There Will Be Lots More Of This To Come…

Already, Obama’s PR campaign to calm “dubious” voters has run into a snag:

Via Whip Eric Cantor’s office:

Just prior to signing the Dem health care bill, President Obama claimed that there would be no cuts in “guaranteed benefits” for seniors – despite massive cuts to the overall Medicare program.

President Obama: “I want seniors to know, despite what some have said, these reforms will not cut your guaranteed benefits.” (Remarks Made At Signing Ceremony, 3/23/10)

Fact Check: The Senate Bill + Reconciliation Bill + Rules Manager’s Amendment = $528.5 Billion in cuts to Medicare (CBO Letter To Speaker Pelosi, 3/20/10)

Obama’s Race Obsessed Nominee for the Ninth Circuit, Goodwin Liu

Gabe at AoSHQ wonders if Republican Senators will ‘hide under their desks’, as they did during the Sotomayor  nomination, to avoid being perceived as “mean” during the judiciary hearing for Goodwin Liu, slated for Wednesday. But there are good reasons to oppose his nomination, including his support for reparations:

Morgen at Verum Serum has dug up Liu’s 2008 appearance on PBS. There’s no easy soundbite here, like there was with Justice “Wise Latina” Sotomayor. Liu talks about white guilt and then obscures that issue somewhat by asserting that all modern non-black Americans share responsibility for the “benefit” of the slave trade and must agree to give something up. He suggests, “the seat at Harvard, our segregated neighborhoods, money.”

You can watch the video at Verum Serum, or AoSHQ.

Justice Antonin Scalia’s former clerk and today’s president of the Ethics and Public Policy Center Ed Whelan, writing for NRO’s Bench Memos described Liu’s grand ambitions, here:

I’ve commented before on Ninth Circuit nominee Goodwin Liu’s woeful inexperience, which should have had him struggling to avoid a “not qualified” rating by the ABA.  I’ll note that a story in today’s Washington Post manages to overstate Liu’s meager experience, as it asserts that he “worked only a few years in private practice.”  In fact, Liu worked as a junior associate at O’Melveny & Myers for less than two years (21 months).  (He also worked as a contract attorney for a law firm for some weeks before he clerked for Justice Ginsburg.)

As inexperienced as Liu is, his ambition vastly exceeds his inexperience.  Two weeks before the November 2008 presidential election, Liu took part in an American Constitution Society event,* “Counting to Five: What the 2008 Election Will Mean for the Supreme Court,” in which he stressed that Barack Obama, if elected president, should take care to nominate federal appellate judges who would be young enough to be groomed for the Supreme Court.  He also emphasized the need for the American Constitution Society and other liberal groups to “hold the administration’s feet to the fire”—i.e., to press for the nomination of very liberal judges.

On his fidelity to the Constitution, Whelan says:

Liu is closely aligned with various left-wing groups.  For example, he is (or recently was) on the boards of directors of the American Constitution Society, the ACLU of Northern California, and the National Women’s Law Center.  He apparently practiced law for about two years.

Liu is co-author of an ACS book titled Keeping Faith with the Constitution.  But what Liu means by “keeping faith” is evidently adherence to the living-constitutionalist gimmick that judges can redefine the Constitution to mean whatever they want it to mean.  Here’s how Liu explains his and his co-authors’ concept of constitutional fidelity in an ACS podcast (around the 1:30 mark):  “What we mean by fidelity is that the Constitution should be interpreted in ways that adapt its principles and its text to the challenges and conditions of our society in every succeeding generation.”

He appears to hold the position “that judges have the authority to impose their views…using clever verbal camouflage to disguise what they are doing…”

After experiencing the corrupt and obscene Obamacare cramdown, bitter Republican Senators should be spoiling for a fight. Obama has  spent the entirety of his political capital on the health care debacle, and nothing he does from now on should be deemed “inevitable”. Republicans should fight and block every single thing these Marxists throw at us from now until reinforcements arrive in January.

CA Rep Introducing New Legislation to add “Robust Public Option”

Even as I speak, Bernard Goldberg is on The O’Reilly Factor decrying the “hard right’s” “hysteria” about the Obamacare bill and Obama’s designs on the country. I like Bernie Goldberg, but he clearly is behind the learning curve, (as is O’Reilly) on what the country got itself into when it elected Obama.

