House Republicans Vote To Ban Earmarks

The Hill reports:

House Republicans approved a conference-wide moratorium on earmarks on Thursday, one day after a House committee enacted a ban on for-profit earmarks.

The Republicans’ moratorium is more extensive than the House Appropriations Committee’s ban in that it applies to all earmarks for all members of the caucus.

The moratorium was passed via a “strong” voice vote, according to Rep. Mike Conaway (R-Texas), who participated in the nearly two-hour-long conference meeting.

Hat tip: Drew at AoSHQ, who notes that this is also a victory for the tea party movement.

UPDATE:

Pence Discusses Earmark Moratorium and Massa ethics probe on MSNBC (video)

Pence, the Chairman of the House Republican Conference, delivered these remarks today after the House Republican Conference approved the moratorium on all earmarks:

“Federal spending is out of control and the American people know it. Earmarks have become emblematic of everything that is wrong with spending here in Washington D.C. Today, after a marathon debate within the House Republican Conference, House Republicans have determined to renounce earmark requests of all kinds in this Congress, and the American people won that debate.

“By standing in favor of a moratorium on earmarks in this Congress, House Republicans are making a clean break from the past. We are offering the American people a fresh start on spending in Washington, D.C. We are offering the American people a new way forward. With the health care reform bill being debated and haggled about in these very hallways, no doubt earmarks are being talked about in a different way by the Democrat Majority. After the ‘Cornhusker Kickback,’ the ‘Gatorade Deal,’ the ‘Second Louisiana Purchase,’ the American people want us to change business as usual in Washington D.C.

“The contrast will be startling in the days ahead.  No doubt as Democrats are making backroom deals, and offering earmarks to pass their government takeover of health care, today with one voice House Republicans have stepped forward and said, ‘The time has come to set aside earmarking as usual and begin the process of turning federal spending back over to the American people with a new course, new discipline, and new transparency.’”

Billboard: Now It’s Personal

Just received this via email:

The attached photo is of a billboard recently established on I-75 just south of Lake City.  A group gathered there today to celebrate its unveiling. The cost of 10 months rental of the billboard and doing the artwork was $6500.  We feel that is a reasonable cost to reach out to 1,000,000 vehicles per month and perhaps motivate their participation in the electoral process to get our country on a sound footing.

Video:Some Rare Moments Of Honesty From Dems On ObamaCare

I can’t see any way for the Dems to pass this thing.

Michael Barone said yesterday:

It’s beginning to look like the goal of health care legislation was a bridge too far. There’s a reason it’s hard to pass unpopular legislation on party-line votes. It’s not the Senate rules. It’s called democracy.

I’m inclined to agree…

Is it too early to do a victory dance?

Senator Byrd In ’01: “Reconciliation Was Never Never Never Intended To Be Used As A Shield For Controversial Legislation”

In case there was still any doubt – video uncovered by Naked Emperor News:

Related Article:

Opinion: Reconciliation Isn’t Health Reform Answer

Hat tip: Ironic Surrealism

ACORN Kicked Out Of Ohio

Great news from the Columbus Dispatch:

ACORN, the liberal group notorious for allegedly trying to inflate voter rolls through fraudulent practices, has seen its last election in Ohio.

The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now will permanently surrender its Ohio business license by June1 as part of a legal settlement with the conservative Buckeye Institute for Public Policy Solutions, both sides said yesterday.

ACORN was active in Ohio in the 2006 and 2008 elections, working to register thousands of low-income people to vote and get them to the polls. The group’s efforts were marred by irregularities, including one case in which ACORN workers allegedly induced a Cleveland man to register to vote 72 times, offering cigarettes as an incentive.

Hat tip: Lucianne

Not all news on the ACORN front, today is good. Liberal blogs are celebrating this decision, today, which is just a reaffirmation of what a federal judge said in December:

A federal judge retained her position that it is unconstitutional for Congress to prevent funding for the activist group ACORN after a government request that she reconsider.

U.S. District Judge Nina Gershon cemented her earlier decision in December and made the injunction against government intervention permanent, asking all federal agencies to spread the word that money to ACORN be allowed without delay.

The judge wrote that it was “unmistakable that Congress determined ACORN’s guilt before defunding it.” Congress may investigate ACORN but cannot “rely on the negative results of a congressional or executive report as a rationale to impose a broad, punitive funding ban on a specific, named organization.”

Can the judge please explain why it’s constitutional for the American taxpayer to fund this corrupt arm of the Democrat party? I’ve never understood that.

