From a Republican D.C. watcher:
As Democrats continue to push their health care reform bill against the will of the American people, they have trapped themselves in a vicious cycle: each time Americans reject their flawed approach to health care, they must find a new way to circumvent their constituents, which leads to even more anger and frustration, which Democrats must then work even harder to overcome.
We’ve seen this pattern going all the way back to August. When members of Congress went home for the August recess last year, their constituents gave them an earful, telling them they needed to start over on President Obama’s health care reform plans. But Democrat leaders persisted, and pushed a bill through the House in early November and bringing a bill to the Senate floor on a strict party-line vote, despite historic defeats of Democrats in New Jersey and Virginia.
But the public remained opposed, so when the time came to pass the Senate bill, Democrat leaders needed a way to get wavering senators to vote for a 2,700-page bill that featured half a trillion dollars in Medicare cuts and another half a trillion dollars in tax increases. So the special deals began: the Louisiana Purchase, the Cornhusker Kickback, the Gator-Aid, special breaks for Vermont, Massachusetts, and Montana.
Disgusted with this arrogant approach to health care reform, less than a month later voters in Massachusetts sent a clear message, electing Scott Brown to the Senate. Brown explicitly campaigned against the health care bill and the backroom deals made to pass it over public opposition.
But that still didn’t deter Democrats. To get around this roadblock thrown up by American voters, Democrats decided to pass a bill through the reconciliation process, never before used for something this partisan and of this magnitude. This maneuver requires passing the Senate bill in the House, something most House members had so far refused to do, either because they disliked the bill or their constituents did. So Democrats have come up with another scheme, this time to “deem” the bill passed without actually voting on it.
Each time Americans say no, Democrats arrogantly devise a new way to go around public opposition and as a vote approaches the backroom dealing and parliamentary scheming gets more and more unseemly. Even major newspapers can’t watch this process any longer. The Washington Post editorializes, “what is intended as a final sprint threatens to turn into something unseemly and, more important, contrary to Democrats' promises of transparency and time for deliberation.” The Cincinnati Enquirer is less sanguine: “This disgusting process, which Democrats brazenly wish to bring to conclusion this week, is being done with little regard for the opinions of a clear majority of Americans who, while they may believe health care reform is necessary, think this particular approach will take our nation down the wrong economic path.”
As Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said on the floor this morning, “Democrat leaders have made it perfectly clear that they view their constituents as an obstacle, particularly on the issue of health care. At every turn, they’ve met fierce public opposition. And every time, they’ve tried to come up with a way to get around it. It’s become a vicious cycle. The harder Democrats try to get around the public, the more repellent their proposals become, and the more egregious their efforts become to get them through anyway”