The Obamacare bill, after the public option was removed in order to get it through the Senate, was  designed to be  a “foot in the door” to single payer. I’m only surprised that this Dem Socialist couldn’t even wait until the bill was signed before she introduced this:

A leader of the House liberals’ caucus said Monday she’ll introduce new legislation to revive the public option.

Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-Calif.), the co-chairwoman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said she plans to unveil legislation to add the government-run option to the national healthcare exchange established by legislation President Barack Obama is to sign tomorrow.

“We will introduce a robust public option bill on the very day the president signs the reconciliation bill into law,” Woolsey said Monday during an interview on MSNBC.

The public insurance option had been a part of the healthcare legislation first approved by the House in November, but Senate Democratic leaders were forced to abandon the provision after it became clear that they wouldn’t be able to get all 60 Democrats (at the time) to sign onto legislation containing that provision.

On the one hand, since Scott brown was elected to the Senate, this should be impossible to pass.

But then, the Dems feel emboldened now, and they know their days are numbered.

Hat tip: Weasel Zippers

RELATED:

Are you, too, a member of “the hard right”? Then join Doug Ross on his Impeach and Convict tour  2011:

MORE:

Bill Whittle outdoes himself. If you read nothing else today, you must read this: FREE WILL AND DESTINY

I’ll give you  a taste, but you simply must go read it all:

I thought I might need to try my small part to cheer people up and calm them down, but for once I have underestimated the American people.  People, by and large, seem not only calm but absolutely determined. Everywhere I have looked this morning the reaction seems to be more or less the same: a nation of steely-eyed missile men. These Marxist bastards have no idea what is coming for them. No idea.

Laugh while you can, Monkey Boys.

What passed last night is a long way from the single-payer, socialist dream its supporters secretly — and not so secretly — really want. As a matter of fact, it’s hard to imagine a bill more perfectly constructed to tee off everyone: Conservatives hate it for it’s regulation, cost and explosive growth of government; liberals hate it because it forces people (so far, so good!) to buy premiums form the hated private insurance companies. (What the–!)

So, in terms of limiting the practical and immediate damage, holding it here — just holding it — is important and essential.  Barack Obama, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi have an IQ of 130 — that would be combined between the three of them and you can get to 150 if you throw in Biden — and so they actually believe that a few months from now, they will be able to add single-payer to this goat rodeo, this bloodbath, this circus of incompetence conducted by this museum-grade confederacy of dunces. It got them a bill that requires people to pay for private insurance — which I am, of course, utterly opposed to on every level — but that is way short of single payer and we MUST hold the line here and not an inch further until reinforcements arrive in January. And they will. In numbers that will astonish and amaze the most optimistic among us.

Hat tip: fuzislippers at Potluck.

Linked by Michelle Malkin, thanks!

Oops…I Don’t Think Al Sharpton Was Supposed To Say That…

Obama scoffs at the very idea that his policies are “Socialist”, *giggle!*

That silly billy. Doesn’t he know that only ignorant tea-baggers, (who don’t even know how to spell Socialism), say things like that?

Linked by Michelle Malkin, thanks!

Video: John McCain Repulsed By Dem Euphoria

And he tells Stephie he’d like to repeal ObamaCare and start over.

MSNBC reports:

Sen. John McCain said Monday morning that Democrats have not heard the last of the health care debate, and said he was repulsed by “all this euphoria going on.”

Appearing on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” McCain, who was Obama’s GOP rival in the 2008 presidential campaign, said that “outside the Beltway, the American people are very angry. They don’t like it, and we’re going to repeal this.”

Republican Mitt Romney, who challenged McCain for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008, also called for repeal of the reform bill Monday. In a statement, Romney called the passage of the legislation “an historic usurpation of the legislative process.”

Hat tip: Hot Air Headlines

Obama To Take Victory Lap To Iowa

The time for talk is over…for everyone but him. And the time for gloating has just begun.

President Obama will take to road this week to sell his healthcare insurance overhaul package to the American people, whom polls show remain dubious about the package.

Obama is scheduled to travel to Iowa City, Iowa, on Thursday, the White House announced. By then, it is expected that he will have signed the healthcare overhaul legislation that the House passed on Sunday.

Yes, after a year of watching him lie, bully,  bribe, abuse the system,  and use every shady practice under the sun to pass ObamaCare you could say we’re “dubious”.