RELATED

Good news at Big Government for Breitbart and Co:

A state court in Baltimore has dismissed ACORN’s lawsuit against James O’Keefe, Hannah Giles, and Breitbart.com LLC after the plaintiffs failed to serve the complaint on the defendants within Maryland’s 120-day limit.

MORE ACORN NEWS:

Big Government: Obama Justice Dept Spikes ACORN Investigation, Judicial Watch Releases FBI Documents

Welcome AoSHQ morons! Would it kill you people to comment? Sheesh!

The Time For Talk Is Deja-vu All Over Again

Obama said it again in St. Charles, MO, Wednesday,  as he tried to “rally support” for his fledgling health care legislation :

“The time to talk is over. It’s time to vote,” he said. “I don’t know about the politics, but I know that it is the right thing to do and that is why I am fighting so hard to get it done.”

If the time for talk is over, why does he keep talking?

I love the mash-up Ed Morrissey made for his Obamateurism of the day, so much, I’m afraid I’m going to have to borrow it:

I visited this issue back in December, when the phrase had already become cringe-inducing: The Time To Say “The Time For Talk Is Over” Is Over

Obama, Dec. 18, 2009:

“I have to be honest, as the world watches us … I think our ability to take collective action is in doubt and it hangs in the balance,” Obama told the COP-15 plenary session as hope faded for anything more than a vague political agreement.

When Obama stews about “the world” watching…are Americans included in that equation? Because I can assure him, that most Americans watching this farce are rooting for it to fall apart completely. But I don’t think he really cares what Americans think.

“The time for talk is over, this is the bottom line: We can embrace this accord, take a substantial step forward. We can do that, and everyone who is in this room will be part of an historic endeavor, or we can choose delay,” he said.

Here are some more times when talk was allegedly “over”:

Obama on the (now failed) Stimulus package Feb 5, 2009:

“The time for talk is over,” he added. “The time for action is now, because we know that if we do not act, a bad situation will become dramatically worse. Crisis could turn into catastrophe for families and businesses across the country.”

Obama on health care legislation, July 21, 2009:

“The time for talk is through.” – President Obama, talking to liberal bloggers on a conference call Monday night.

Obama on health care legislation, September 9, 2009:

“The time for bickering” over health care is over.

Variations:

Obama to Israel:

“It is past time to stop talking about starting negotiations,” Obama said before talks that included the two leaders as well as senior officials from the U.S., Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Talks “must begin and begin soon.”

Obama campaigning For Creigh Deeds, August 7, 2009:

“I don’t want the folks who created the mess to do a lot of talking. I want them to get out of the way so we can clean up the mess.”

Let me be clear…it’s time to retire “the time for talk is over” cliche.

RELATED:

Jennifer Rubin reminds us of Obama’s words to John McCain during the health care summit: “The campaign is over”.

Apparently not.

See also:

Ace: Obama Begins Final Sales Pitch, With Assist From AP

Call To Action: Final ObamaCare Push-Back March 16

The Dems are determined to pass their health care legislation come hell or high water, even in the face of massive opposition, even though they don’t have the votes to do it in the House. Their latest ploy?:

Ace reports, (via The Corner):

Constitutional Slaughter: Democrats Attempting Rule Change in House That Would Pass Senate Bill Without An Actual Vote on the Senate Bill

House Rules Chairwoman Louise Slaughter is prepping to help usher the healthcare overhaul through the House and potentially avoid a direct vote on the Senate overhaul bill, the chairwoman said Tuesday.

Slaughter is weighing preparing a rule that would consider the Senate bill passed once the House approves a corrections bill that would make changes to the Senate version.

Slaughter has not taken the plan to Speaker Pelosi as Democrats await CBOscores on the corrections bill. “Once the CBO gives us the score we’ll spring right on it,” she said.

Leon Wolfe at RedState explains:

Having determined that they lack the votes in the House to pass the Senate bills as-is, House Democrats are attempting one of the most breathtakingly unconstitutional power grabs ever witnessed – a maneuver to deem the Senate bill ALREADY PASSED by the House by rule, despite the fact that it clearly has not. Now, as we have constantly reminded our ahistorical liberal friends who have already forgotten all of 2002-2006, the filibuster is constitutional because it is a Senate rule of debate, which is expressly authorized by Article I’s delegation of power to each house of Congress to set its own rules of debate. Apparently, some Democrats can’t seem to tell the difference between a rule of debate and just declaring by rule that the House has passed a bill that they have not, when the Constitution itself expressly states that “in all [] Cases the Votes of both Houses shall be determined by Yeas and Nays[.]” What Slaughter and Pelosi here are attempting here is a blatant violation of the principles of bicameralism and presentment.

