You have to give credit to Pelosi for holding her party together to vote on a bill that will likely mean the defeat of many of her party next year (and she knows it). And she did it by holding on to liberals and conservatives. She even did it at the expense of her on principles on abortion:
It was late Friday night and lawmakers were stalling for time. In a committee room, they yammered away, delaying a procedural vote on the historic health care legislation. Down one floor, in her office, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi desperately tried to deal with an issue that has bedeviled Democrats for more than a generation — abortion.
After hours of heated talks, the people she was trying to convince — some of her closest allies — burst angrily out of her office.
Her attempts at winning them over had failed, and Ms. Pelosi, the first woman speaker and an ardent defender of abortion rights, had no choice but to do the unthinkable. To save the health care bill she had to give in to abortion opponents in her party and allow them to propose tight restrictions barring any insurance plan that is purchased with government subsidies from covering abortions.
I suspect the reason the pro-abort lefties didn’t abandon the bill is that she promised them the amendment wouldn’t survive the conference committee. Let see if the pro-life Blue Dog Democrats will stand as strong if the final bill doesn’t contain the abortion funding restrictions. I hope they do for the sake of the unborn.
BTW, creds also to the pro-life Democrats who stayed strong and refused to vote unless they could offer an amendment that stopped the federal government from funding abortions. Pretty courageous of them standing up to Pelosi.
posted November 8, 2009 at 11:11 am
If you’re going to refer to the pro-choice crowd as “pro-abort,” should you not have at least the intellectual honesty to call the “pro-life” side “anti-choice?”
posted November 8, 2009 at 11:40 am
Pelosi is joke and does not love my country…..
Think it through -
what are the real costs, drivers, and motivations behind her????
President Obama, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and their Democratic followers in Congress have a rather draconian message for the private sector: Speak now, and we’ll make you forever hold your peace.
Up until a few weeks ago, America’s health insurers were sheepishly on board with the Obama-Pelosi health care reform plan. Perhaps the industry feared that voicing any concern about the plan would unleash the ire of an increasingly rabid Democratic majority on Capitol Hill. As it turns out, the health insurers were right.
No longer able to sit idly by while the President and his chief minion in the House amateurishly try to revamp one-sixth of the U.S. economy, the health insurance industry released a study they commissioned that analyzes the costs of the Obama-Pelosi plan. The results are quite sobering. The study shows that “between 2010 and 2019 the cumulative increases in the cost of a typical family policy under this reform proposal will be approximately $20,700 more than it would be under the current system.” (Emphasis mine.)
Rather than challenge the study’s results on merit, Obama and Pelosi wasted no time demonizing the health insurance industry with hyperbole and rhetoric. And then Pelosi lowered the boom, expressing “tremendous interest” in revoking the industry’s decades-old antitrust exemption. This proved to be no empty threat, as the Democrat-run House Judiciary Committee promptly passed a bill to do exactly that.
Now, curtailing the health insurance industry’s limited exemption from federal antitrust laws may or may not be good policy. But given the circumstances, this is beside the point.
The real issue is that Obama and Pelosi are using the power of Congress to muzzle the speech of a private sector industry, First Amendment be damned. It couldn’t be more blatant. Stay quiet about their disaster of a health plan, and Obama and Pelosi will leave you alone. Point out how their plan will actually make matters worse, and Obama and Pelosi will hit you back with new laws that hurt your business.
To listen to the rhetoric of Obama, Pelosi, and their far-left followers, the First Amendment right to free speech is a sacred cow among sacred cows — so much so that even dunking a crucifix in urine or smearing animal dung on the Virgin Mary is to be protected, lest we end up on a slippery slope toward Marxist-style censorship.
But when the subject turns from fecal art to a private sector industry conducting an analytical study on the costs of the Democrats’ government-run health care plan — well, that’s like yelling “boondoggle!” in a crowded Capitol. That sort of free speech simply can’t be tolerated, and certainly can’t be protected.
As it turns out, the American public isn’t fooled by Obama’s and Pelosi’s strong-arm tactics, according to a recent Zogby International/O’Leary Report Poll. (The poll surveyed 3,544 voters, was conducted October 23-26, and has a margin of error of 1.7 percentage points.) The poll asked:
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi recently condemned the health insurance industry for releasing an unflattering analysis on the Obama administration’s proposal to create a government-run “public option” health insurance plan. Pelosi also threatened to revoke the industry’s anti-trust exemption which has been in place since 1945. Do you agree or disagree that Pelosi is using the power of congress to try to limit the free speech of private corporations?
A majority of American voters (53 percent) agree that Pelosi is trying to use the power of congress to limit the free speech of private industry. Only 39 percent disagree. Furthermore, 55 percent of Independent voters also agree, while just 39 percent disagree. Majorities of Hispanic voters (52 percent), union members (51 percent), and small business owners (58 percent) agree as well.
Should private corporations have to cower in fear if they exercise their First Amendment rights? Evidently, Obama and Pelosi think so. In fact, the brazen way in which they smacked down health insurers for speaking out sends a clear message to other private sector industries: Better to cut out your tongue than to risk legislative retribution.
posted November 8, 2009 at 1:47 pm
Confused. This is the most disjointed, meaninless post I’ve ever read. It makes no sense. It is absurd. You are confused and should seek help.
posted November 8, 2009 at 2:10 pm
Well, now we know how Glenn Beck spends his Sundays…
posted November 8, 2009 at 2:30 pm
Michelle wrote: “You have to give credit to Pelosi for holding her party together to vote on a bill that will likely mean the defeat of many of her party next year (and she knows it).”
What exact prediction are you making?
Are you claiming that the bill’s passing the House likely will result in many Democratic members of the House losing their next elections? What evidence is there to support that claim?
And let’s say that it is likely that the bill’s passing the House will result in many Democratic members of the House losing their next elections. That is not nearly as important as the bill’s passing the House. It’s decent bill, and big improvement over what the U.S. has now as far as health care is concerned. The bill, if it becomes law, will significantly increase the number of people for whom it is fairly easy to get decent health insurance. And if you have decent health insurance in the U.S., it goes a long way to ensuring that you get decent health care.
posted November 8, 2009 at 3:04 pm
still the dumbest blog on beliefnet.
posted November 8, 2009 at 11:55 pm
I’m very pleased that Health Care reform has passed the House. While I’m not a Pelosi fan, this is a big victory for her and she delivered. Unlike Harry Reid, who is making noises about delaying the vote in the Senate until 2010.
This is a very important achievement, which I support. It is too bad that the Republican Party (of which I am currently a member) elected to simply oppose the bills going through the House and Senate, rather than actually contributing to making a better bill. When the Republican leaders say that they have their own alternative bill, my response is, what did you do about reforming health care when you controlled both Houses of Congress and the Presidency? Nada, zip, zilch. Lost all credibility with me on this issue, folks.
posted November 9, 2009 at 12:21 am
Evil does not stop at the word no.
Pelosi is fueled by a legion of powers and principalities.
Hopefully we can rise up and vote her madness.
posted November 9, 2009 at 12:22 am
That should have been written:
Hopefully we can rise up and vote OUT her madness!
posted November 9, 2009 at 12:31 am
alicia, not only that (what did they do when they were in control), but where were they during the talks on this bill? rather than work on a bipartisan bill, they wanted dems to do this alone, so they can claim that it’s strictly a “liberal” bill with no republican support. party before country, as always. one of the major things that has pushed me away from that party.