Obama has already made more than 50 speeches to sell healthcare, but this one will be a bit of a victory lap.

The president likely will remind people of the historic nature of healthcare reform, which has simmered on the public burner for a century. He will also stress his favorite selling points – the consumer issues that limit predatory insurance company practices.

Like all Democrats this election year, he will talk about government projections that the bill will cut the federal deficit by more than $1.3 trillion over 20 years – a pitch to those conservatives and independents worried about the effect of spending on future generations.

A “pitch”, huh? Is that what we’re calling bold-faced lies, now? Who but the most koolaid-drinking Obot believes anything the man says anymore? Who enjoys being lied to time and time again?

Charles Krauthammer takes the hammer to Obama’s pitch.

The $1 trillion is a hoax. The CBO talked about the second decade, but it said this is extremely chancy, iffy, this is not a hard number. And look, that trillion dollars of saving in the second decade assumes that Congress in 2018 is going to pass the tax on Cadillac health plans, which Congress today under all the pressure of the president won’t even touch.

So of course it’s not going to happen in 2018. Of course you are not going to have a $1 trillion surplus. We know that in the first decade, it’s not a plan of $1 trillion. It’s a plan that will cost us $2.5 trillion. We’ll be deeply in debt.

We’re supposed to forget everything that happened over the past year because of  a few more smoothly told pitches from TOTUS? I don’t think so.

Dick Morris correctly notes that voter anger will last well into November:

The anger of the voters at this total disregard of public opinion will power Republican candidates throughout the nation and will impel one of the greatest reversals of Congressional alignment in history.

But the aftershock of this political earthquake is yet to come. It will be upon us in the fall when Congress must decide whether to proceed with the Medicare cuts (particularly to cut in doctors’ reimbursement rates) or to postpone or cancel them and add the cost to the federal deficit.

Either they will make a shambles of Medicare or a mockery of their pretense of fiscal responsibility. The cuts would force broad swaths of the medical community – physicians and institutions – to refuse to treat Medicare patients. Their cancellation of postponement would swell the deficit and underscore the cynicism with which President Obama characterized the plan as a great deficit reduction measure.

This vote transforms the political landscape in a way that we have not seen in our lifetimes and the results will be cataclysmic for the Democratic Party.

Do not screw this up, Republicans.

MORE:

Jennifer Rubin is having a hard time seeing the upside for Democrats:

It’s therefore quite possible that the public (at least those who vote consistently) won’t — even after a sales job — come to appreciate the wonders of the bill. There just aren’t that many wonders. It is, as Zelnick points out, quite different in this regard from popular entitlement programs (”social security was carefully tailored to satisfy a pressing need for security among the elderly while Medicare and Medicaid also responded to well defined public need”). Here there is a lot of pain with uncertain gains. And that’s before we consider the aggregate impact on the nation’s fiscal health.

Perceptions change over time, but it’s hard to see how this becomes the sort of beloved entitlement plan that Democrats hope will earn the voters’ gratitude.

RELATED:

Aw. Apparently, some Dems are  little hung over, today. According to John Boehner, a few are already experiencing “voters’ remorse”.

HOUSE DEMS ALREADY COPING WITH MISGUIDED VOTE FOR UNAFFORDABLE, JOB-KILLING BILL

House Democrat: “I Feel Like I Am Walking The Plank.” “Obama May Pay Price By Pushing ‘Political Chips’ on Health Care. Still, Obama’s victory leaves him depleted. ‘There has been a large ‘opportunity cost’ that the president and the Democratic Party have paid for going down this road,’ said William Galston, a onetime domestic policy adviser to President Bill Clinton.  Obama is unlikely to find either Democratic or Republican willingness to work on issues of mutual concern. … Said Representative Baron Hill, an Indiana Democrat, ‘I feel like I am walking the plank.’” (Bloomberg, 3/22/10)

“Casting Votes … For Their Own Political Extinction.” “But House Democrats, who have endured months of draining debate and attacks from tea party activists … more relieved than overjoyed — and many may have been casting votes, on a warm spring night, for their own political extinction.  … But even Sunday’s stunning comeback victory couldn’t paper over the reality that congressional Democrats, who face a potentially devastating backlash in the midterms, won’t enjoy the benefits…” (Politico, 3/21/10)

Dem shills keep talking up how popular this thing is going to be as soon as Americans see how wonderful it all is. Then there’s Doug Schoen:

Dem Pollster: “They’ve Totally Divided The Country.” “By moving the package with Democratic votes alone, ‘they’ve totally divided the country,’ and it will be difficult for Obama to calm voters before November, said Doug Schoen, a Democratic pollster who worked for former President Clinton.” (The Boston Globe, 3/22/10)

Another reason why it will be difficult to calm voters….they don’t believe him.