And unlike other Unconstitutional things Congress does, there’s caselaw here suggesting pretty clearly that when Congress attempts to pass a law in the absence of proper bicameralism and presentment, a person negatively affected by Congress’s action (e.g., a person required to pay a fine for not having health insurance) has standing to challenge the law’s validity in the Courts. This farce is illegal and unconstitutional on its face, and someone has to be advising the Democrats in the House of this fact. They already know the American people don’t want this bill. They know by now that what they’re trying to do is illegal. The question now is whether they still have the shame to care about either.

Ace is absolutely correct – they’re hoping that the MSM will give them the cover they need to do this…

This is the typical nonsense desperate leftists try. If you can’t do it by the rules, change the rules, and rely on the media to pretend what you’ve done is perfectly reasonable.

*What can we do?

Dan Riehl, fresh off a teleconference call with Mike Pence, has this:

Pence: Next 2 Weeks Will Determine Future Of Health Care In America

Speaking to approximately 10,000 activists, bloggers and other citizens tonight on an Americans For Prosperity Tele-Townhall, 3rd ranking House Republican Mike Pence said the Democrat majority continues to do everything they can to muster the votes to pass the Senate bill, previously passed by the Senate on Christmas Eve. Pence added that it’s doubtful most, if any fixes would be forthcoming from the Senate due to Senate rules and procedures.

Echoing Obama, but without the emphasis or yelling, Pence stated, “Now is the time, this is the moment” to do whatever you can to defeat this bill if you oppose it. His key suggestion was to continue to pressure wavering Democrats.

Tea Party activists hastily organized a  protest for Obama’s visit to Philadelphia on Monday.  Gateway Pundit covered the 2,225 strong anti-ObamaCare rally in St. Charles MO today.

Tabitha Hale at Freedomworks put out the call for a final rally in DC on March 16th:

*You can order your own torch and pitchfork, here.

Michael Moore Volunteers For Rahm Emanuel’s Job

Is it conventional wisdom that the Rahm Emanuel’s job is hanging by a thread? Is he about to thrown under the bus?

Well guess who’s stepping in to take over his job? (Nice Deb first: Huffpo link):

President Obama, Replace Rahm With Me: An Open Letter From Michael Moore (eeek)!!!

Now, don’t get too giddy with excitement over my offer, because you and I are going to be up at 5 in the morning, seven days a week and I am going to get you pumped up for battle every single day (see photo). Each morning you and I will do 100 jumping jacks and you will repeat after me:

“THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ELECTED ME, NOT THE REPUBLICANS, TO RUN THE COUNTRY! I AM IN CHARGE! I WILL ORDER ALL OBSTRUCTIONISTS OUTTA MY WAY! IF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE DON’T LIKE WHAT I’M DOING THEY CAN THROW MY ASS OUT IN 2012. IN THE MEANTIME, I CALL THE SHOTS ON THEIR BEHALF! NOW, CONGRESS, DROP AND GIVE ME 50!!”

Then we will put on our jogging sweats and run up to Capitol Hill. We will take names, kick butts, and then take some more names. If we have to give a few noogies or half-nelson’s, then so be it. In our pockets we will have a piece of paper to show the pansy Dems just how much they won by in 2008 — and the poll results that show the majority of Americans oppose the Afghanistan and Iraq wars and want the bankers punished. Like drill sergeants, we will get right up in their faces and ask them, “WHAT PART OF THE PUBLIC MANDATE DON’T YOU UNDERSTAND, SOLDIER?!! DROP AND GIVE ME 50!”

I know this is the job Rahm Emanuel was supposed to be doing.

Read the whole half baked thing. I don’t know if the guy actually means half the things he says, or if it’s just boob bait for liberal bubbas who will believe anything….including the catastrophic ramifications of global warming:

If you exiled them to a lone chunk of melting polar ice cap, they would keep insisting that it was just a normal “January thaw,” even as the frigid Arctic waters rose above their God-fearing necks (“See what I mean — this water is COLD! What ‘global warming‘?! Adam and Eve rode dinos…aagghh!!… gulp gulp gulp”).

Good night!

And what are we to make of this?:

You’re such a good guy, Mr. President. You came to Washington with your hand extended to the Republicans and they just chopped it off. You wanted to be respectful and they decided that they were going to say “no” to everything you suggested. Yet, you kept on saying you still believed in bipartisanship.

