Inside Politics

PELOSI’S OBSESSION

“It’s one thing to be serene under fire, it’s another to be delusional,” John Fund writes at www.opinionjournal.com.

“More than a few Democrats in Congress are perplexed and worried that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is insisting on ramming through a 1,900-page health care bill on Saturday, just days after her party took heavy losses in Tuesday’s elections. ‘It reminds me of Major Nicholson, the obsessed British major in the film “Bridge on the River Kwai,” ‘ one Democrat told me. ‘She is fixated on finishing her health care bridge even as she’s lost sight of where it’s going and what damage it could cause to her own troops.’

“Indeed, the speaker’s take on Tuesday’s off-year elections struck some of her own members as delusive ‘happy talk.’ ‘From our perspective, we won last night,’ a cheerful Ms. Pelosi told reporters, citing her party’s pickup of a single House seat in a New York special election and retention of another strongly Democratic seat in California.

“That’s not how many of her own troops see it. Democratic Rep. Parker Griffith of Alabama told Politico.com that members are ‘very, very sensitive’ to the fact that the agenda being pushed by party leaders has ‘the potential to cost some of our front-line members their seats.’

“On health care, added New Jersey Democrat Bill Pascrell: ‘People who had weak knees before are going to have weaker knees now.’

“Ms. Pelosi, however, apparently thinks the moment is ripe to use sheer political muscle to pass legislation reordering one-sixth of the economy, with zero Republican support. The right mixture of ‘incentives’ and Rahm Emanuel-style pressure, she believes, will bring enough Democrats to heel to vote for the bill.”

ABORTION FIRST

“The stated No. 1 priority for Democrats is passage of a government takeover of American health care,” James C. Capretta notes in a blog at www.nationalreview.com.

“President Obama and his allies in Congress have essentially bet the future of their party on securing something radical and sweeping. Congressional leaders have set aside everything else until they can pass some version of Obamacare, and they have pledged to do whatever is necessary - taxpayers beware - to reach their goal,” Mr. Capretta said.

“But theres apparently one thing most Democrats arent willing to do, even if it jeopardizes their health care ambitions. And thats back down on their unwavering commitment to abortion radicalism.

“For months, pro-life Democratic [Michigan] congressman Bart Stupak has warned Democratic leaders that he and a sizeable bloc of like-minded colleagues would vote against the Democratic health care bill in the House if it didnt clearly and unambiguously preclude taxpayer funding of elective abortions in a reformed system of subsidized health insurance.

“This should be a no-brainer for House Democratic leaders. Giving Rep. Stupak what he wants - which is a clean vote on a no-funding-for-abortion amendment - would remove one more roadblock on their way to the nirvana of government-run health insurance.

“But Speaker Pelosi apparently sees a big problem with that approach, which is that Rep. Stupak would very likely win, perhaps cementing for good in permanent law a strong prohibition against taxpayer funding of abortions in a national health care plan. To abortion radicals, thats simply too much to stomach.

“So instead of giving in to Stupak, House Democratic leaders are apparently working overtime on another course of action, which is to try to divide the Stupak bloc and pick off enough of his fellow Democrats with minor tweaks to the existing bill to allow passage.”

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