The Way Out

NRO has an good interview with Paul Ryan, this morning. He doesn’t have any illusions about repealing the bill in the short term, but he is full of ideas on what is coming down the pike, and  how to move forward. He says the fight has just begun:

What about the practical consequences of Obamacare? “Soon, we’ll see individual-market insurance companies go out of business and dump their people,” Ryan says. “Tax increases on capital are going to hurt the economy in 2011. These arbitrary Medicare cuts will adversely affect the providers and therefore their beneficiaries. You’ll have the Internal Revenue Service beefing up its enforcement of this new mandate, which people have no clue is coming. And you’re going to have employers dump employees in this exchange once it’s up and running — funneling everyone into a government-run rationing system. Then we’ll see a big spike in insurance rates, and the Democrats are going to wager that they can just blame the insurers for that, and therefore that means they will need to institute insurance price controls or have a public option. Our side is going to say, ‘Look at what you just did to ruin our health-care system,’ and focus on repeal.”

“Our offense will be hammering them for wrecking the health-care system, their demonization of the insurance companies, and their push for government control. That is the future fight,” Ryan predicts. “They’ve got a president here until 2013 and the votes in the Senate to support this for a few years, but it’s not over. As we work to repeal, we must recognize that we’re fighting a different and distorted progressivism. They want to hook people up to entitlements and delegate more power to unelected bureaucrats and technocrats to micromanage the economy — a government full of Peter Orzags. Yet their fatal conceit is also a rational gamble to establish a new culture of dependency.”

In an Obamacare world, what is the GOP’s message? “We need to become the party of liberty and freedom,” Ryan argues. “We’re not doing enough. We can do better, and we will — because we have no choice. If we’re going to offer the country a completely different vision, we can’t be Democratic-lite or resign ourselves to be slightly more efficient managers and tax-collectors for the welfare state. We have to break with that and give people a clear and distinct difference.”

John at Powerline finds some silver linings in this whole debacle:

* The health care bill’s taxes will go into effect promptly, but its substantive provisions are, for the most part, deferred for four years. This means that we have plenty of time to repeal the legislation. Sure, it will take a new Congress and new President. But repealing this disaster of a bill will by a rallying cry for the American people for years to come. Moreover, even if the Republicans only take over the House in November, and not the Senate, won’t it be possible to throw roadblocks in the way of the bill’s implementation? Won’t budget appropriations be necessary to sustain the various federal tentacles the bill seeks to establish? What will happen if the House simply refuses to fund them?

* I’ve never been prouder to be a Republican. The party’s Congressional leaders have fought this battle to the end on behalf of the American people–with intelligence, toughness, persistence and good humor. The contrast between the parties has never been starker than in today’s debate. If any intelligent Democrats were watching–there must be some left–they had to be embarrassed for their party.

* Paul Ryan has emerged as one of the conservative movement’s strongest spokesmen. In the years to come, I think we will hear the words “I’m a Paul Ryan Republican” with increasing frequency.

Read the whole thing, there’s more to feel optimistic about.

Meanwhile, in response to Obamacare, at least 36 state legislatures are using the legislative process  to limit, alter or oppose selected state or federal actions, including single-payer provisions and insurance mandates.

As of early March, formal resolutions or bills had been filed in Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado,  Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky,  Louisiana, Maryland,  Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey,  New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming. Up to three additional states were reported in media or association articles to have discussed future action or intentions; examples are listed below.

Laws: On March 4, 2010 a Virginia law passed both Senate and House, was amended by the Governor and both branches of the legislature and became law as Chapter 106 March 10, becoming the first such statute in the nation.* Idaho is the second state to enact a similar statute, as Chapter 46 on March 17.