Earth to Michael Moore:

January 23, 2009:

President Obama listened to Republican gripes about his stimulus package during a meeting with congressional leaders Friday morning – but he also left no doubt about who’s in charge of these negotiations. “I won,” Obama noted matter-of-factly, according to sources familiar with the conversation.

…thus earning him the nickname of “Teh Won”.

Feb 6, 2009:

“I welcome this debate, but we are not going to get relief by turning back to the same policies that for the last eight years doubled the national debt and threw our economy into a tailspin,” said President Obama – sounding more like Candidate Obama than at any time since he took the oath of office less than a month ago.

Obama, speaking to about 200 House Democrats at their annual retreat at the Kingsmill Resort and Spa, dismissed Republican attacks against the massive spending in the stimulus.

“What do you think a stimulus is?” Obama asked incredulously. “It’s spending — that’s the whole point! Seriously.”

August 7, 2009:

“I don’t want the people who created this mess to do a lot of talking…”

September 9, 2009:

Boehner: GOP leaders haven’t met Obama for health talks since April

Earlier this year, GOP leaders sent a letter to the president in May stating that they would like to work with the administration to find “common ground” on healthcare reform.

But the administration responded with a tersely worded letter indicating that they had healthcare reform under control.

Just a few examples of  Obama’s “extended hand”.

Crazy stuff, all of it. I can’t imagine what sitting through one of his movies would be like. Ish.

UPDATE:

Of course commenters are already reminding me of the horrifying and unsightly implications of Michael Moore filling in for Rahmbo, in the congressional locker room showers….

YIKES!

It’s Almost As If The American People Have Stopped Believing Him

You know who I’m talking about.

There have just been too many lies. Not innocent little white ones, not face-saving ones, not even craven Bill Clinton style lies. Just lie upon lie upon lie upon umpteenth lie to feed the narrative of The Big Lie - whatever that may be at the moment – which right now, is – America  needs health insurance reform immediately to avoid a fiscal crisis.

All but the most gullible among us have noticed Obama’s propensity to lie, and they are tuning him out.

Ace puts it this way:

Rasmussen: 66%+ Majorities Think the President Is Lying About Everything In Health Care, Including the “The’s” and “And’s”
Update: Dick Durbin Says Anyone Who Says Premiums Are Going Down is a Liar

Count Liberal Senator Dick Durbin in the 54% Who Expect Premiums to Go Up: This is pretty damn good:

Sen. Dick Durbin, March 10, 2010: “Anyone who would stand before you and say ‘well, if you pass health care reform next year’s health care premiums are going down,’ I don’t think is telling the truth. I think it is likely they would go up.”

And guess who just said yesterday most premiums would go down?

Reason’s Matt Welch decided to take on the vexing issue of Obama and the L word:

Voters pretty much knew that Bill Clinton was a slime ball when they sent him to the White House; Barack Obama held out the promise of being more dignified.

The difference between these two most recent Democratic presidents, substantial to begin with (especially in the crucial area of economic policy), may come into sharper relief in 2010. Clinton’s reptilian relationship with the truth, suffused as it always has been with a catch-me-if-you-can sense of personal preservation, actually turned out to have some uses for the nation when he changed course after the 1994 Republican revolution and began co-opting some of the limited-government policies proposed by his opponents. It’s easier for a chameleon to change his spots.

Obama’s dishonesty, by contrast, seems to spring from a different place. As a man who has spent most of his career wowing people with his words and very little of it converting those words into deeds, he has an activist’s gap between rhetoric and reality and a radio broadcaster’s promiscuous carelessness with cutting rhetorical corners. Sure, it’s not technically true that the administration’s day-one lobbying reforms served “to get rid of the influence of…special interests,” as he claimed in a January radio address (to the contrary: federal lobbying in 2009 set an all-time record), but it’s easy to imagine that the president feels his combination of tighter employment restrictions for ex-lobbyists and stricter disclosure requirements for current ones is, in the context of the Manichean fight between “the people” and “special interests,” good enough for government work. The perfect shouldn’t be the enemy of the good, and the critics who complain are just opportunistic literalists grasping for any club to beat back the march of progress. No need to give them an inch.

But there’s a less charitable explanation too. During the president’s nonstop gabfests before, during, and after the State of the Union speech, he kept repeating the fiction that the medical industry’s “special interests” were significantly to blame for scotching his health care legislation. In fact, the administration and Congress negotiated with those interests every step of the way, receiving crucial buy-in and millions in campaign contributions. Pro-reform lobbyists outspent anti-reform lobbyists on advertising by a factor of 5 to 1. There’s a three-letter word for blaming the defeat of his bill on health care lobbyists, and it rhymes with pie.

