Wonder what you would find if you frisked the Democrats’ stance on Obama-Care?
Answer: Some of them are running away from it.
At least for now it seems like some Democrats are scared to standby the monstrous health-care bill ever since Scott Brown was able to pull off a win in the liberal state of Massachusetts’s special Senate election. Lookout paranoid Democrats:
Democratic leaders insisted they planned to press ahead with health reform, and met late into Tuesday night in Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office. But they made no decisions about how to proceed, now that Brown has swept away the Democrats’ filibuster-proof 60-vote majority in the Senate.
Their options are few, and extremely complex, mostly involving legislative tactics that would be difficult to pull off in the best of circumstances, let alone at a time when members are worried they could be the next Martha Coakley – a seeming Democratic shoo-in laid low, in part, by health reform.
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The White House’s preferred option is for the House to approve the already-passed Senate version of health reform, to avoid the need for another vote in the Senate. But several House members said last night they’re not prepared to pass the Senate bill alone – even if it means health care reform would die.
In fact, early signs of split emerged as the polls closed in Massachusetts – between leaders like House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer who said “the Senate bill is better than nothing,” and individual members who refused to swallow the Senate’s version of health reform whole.
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House Republican Leader John Boehner fired back at Pelosi’s “right on course” comment, with spokesman Michael Steel saying, “Regardless of what happens in Massachusetts, it’s clear that jamming this government takeover of health care through Congress will set off a political firestorm. The American people are screaming, ‘stop’ at the top of their lungs, and out-of-touch Democratic leaders ignore them at their peril.”
The list of skeptical Democrats will probably continue to increase within the coming months. Even Sen. Lieberman (I-CT) – who was unsure about the health-care bill in the first place – is back on the skeptical-side of the aisle. Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA) is another Democrat trying to slow down the health-care process after watching Scott Brown march to victory in Massachusetts. According to Peter Hamby’s Twitter, Sen. Webb said “It would only be fair and prudent that we suspend further votes on health care legislation until Senator-elect Brown is seated.” Personally, it sounds like some Demoracts are getting cold feet. Hopefully a large group of Democrats start to realize that this Obama-Care bill is like a cement block chained to their leg while they’re slowly drowning in a political mess.
*UPDATE* – January 20, 2010
Well, well, well… Another Senator has decided to join Senators Webb and Lieberman:
Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) said Wednesday morning that the agenda is ”going too far, too fast” and that it would be a “huge mistake” for Democrats to force a vote on a new bill in the Senate before the new senator from Massachusetts is seated.
Feeling the heat, are we?
[...] (3) Democrats Are Starting To Run Away From Obama-Care [...]