Passed bills: None of the other proposals listed have been finally approved; Arizona‘s resolution of June 2009 was the first measure to have passed the legislative process;  A Utah bill passed both chambers and awaits action by the governor. A Tennessee bills has passsed one chamber, Constitutional resolutions have advanced through initial steps in Florida, Georgia and Missouri (3/16/10).  One amendment failed to pass in Georgia on 3/18/10.

“Did not pass” measures: So far in 2010, bills have been rejected or failed to pass in: Indiana, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Mexico, South Dakota and Wyoming.

See the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) for more.

There is already a Repeal It effort underway, sponsored by The Club for Growth.. ..click on the link and see how many lawmakers, candidates, and citizens have signed the pledge:

“I hereby pledge that if any federal health care takeover is passed in 2010, I will support – with my time, money, and vote – only candidates who pledge to support its repeal and replacement with real reforms that lower health care costs without growing government.”

And here’s Drew from AoSHQ offering some free advise to Republicans: Dear GOP: Fight

You need to be the party of No for the next 6 months on just about every issue. The only issue (other than national security) that matters is repealing this monstrosity. I don’t know if it can be done but it has to be tried.

Please don’t let Obama drag you into a pissing match over the small stuff. If he has another idiotic jobs bill, just let it go. Vote no but don’t fight about it, reframe the fight in terms of health care. Reframe everything in terms of health care…immigration, taxes, Cap and Trade, whatever other crap they throw at you. It all comes down to health care and the fundamental shift in the relationship between government and people. I know the presidency is a hard institution to fight with and Obama just makes shit up but you’ve got to try and keep the focus on the health care bill. More and more details will come out and that will help you.

But it’s bigger than legislation and even politics. You guys are going to be asked to do something you’re not necessarily equipped to do…speak philosophically about what it means to be an American. You are going to have to tell people something politicians don’t like to have say…no. No, Americans can’t have everything and not pay for it. No, they can’t have ‘free’ health care forever. No, you can’t expect the government to do the basic things that free adults should and must do for themselves.

You also need to tell people what that will give them…freedom. Freedom to do the best they can. Freedom to chart the course of their own lives and freedom live in peace without an army of pushy bureaucrats treating them like children.
I know that kind of freedom scares some people but you need to sell it to them. Remind them how it’s their birthright and how even if they want lots of ‘stuff’ given to them, it’s got to come from somewhere. Freedom and free enterprise is the greatest wealth generator known to mankind, without there’s nothing else.

Read it in full, it’s good stuff.

And in In the WaPo, this morning, Marc Thiessen asks: Has The GOP Spent Enough Time in the Wilderness?

Breaking the earmark addiction

…this month the GOP conference voted to adopt a voluntary, unilateral ban on all earmarks for the remainder of the 111th Congress. The resolution declares that “no member shall request a congressional earmark, limited tax benefit, or limited tariff benefit.” Securing such a pledge was not easy. During their time in power, Republicans became addicted to earmarks. According to Citizens Against Government Waste, in 1994, the year before the GOP took control, there were just 1,318 earmarks totaling $7.8 billion. By 2005, the last year of Republican rule, the number had grown to 13,997 earmarks totaling $27.3 billion. It was a Republican Congress that gave us the “Bridge to Nowhere” and the Duke Cunningham “bribes for earmarks” scandal — symbols of profligacy and corruption that led taxpayers to throw Republicans out in 2006.

A grass-roots movement for fiscal discipline is driving independents to the GOP, and House Republicans needed to show that they had learned their lesson on spending — so they went cold-turkey on earmarks.

Unfortunately, that lesson does not appear to have sunk in on the other side of Capitol Hill. Last week, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) offered a bipartisan amendment on the Senate floor that would have banned all earmarks for the rest of the current Congress. He got just 25 Republican votes. Indeed, two GOP senators — Lamar Alexander (Tenn.) and Jim Inhofe (Okla.) — voted for the same amendment in 2008 when they were up for re-election, but switched sides this time around. In all, 15 Republicans voted to preserve earmarks — and not surprisingly nine came from the appropriations committee.

Really Republicans? Really?

Have you forgotten already that government pork was a major theme of the early tea parties?

They would do well to read Drew’s letter to get their minds right. They are not going to take back congress by being Democrat lites.

See also That Dog Won’t Hunt, which I found via The Other McCain. It’s a grassroots political action committee dedicated to the eradication of the Blue Dogs. Give generously if you can.

A couple more petitions  you can sign:

November is coming by Americans For Prosperity

Over 325,000 signatures in just 4 days.

