Reid: We'll Pass Health Care Reform...Sometime...This Year

Not really an answer.

I'll say. But EXCELLENT question! Keep up the good work.

So, let me guess.... You expected them to tell you every little detail of their strategy, just because a journalist asked a question.

Try investigative reporting, in depth analysis. Please! Something to remind me of when we had an independent press with more energy than a slug and more attention span than a gnat.

(I should know this, but:)

If Harry Reid goes down for the count in NV, but the Dems retain the majority... who is likely to inherit the current bucket of warm spit that is the office of Democratic Majority Leader?

Due to old-boy party loyalties, I guess, this little factoid is never discussed openly. But you're certainly not gonna tell me there isn't a short list, and that somehow this will all be dealt with, as needed, when and if that bridge is crossed? Sure.

Harry basically is copping to the fact that he doesn't have 50 committed Senate Dem votes to passing a sidecar reconcilliation that makes 218 House Dems happy.

In turn, Nancy has been honest that she doesn't have 218 House Dems to pass the Senate Bill without it being cleaned up.

As much as I loath Harry, I don't see him gaming this at the moment. He'd like to pass something and move on. As would the White House. But Rahm & Co. aren't able to twist 218 votes in the House for the Senate bill. Lord knows they were trying all the way back when the Senate bill passed, and "ping pong" started getting talked about. They didn't have the votes then, and it's only gotten worse since.

I also think he's being honest when he implies he doesn't have the 50 to sidecar it *yet*. Do the match and you'll grasp it pretty fact. Lying Lien, Blanche, Mary, Ben-Ben and Senator Wellpoint wouldn't even vote for cloture of the Senate bill *now*. The sure as hell aren't going to vote for a sidecar. That's an instant drop from 59 to 54. It's not hard to find quotes out there from folks like McCaskill and Webb talking about "slowing down" and a lack of enthusiasm for reconcilliation. Drop 5 more votes, and it's dead.

Harry & Co. have done the math. They don't have 50 votes for the "compromise" that was coming out of the pre-MA negotiations.

Can things clam down in the next week or so to find those 50?

It largely has to. I think there's zero chance that if it's left hanging into March that it will pass. And then healthcare will be dead for the balance of the decade. It will incorrectly eat the blame for both the defeats of 1994 and 2010, and enough Dems will think it's a toxic subject that's best left alone. In fact, they'll flip in the other direction and join the GOP's wishlist to cut back entitlements. That's what we have to look forward to if the process fails in the next month: nothing for the balance of the decade, increasing numbers of uninsured, continuing cuts to the safety net in the narrative of "budget crisis", no stomach to even pass stand alone "populist" bills such as recision because Big Health will buy off enough to get 41 votes.

14 years between the Clinton failure and the potential failure of Obama. It's rather frightening to think of how much worse things will get in the next 14 years where this won't get touched. We also need to realize that the progressive/liberal wing of the Democratic party is dying with many of our greatest advocates, with newer Dems being corporate dems. Look at the White House, frankly. The people who led the charge this time will be retired or dead & buried before it's picked up again, and their replacements will likely be even more wedded to a system that revolves around Big Health.

We allegedly are on the 2 yard line. What people seem not to get is that there are about 2 second left, time for one play because the clock management have been piss poor on this process with no sense of urgency until it was too late. Part of that was gaming the system in the hopes of forcing the House into eating a Senate bill that was half what the one that the Obama Admin negotiated with Big Health and half what the Baucus Caucus negotiated with Big Health. They hoped by running the clock down, the House (progressives) would blink. The fatal flaw in all of it was that they didn't factor in MA, or just how big of assholes some folks like Ben-Ben and Lying Lieb would be. So you have Blue Dogs running for the hills, and Progressives who are worn out from effectively being date raped through the whole process with more ahead (such as financial reform, global warming, immigration reform). At a point they see no value in dating the Senate and the Admin anymore. :/

John

Pelosi is taking advantage of Reid's weakened position to demand a reconciliation simple majority fix. She is using this issue to force institutional reform down the throat of the US Senate. While I agree with her view of the Senate, I do not think it is right to use this issue to play out a political drama. HCR is too important to millions of uninsured and under-insured Americans and to the Democratic Party's survival itself. Pelosi has it within her power

Is this before or after Reid finally pulls his head out of a very dark place. Frankly I hope he loses this november, then maybe the dems will find a real leader. But then again, maybe not.