Today's Democrats are controlled by the radical Left, and it is more important to them to execute the permanent transformation of American society than it is to win the upcoming election cycles. They have already factored in losing in November — even losing big. For them, winning big now outweighs that. I think they're right. I hear Republicans getting giddy over the fact that "reconciliation," if it comes to that, is a huge political loser. That's the wrong way to look at it. The Democratic leadership has already internalized the inevitablility of taking its political lumps. That makes reconciliation truly scary. Since the Dems know they will have to ram this monstrosity through, they figure it might as well be as monstrous as they can get wavering Democrats to go along with.The key point is this:
The only question is whether there are enough Democrats who are conventional politicians and who care about being reelected, such that they will deny the leadership the numbers it needs.I am not sanguine on this point, but as the Senate Bill is stripped of the Stupak amendment and greatly expands the abortion license, there are 15-20 supposedly pro-life Democrats who voted for the House bill who might not go for "reconciliation." Obama/Pelosi/Reid wouldn't let Stupak come to the summit even though his presence was requested. It just takes 3 Dems to peel away....
Pressure on the House Dems is going to be incredible and there's no telling how it will go. Mr. W. says:
In the days before our low, dishonest age, the GOP leaders would pick the 3 likeliest Dems to change their votes, and promise not to back a Republican against them in Nov. That’s what an FDR or LBJ would have done.