Repeal the health care bill!!! by the Tea Party Express

The “Repeal the Health Care Bill” has become ipetions.com’s #1 most-popular petition with over 25,000 signatures in the past 12 hours.

MORE:

Jim Geraghty reports: Since debuting this morning, the RNC’s “Fire Nancy Pelosi” site has raised $511,903.

Ace says: We Can Repeal This

Senator Jim DeMint Introduces Bill To Repeal ObamaCare

REPEAL!

March 21, 2010 – WASHINGTON, D.C – Today, U.S. Senator Jim DeMint (R-South Carolina) announced that he will introduce legislation this week to repeal President Obama’s government takeover of health care. House Democrats voted this evening to pass the Senate version of the health care bill and it will likely be signed into law by President Obama later this week.

“This bill is unconstitutional and it cannot be fixed. It must be repealed,” said Senator DeMint. “The battle for health care freedom is not over and I will introduce legislation this week to repeal this health care takeover.

“Unless this trillion-dollar assault on our freedoms is repealed, it will force Americans to purchase Washington-approved health plans or face stiff penalties. It will fund abortions, raise taxes and insurance premiums, while reducing health care choices and quality.”

“This arrogant power grab proves that the President and his party care more about government control than the will of the American people. Americans told Washington to keep its hands off their health care in opinion polls, at public protests, and at the ballot box, but their pleas were ignored.

“If the President and Democrats were serious about true health care reform, there were many free-market solutions we could have easily passed. Americans support commonsense reforms such as purchasing coverage across state lines, stopping frivolous medical lawsuits, and giving the same tax breaks to Americans who don’t get their insurance at work. Unfortunately, Democrats refused to listen.”

The bill passed in the House today raids $52 billion from Social Security, cuts nearly $500 billion from Medicare, and doesn’t account for the hundreds of billions Congress must pass to pay doctors who treat elderly patients.

TEXT of Senator DeMint’s bill to Repeal ObamaCare: To repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

I’m not sure about the timing of this…wouldn’t it be smarter to wait until after the elections in November.. What chance is there of getting this POS repealed now, with the Democrat Socialists in charge?

Heritage Foundation President Calls Actions Taken By Dems Leading To Obamacare Cram-down, “Intolerable Acts”

Edwin J. Feulner, president of The Heritage Foundation, uses Revolutionary War terminology to describe the behavior of the Democrats, and encourages Americans to challenge the constitutionality of the bill:

Hat tip: Bob McCarty

More:

Several states have already gotten the ball rolling.

See Michelle Malkin for the list of states whose AGs are suing the federal government over Obamacare: Attorneys general launch lawsuit backlash against Demcare

Video: Boehner Gave A Pretty Good Speech, too

Does he seem  little tee’d off, here? A little tense, maybe? Wee wee’d up, even?

When you’re forced to watch the *Dem Socialists  run the nation into the ground on a party line vote, after doing everything in your power to stop it, while knowing the majority of your fellow Americans agree with you….that’s got to be frustrating.

*Remember how almost a year ago, the RNC briefly considered a resolution to rebrand Dems as the Democrat Socialist party? And how that idea was quickly shot down by many conservatives who thought it was “stupid”, unserious, and wouldn’t be popular with the public?

Yeah.

Still think that?

What the hell are they if not the Democrat Socialists of America?

Video via Breitbart.

Hat tip: Hot Air Headlines

Paul Ryan For President

Paul Ryan’s floor speech, on this ill-fated night:

I’m not kidding. This man is so brilliant, conservative, and appealing, I would vote for him in  heartbeat. If anyone can begin to lead us out of this horrific mess, it’s him.

Hat tip: Allahpundit, who’s valiantly keeping a stiff upper lip over at Hot Air with some non-pessimistic links.

Video: Highlights From The Kill The Bill Rally in DC, 3/20

For the many of us who were not able to be there:

Thanks to Project Shining City for putting that together.

Obama Offers Executive Order Fig Leaf – Stupak Accepts

Game over.

The deal, according to the Politico:

The White House and anti-abortion Democrats have reached an agreement to defusethe controversy over abortion in the health reform bill – planning a series of steps that will secure the support of Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) and other Democrats to give party leaders the votes they need to pass reform, sources tell POLITICO.

