ObamaKennedyDeathCare Fallout

In the wake of Pelosi's bludgeoning of the bill through the House, the fireworks are really starting to go off.

The biggest stumbling block to passing the bill was abortion. As we discussed yesterday, Pelosi had to resort to the Stupak amendment, which was a distinctly pro-life measure that pro-choicers really didn't like. Remember this?

Pro-life Democrat Bart Stupak led a coalition of dozens of Dems who refused to sign on if there wasn't specific language to prevent federal dollars from being used to fund abortion. Without these Dems, Pelosi lacked the votes she needed to pass the overall bill. Stupak offered an amendment to lock things down, and it passed easily with wide bipartisan support. The problem is that this amendment gave enough Dems cover that they could say they were still pro-life while still allowing them to support ObamaKennedyDeathCare. It could end up being one of those things where they say, "I voted against taxpayer funding for abortion before I voted for it." Of course, the catch is that it is very likely that this provision will get stripped out by the Dem leadership while in committee, so it will not actually see the light of a real day. We'll see, but this could have been a very strategic blunder by those who seek real pro-life protections.

Well, it didn't take long to get that suspicion confirmed:

The President of Planned Parenthood agrees.

Philip Klein has some interesting analysis on those who voted for it before voting against it:

Following Saturday night's vote, I posted a list of the 42 members of the House who voted for the Stupak amendment to bar taxpayer funding for abortions and then in favor of the main bill. In the list below, I've narrowed it down to 16 members who specifically cited the anti-abortion language in their subsequent press statements explaining their final votes. Keep in mind that the final vote was 220 to 215, and if Nancy Pelosi would have lost any three of these members without picking up support elsewhere, she would not have been able to pass the bill. And while it's true, as some have argued, that Pelosi may have released some vulnerable Democrats to vote against the bill once she secured enough votes, it's unlikely that if she had sufficient support to pass the bill without the anti-abortion language, that she would have risked the fierce backlash among pro-choicers. Today, 41 Democrats vowed to vote against the final bill if the Stupak language isn't stripped.

Indeed, this is the conundrum facing the Democrat leadership in Congress:

Pelosi could not have obtained the votes to pass the bill without including the stringent anti-abortion wording contained in the Stupak Amendment. And if the amendment were stripped out in conference (assuming the Senate passes something), Pelosi would lose these necessary votes. No Stupak Amendment, no passage.

But, the Stupak Amendment was anathema to the liberal base of the Democratic Party, which regards women's reproductive rights (i.e., access to abortion) as a core principle. Pelosi prevailed on Democrats last Saturday night to swallow that bitter pill in order to pass the bill, through a combination of arm-twisting, and nods and winks that the Amendment would be dropped later.

In order to pass something, so that she and Obama could claim an "historic moment," Pelosi planted an abortion land mine.

That land mine has exploded. Starting with rumblings from the left-wing blogs, the liberal Democratic base has taken up arms over the Stupak Amendment. Now Democratic House members are in full revolt, with over 40 members signing on to a letter that they would not vote in favor of any post-conference bill which contained the Stupak Amendment language.

Obama, with his usual emotional and political distance, is not taking sides on the Stupak Amendment.

Rather than pass reform in small steps, starting with issues on which there was widespread agreement, Pelosi and Obama have embarked on an "historic" attempt to remake one-sixth of the economy in one fell swoop.

In so doing, Pelosi and Obama have surrounded themselves with themselves again. And it is blowing up in their political faces.

Let's hope it causes fatal damage.

Finally, I leave you with this brilliant snippet from Rep. Peter Roskam about just how awesome this government plan really is:

Hot Air adds:

Why can’t they answer? They can’t. They need to force people into the system in order to spread the costs more evenly to everyone, which is why the House took the blatantly unconstitutional path of federal mandates for health insurance. They want to solve a problem involving 13% of the American population by burdening the 87% that doesn’t have the problem at all, rather than looking for a way to reduce health-care costs for 100%.

... Statism always requires force, and it always strips people of liberty. It always comes with handcuffs. That’s how we know it’s coming.

Facts? History? Common sense? The Democrat leadership runs from these things as far and as fast as possible. But, if ignorance allows ObamaKennedyDeathCare to become law, the handcuffs will prove them in a hurry. Unfortunately, it will be too late to do anything about it.

There's my two cents.