***Update: This piece has been updated and corrected from its original version
Wake up, America!!! President Obama already has a healthcare bill passed in the Senate. All he needs are a handful of stubborn pro-life Democrats to go along with the Senate version and voila! Instant Obamacare, ready to be signed into law.
Reconciliation isn’t necessary; like the backrub after sex, it’s just a bonus. Don’t believe me? Check out this analysis on National Review‘s The Corner blog:
The focus on reconciliation in the past few days confuses things a bit. The question in the health-care debate at the moment is whether Nancy Pelosi can get enough of her members to vote for the version of Obamacare that passed the Senate late last year. If the House passes that bill, it will have passed both houses, will go to the president, and will become law.
The recent “summit” stunt was just for the MSM cameras. The arm twisting of House Democrats has now begun in earnest.
Trouble is that to accomplish the socialist miracle bill without much ado, the Democrats in the House would grudgingly have to approve the Senate version, which does not contain the Stupak Amendment banning federal funding for abortion. Jack Murtha made passage a bit more difficult by dying recently, but Pelosi is determined to strongarm the dozen or so House democrats still standing firm, bravely defending….the right to abortion…..?
No, not really. That “right” is already law thanks to Roe v. Wade. There’s no danger that the healthcare bill will take away a woman’s right to “choose.” Don’t fall for that argument. I wish that were so.
The healthcare battle is not nearly so noble. It’s all about who’s going to pay for the abortions, the women who want them or the Americans who don’t. Reminds me of the old joke my dad used to tell: A Texas oil millionaire in a bar propositions a woman for a night of anonymous sex in exchange for a million bucks. After a pause, she agrees. The millionaire asks whether she’d do it for a $100 bucks instead. With great affront she replies, “what kind of woman do you think I am?” He responds: “We already know what you are, now we’re just discussing the price.”
What’s shaping up to be the House’s Easter Vigil vote on the Senate’s Christmas Eve bill essentially hangs on thirty pieces of silver to fund abortion. Ironic that life is standing firmly in the way of healthcare. The timing and symbolism illustrates the real difference between the two parties, Conservatives for Life vs. Liberals for Death.
Democrats are so focused on funding their sacrament of universal abortion that they’re ready to walk away from the brink of sweeping fundamental advancement of socialism the likes of which this country has never seen. All I have to say is more power to them.
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