Under the agreement, President Barack Obama would sign an executive order ensuring that no federal funding will go to pay for abortion under the health reform plans. In addition, Stupak will get to state his concerns about abortion funding in the bill during a colloquy on the House floor during the debate.

And then, Stupak and several other Democratic hold-outs over abortion will sign on to the bill, the sources said…

The EO can be viewed here.

I can tell you right now; this won’t be worth the piece of paper it’s printed on. There is no one in politics today who is more viciously pro-abortion than Barack Obama, and every statement he makes comes with an expiration date.  If Obama was willing to lie to the Pope to his face about abortion, he certainly has no compunction about lying to Bart Stupak and his pro life stalwarts.

Americans United For Life’s Charmaine Yoest says (via email) that the Executive Order Won’t Stop Taxpayer-Funded Abortion:

“Once again, the proposal to address the problem of abortion funding in the health care bill through use of an executive order is a tacit acknowledgement that the bill as it stands is pro-abortion legislation. Both the President and the Speaker have repeatedly denied this stark fact.

Furthermore, the AUL legal team has concluded that an executive order is not an adequate fix to mitigate the Senate bill’s establishment of taxpayer-funded abortion.  For example, an executive order cannot prevent insurance companies that pay for abortions in the exchanges from receiving federal subsidies.

In addition, executive orders can be undone or modified as quickly as they are created. President Obama revoked the Mexico City Policy, through the use of an executive order, and thereby allowed federal tax dollars to finance organizations that provide abortions internationally for the first time in years.

This fact, coupled with the Administration’s repeated endorsement of the pro-abortion lobby’s agenda, force any reasonable person to conclude that this bill will clearly create the largest expansion of taxpayer-funded abortion in American history.”

- Dr. Charmaine Yoest, President & CEO of Americans United for Life Action.

Mike Pence just mentioned on Fox that a court of law would throw out the EO since it would contradict the legislation passed by Congress.

Tom Price calls it “a pig in a poke” – you can’t override legislation with an executive order.

A clearly disgusted Doug Ross, cuts loose:

This bill fundamentally changes the relationship between the federal government and the people; and it does so in a despicably evil way. Health care will, there is no doubt, be wielded as a political weapon to reward and punish.

Congratulations, Bart Stupak and your so-called “Pro-Life” Democrat Caucus, you’ve sentenced the unborn generations of this country to misery, poverty and economic ruin. Way to stay true to your beliefs.

You aren’t pro-life, you’re low-lives.

But then, we already knew these guys were progressives.

An also clearly disgusted Andrew McCarthy concurs with Pence and Price about the constitutionality  of the EO deal:

The Susan B. Anthony List observation that EOs can be rescinded at the president’s whim is of course true. This particuar EO is also a nullity — presidents cannot enact laws, the Supreme Court has said they cannot impound funds that Congress allocates, and (as a friend points out) the line-item veto has been held unconstitutional, so they can’t use executive orders to strike provisions in a bill. So this anti-abortion EO is blatant chicanery: if the pro-lifers purport to be satisfied by it, they are participating in a transparent fraud and selling out the pro-life cause.

MORE:

AUL’s Charmaine Yoest sent out yet another emergency email:

I am writing to you from inside the US Capitol building. And I wanted to give you an update and also tell you about a special last-minute need for action.

Tension is high here in the buildup to tonight’s vote. As I write I can hear protestors outside. You may have heard the news reports that some pro-life Members of Congress are being offered a “deal” from the White House on health care reform legislation. That is true. In exchange for a “yes” vote on this bill, President Obama promises to issue an executive order that he claims will address our concerns about taxpayer funding for abortion.

Let me be clear, this will not prevent taxpayer-funded abortion.

Here is a statement I made to members of the press.

Here is detailed legal analysis from Senior AUL Action attorney Bill Saunders from today’s Washington Examiner.

Friends, please do NOT believe news reports that this fight is over. It isn’t over until the last vote is counted!

If you live in their districts, please call these eight Members of Congress immediately to encourage them to stand strong for Life. Let them know that the only acceptable way to stop taxpayer-funded abortion is a NO vote. Implore them not to take any “deal” on an executive order.
Please also take a moment to forward this email to anyone you know who lives in these districts.

