.

On the fifth day of PlaceboCare, Dingy Harry took from me
All the nation’s gold,
Forty Republicans’ Sunday,
Three trillion dollars,
Two Senators’ bribed votes,
And my right to not pay for your health care.

It’s late, so I’ll leave this unfinished, at least for now.

In less than 72 hours, Ben Nelson went from centrist Democrat to Ashley Dupre in comparison to Mary Landrieu’s saloon girl pricing commands.

On Wednesday, reports were out that argued that Ben Nelson could not support any form of placebocare that didn’t have the sign off of Nebraska’s chapter of national right to life.  Also on Wednesday, The Weekly Standard published a poll showing that while 51% of Nebraskans approved of Nelson’s job, 67% opposed placebocare and 61% said they would be less likely to support Nelson if he voted for placebocare.

In spite of the risk to his political career, today after receiving lots of financial goodies for Nebraska and a poorly worded attempt at hiding the fact that abortion will ultimately still be required by placebocare, Nelson has agreed to vote for cloture.  Assuming there are no other Democrat whores whose conscience can be bought, it appears that the Senate will be passing Harry Reid’s version of placebocare. 

With the now apparent, imminent passage of placebocare, a question arises.  With the polls solidly against placebocare in places like Nebraska and other fly over states, how do Democrat Senators expect to pass placebocare out of the Senate and not receive reelection repercussions?  Easy, they’ll pull the “John Kerry!

in October 2003,  Kerry voted against an $87 billion supplemental funding bill for U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. He did support an alternative bill that funded the $87 billion by cutting some of President Bush’s tax cuts.  Whenit was apparent the alternative bill would not pass, he decided to go on record as not supporting the legislation to fund soldiers.  It was after this combination of positions and votes that Kerry uttered his now infamous quote:

I actually did vote for the $87 billion before I voted against it.

Cloture, or the approval to proceed, requires 60 votes in the Senate.  This is the issue that has stymied Harry Reid until now.  However, the final vote for the passage of a bill, only requires a simple majority or 51 votes.  In fact, if the vote is split at 50/50, Vice President Joe Biden would cast the deciding vote.  While it now appears that Reid has spread enough of our money around to get 60 votes for cloture, you can bet that there will be no where near 60 votes for the final votes.

Between today and whenever the final vote comes, you can bet that Senators like Jim Webb, Ben Nelson, Byron Dorgan, Evan Byah and a few others, will be talking about how they are yet “unsure” as to how they will vote on the final vote.  They will talk about the need to “move the process forward.”  In fact, I’m certain that several Democrat Senators will vote against the final passage of the bill.  Not too many, something less than 10 will vote against the bill, but there will be some who believe voting against the final bill will give them political cover.

By voting against the final bill, these supposed “moderate” Democrats will go back to their states and attempt to claim that they weren’t really for the atrocity that is placebocare.  When they return to their states, these senators will tell their constituents that they voted for the bill before they voted against the bill.  Actually, this is an incredibly difficult maneuver as it is not the “John Kerry” but the “Reverse John Kerry.”  I doubt you’ll see many of these folks successfully execute the move.  Several of those attempting this move will get zeros, not from the Russian judges but from their home state constituents!

If you haven’t seen it, here’s the last ditch plea from the Republican Senators.  If you have a phone and have a Democrat Senator, especially ones about to attempt the “Reverse Kerry,” call them and let them know that no matter how hard they try to explain otherwise, they will be held accountable for all votes that had any part in allowing placebocare to become law!

You’ve all heard about climategate.  A few emails get leaked and the entire basis for global warming comes to a scientific crash because the data had all been rigged to produce the results that those who controlled the data wanted.

I’ve been puzzled for some time as to how Placebocare could be anywhere near deficit neutral even after taking into account that revenues start well before benefits and CBO reported increases in insurance costs, particularly for younger people.  Previously, I had shared studies done by various health industry groups that showed dramatic increases in insurance costs under any of the iterations of Placebocare.  It always appeared to me that the CBO’s numbers weren’t reconciling with what the industry was saying, even at a macro level.  I had always thought the answer lied in me not being smart enough to see the differences in how things were analyzed.  However, with some new information I now believe that I couldn’t see why because the “why” wasn’t there.

Cato institute has uncovered what could do to Placebocare, what the leaked emails did to global warming.  Just read this post and see if you don’t agree:

I actually saw my headline on a post over at Politico.  It struck a chord with me.  With all of the Christmas Carols that were being rewritten for Tiger Woods i.e. “I’m dreaming of a white mistress,” I hadn’t heard any that had been written for Placebocare.  I decided to rectify that oversight.

Without further ado, my contribution, perhaps the start, of Christmas Carols about Placebocare:

Sung to the tune of “What Child is This?”

What Bill Is This? 

What bill is this, that sits at rest
On Harry’s desk while debating?
Who Joe and Ben would love to pass
But can’t find the terms that ally them!

Chorus:
This, this is Obamacare,
Whom liberals ward and others scorn:
Haste, haste to pass it now,
What gets us a sixtieth Senator?

 
We tried a takeover, tried control
The peasant people are rioting
We tried to obfuscate, tried to hide
The impact on lives we were planning

Chorus:
This, this is Obamacare,
Whom liberals ward and others scorn:
Haste, haste to pass it now,
What gets us a sixtieth Senator?

Tried buying votes, with earmarks and threats
But nothing seems to corral them
When one steps in one more disagrees
I can’t find a plan that calms all of them

Chorus:
This, this is Obamacare,
Whom liberals ward and others scorn:
Haste, haste to pass it now,
What gets us a sixtieth Senator?

So bring me Snowe and Jim and Joe
A place in history taunts me
All’s up for grabs don’t let me down
A cloture vote’s near don’t torment me!

Chorus:
This, this is Obamacare,
Whom liberals ward and others scorn:
Haste, haste to pass it now,
What gets us a sixtieth Senator?

It was suggested that if I ever recorded this, it should be done with a choir of children and at the end they should add:

“mmm mmm mmm Barack Hussein Obama.”

Revisions/extensions (10:28 am 12/16/2009, steveegg) – For those of you who don’t know the tune, I’ll take a page from Doug from Upland and provide one for you. Just don’t ask me to try to sing it; your pets and ears would not survive.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4WnzcrUci0[/youtube]