Pelosi Intent On Hanging Dems Out To Dry?
After reading this article, I’m left wondering whether Speaker Pelosi thinks tactically.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi wants to make final decisions this week on the healthcare reform bill that will hit the House floor, but some centrists in the lower chamber want her to hold off until the Senate Finance Committee acts.
Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) push to decide issues like how to pay for the bill and the shape of the “public option” means that this week will be crucial for healthcare in both chambers. It also makes it more likely that the House bill will include an income surtax on the wealthy and a public option more to the liking of liberals in her caucus.
“That’s where the caucus is,” said a Democratic leadership aide.
There’s no questioning that that’s where the House Democrats are at. There’s also no doubt but that that isn’t where the American people are. That point is illustrated in this poll:
Of the priorities outlined by President Obama earlier this year, Democrats see health care reform as the most important. Other voters tend to see deficit reduction as the priority.
This poll and that article highlight the fact that Democrats, led by Speaker Pelosi, aren’t addressing the things that matter most to the American people. They aren’t addressing the deficits. PERIOD. Even when they address health care reform, they pursue policies that the American people reject. The American people don’t want additional tax increases, additional debt that will unduly burden their great-grandchildren.
The American people understand that the House Democrats’ plan is too much into overreach, too much into massive tax increases, too much into increasing government control and too short on common sense.
If Speaker Pelosi insists on bringing health care to a vote before the Senate gets a bill out of committee, House Democrats will either abandon the USS Pelosi/Titanic or they’ll lose bigtime in 2010. They’ve already voted for Cap and Tax. Voting for a health care reform bill that’s unpopular and a Cap and Tax bill that’s equally unpopular will cause independents to stop supporting the Democrats bigtime.
Here’s another provision that’s bound to be unpopular:
The Speaker last week publicly reaffirmed her support for the surtax and the public option. In a leadership meeting last week, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) spoke up strongly in favor of the surtax, though he and Pelosi have disagreed on its parameters.
The biggest reason why people hate the Baucus bill is because of the tax increases included in the bill. Speaker Pelosi’s insistence that major tax increases be included in H.R. 3200 is proof that she’s pursuing an ideological bill, not a popularly supported bill.
Technorati Tags: Pelosi, Charlie Rangel, Health Care, Max Baucus, Tax Increases, Cap And Trade, Blue Dogs, Election 2010
Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog
September 22nd, 2009 at 2:18 pm
Thats because to Pelosi, $3200 means absolutely nothing. She can write a check for that as easily as her union suporters can for $3.20.
September 22nd, 2009 at 7:10 pm
I had a wise friend who once told me that “poor was a matter of spaces before the decimal point.”
And Pelousy’s justification will be that “they’re not really Democrats if they vote against this.” She wouldn’t recognize real ideological disagreement if it slapped her over-botoxed face because to her, party is everything (it’s what keeps her queen for a term).
September 23rd, 2009 at 1:36 pm
Well, also, she doesnt have to worry about reelection being from Soddom on the Bay.