One Way Or Another

One way or another. So says San Fran Nan. Resistance is futile. You will get health-care whether you like it or not. You can elect all the Republicans you want, even in Massachusetts, we just don’t care.

“Certainly the dynamic would change depending on what happens in Massachusetts,” Pelosi told us and our notebook-toting brethren Monday in San Francisco at an MLK event. “Just a question about how we would proceed. But it doesn’t mean we won’t have a health care bill.”

She went on to say that Brown has said he want to go back to the drawing board on health care. Not in my House, Madame Speaker said.

“There is no back to the drawing board,” Pelosi said. “The Republicans in Congress have said we will kill health care reform. They are the handmaidens of the insurance company.”

“Let’s remove all doubt, we will have health care — one way or another,” Pelosi said. “Back to the drawing board means a great big zero for the American people.”

Nancy, Harry, and Barry are determined to do this no matter what. No matter that the American people oppose it nearly 2-1. No matter that they came out in droves at townhalls and tea parties. No matter that they might even go so far as to elect Republican to Teddy’s seat just to send a message. They. Don’t. Care.

But let’s get down to brass tacks here. If Nancy had the juice to push this through “no matter what” she would have done it already, but she doesn’t. She needed compromise to get there. But if Scott Brown wins, the bill cannot go back to the Senate. Ping pong is over. It is the Senate bill or nothing.

No union breaks.
No abortion language compromise.
Special deals for Senators but not for House members, all of whom are up for election in November.

I never say never, but that is a much much tougher sell. Sayeth Stupak.

In an interview on Monday, Representative Bart Stupak, Democrat of Michigan, who opposes the Senate bill in part because of provisions related to insurance coverage of abortions, said: “House members will not vote for the Senate bill. There’s no interest in that.”

When the idea was suggested at a meeting of the House Democratic Caucus last week, Mr. Stupak said, “It went over like a lead balloon.”

“Why would any House member vote for the Senate bill, which is loaded with special-interest provisions for certain states?” Mr. Stupak asked. “That’s not health care.”

In addition to his concerns about the abortion provisions, Mr. Stupak said the Senate bill does not do enough to improve the quality of health care, and it preserves the federal antitrust exemption for health insurance, which would be repealed under the House bill.

Does she have the juice to pull it off? Time will tell. Another good question to contemplate is when is the bill effectively dead? What is the exit strategy for the Dems? How do they save what they can in November? The American people are unhappy and they know who to blame. Smart Democrats know this. If they vote for it they are done. One way, or another.