Rep. Marion Berry(D, AR)  – (202) 225-4076

Rep. Kathy Dahlkemper (D, PA) – (202) 225-5406

Rep. Paul Kanjorski (D, PA) – (202) 225-6511

Rep. Mike Michaud (D, ME) – (202) 225-6306

Rep. Earl Pomeroy (D, ND) – (202) 225-2611

Rep. Bobby Rush (D, IL) – (202) 225-4372

Rep. Vic Snyder (D, AR) – (202) 225-2506

Rep. Bart Stupak (D, MI) – (202) 225-4735

Rep. Harry Teague (D, NM) – (202) 225-2365

Krauthammer (on Fox):

The EO is “worthless”.

Stupak’s cave is disappointing…

This is nationalizing health care. As of tonight, health insurance companies become agents of the government.

Obama will be remembered as the father of nationalized health care.

There will be a reckoning…..

Michelle Malkin:

Meet Dan Benishek, Stupak’s GOP challenger in Michigan’s 1st congressional district. His campaign slogan: “You deserve better.”

Another challenger: Linda Goldthorpe.

The Daily Caller: Obama’s executive order that satisfied Stupak does absolutely nothing

Via Ace, Mark Steyn: This Is Even Worse Than You’re Thinking:

Happy Dependence Day!

The boys at AoSHQ do not give up easy:

Drew: Last Chance To Kill Health Care?

Ace: Hmmm: 2/3rds of State Legislatures Can Force Vote on Constitutional Amendment to Repeal Health Care

US Bishops 11th Hour Plea: “DO NOT PASS PRO-ABORTION DEMOCRATIC HEALTH CARE BILL”

The US Bishops, who only recently came out against the bill, have issued a final, urgent plea to prevent the passage of  Obamcare:

In a final, urgent plea to prevent the passage of the current form of the Senate health care bill, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) on Saturday evening sent a letter to Congressmen asking them to vote “no.”

“For decades,” the letter says, “the United States Catholic bishops have supported universal health care. The Catholic Church teaches that health care is a basic human right, essential for human life and dignity.”

“Our community of faith,” the bishops continue, “provides health care to millions, purchases health care for tens of thousands and addresses the failings of our health care system in our parishes, emergency rooms and shelters. This is why we as bishops continue to insist that health care reform which truly protects the life, dignity, consciences and health of all is a moral imperative and an urgent national priority.”

Nevertheless, they add, “we are convinced that the Senate legislation now presented to the House of Representatives on a ‘take it or leave it’ basis sadly fails this test and ought to be opposed.”

The letter is signed by Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, Chairman of the Committee of Pro-life Activities; Bishop William F. Murphy, Chairman of the Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development; and Bishop John C. Wester, Chairman of the Committee on Migration.

“Why do we take this position, when we have a long record of support for health care reform?” the USCCB letter asks, answering that the fundamental objections can be summarized in two points.

First, the bishops argue that health care reform “must protect life and conscience, not threaten them.” The Senate bill “extends abortion coverage, allows federal funds to pay for elective abortions (for example, through a new appropriation for services at Community Health Centers that bypasses the Hyde amendment), and denies adequate conscience protection to individuals and institutions.”

“Simply put,” the letter to Representatives continues, “health care reform ought to continue to apply both parts of the Hyde amendment, no more and no less.”

You can read the entire letter at the Catholic News Agency.

Hat Tip Gateway Pundit

Related:

This thing ain’t ovah.

Gateway Pundit: Pelosi Still Scrambling for Votes… Dems Draft Bill Clinton to Make Calls

Glenn Reynolds: REPS. SPACE & MATHESON WILL BOTH VOTE NO. Glenn also reports: I’m also getting email reports that Rep. Lincoln Davis’s (D-TN) office is saying he will vote no, though I haven’t been able to find a published report to that effect.

UPDATE: A “no” from Rep. Glenn Nye.

Gabe at AoSHQ: Where is Representative Loretta Sanchez?

Nomentum is back!

MORE:

Must read for shits and giggles: Hillbuzz: Daily Kos in full-on pants-wetting meltdown over “Motions to Recommit”

The Latest Awesome Anti-Obama Billboard Pops Up

These things are popping up all over the place; see here, here, here and here.

I predict that if  Obamacare is rammed through tomorrow, there will be many, many more of these to come.

I, personally know of at least one in the works.

Lori at iOWNTHEWORLD has more.

Hat tip:

Weasel Zippers