By the way…those insurance companies Obama’s been so busy villifying?

$436,000,000,000 in tax credits payable directly to insurance companies in the Senate health care bill.

Jennifer Rubin sums it all up at Commentary Contentions:

The bottom line is this:

The reason President Obama can’t move the numbers and build public support is because the fundamentals are stacked against him. Most voters believe the current plan will harm the economy, cost more than projected, raise the cost of care, and lead to higher middle-class taxes.

Thus, in a sense, the president’s spinners are right when they say the president has a “communications” problem. In spite of — or is it because of ? — his incessant hammering at the same points, the public doesn’t buy what he’s selling. It sounds better to call it a communications problem, as if there were a technical problem with the microphones and satellite dishes at the White House. But it’s more properly thought of as a credibility problem. Obama says X; the public thinks X isn’t true. The numbers don’t move.

His hyper-partisan fellow travelers have no problem with the strategy, of course – they do what they can to aid and abet. But thank God, the big lie of the day is crumbling right before our eyes, regardless.

I always knew people would catch on eventually.

You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time.

Abraham Lincoln, (attributed)

SEE ALSO:

Dennis Prager’s excellent article: Why Democrats don’t care about $9.7 trillion debt

…which helps explain why Obama and the Dems feel they have to lie —they do not think like most Americans think….

These Are Obama’s Peeps

The SEIU and HCAN (Health Care for America Now) bused in activists from DE, CT, MD, MN, VA, NJ, NC, NY, OH, PA, RI to protest the AHIP insurance company conference in DC.

Gateway Pundit reports:

HCAN & SEIU Hold Massive Astroturfed Rally in DC; Protesters Arrested After Busting Into Ballroom

The leftists were arrested after breaking into the ballroom where insurance executives were holding a meeting.

The police arrested the more violent protesters outside the Ritz Carlton. (Flickr)

Doing their master’s bidding?

Obama has set the tone with speech after speech trashing the insurance companies.

Obama’s connection to the SEIU is well known, in fact SEIU leader, Andy Stern is the most frequent visitor to the White House. A recent interview question from The Cornell Daily Sun to Andy Stern, suggests who really is in charge:

…Sun: So how have you decided to pass the reform? [Ed: note the phrasing]

A.S.: The president, after a long process, has stepped in with his final set of ideas that will come out today or tomorrow. The Speaker of the House [Nancy Pelosi] is preparing the education process to get members of her party understanding the bill. And we hope, in congressional districts all over the country, to have our members go speak with their representatives — call, write, fax — to make it clear this is a once in a lifetime opportunity and we can’t let it slip away.

Obama has backed HCAN since his campaign days:

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) has signed on to the progressive Health Care for America Now campaign’s principles – a move that bolsters the clout of the nascent organization and could provide him with artillery support as he starts to pound the health-care issue on the presidential campaign trail.

The reviled insurance companies have become the Emmanuel Goldsteins of the Obami -  who now engage in this daily ritual of “two minutes of hatred” for them and the principles of Democracy.

It doesn’t seem healthy…

MORE:

Richard from Hyscience reminds us of Michelle Malkin’s important post from last August:

Flashback: Who’s funding the Obamacare Astroturf campaign?

It always comes down to the usual suspects.

Nancy Pelosi Has An Exciting Surprise For You!

It’s going to be very, very exciting.

What she actually said:

“But we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it, away from the fog of the controversy. Furthermore, we believe that health care reform, again I said at the beginning of my remarks, that we sent the three pillars that the President’s economic stabilization and job creation initiatives were education and innovation—innovation begins in the classroom—clean energy and climate, addressing the climate issues in an innovative way to keep us number one and competitive in the world with the new technology, and the third, first among equals I may say, is health care, health insurance reform.”

RELATED:

Hot Air: Oh my: 68% now oppose passing ObamaCare without Republican support

Yeah, Is This For Real?

Amazingly enough, I had the exact same reaction Ed Driscoll had to this story:

The Obama administration will accept no more public input for a federal strategy that could prohibit U.S. citizens from fishing the nation’s oceans, coastal areas, Great Lakes, and even inland waters.

Prohibit? As in …ban fishing??? Surely I’m reading that wrong…. Whose idea is this?

“When the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) completed their successful campaign to convince the Ontario government to end one of the best scientifically managed big game hunts in North America (spring bear), the results of their agenda had severe economic impacts on small family businesses and the tourism economy of communities across northern and central Ontario,” said Phil Morlock, director of environmental affairs for Shimano.

“Now we see NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) and the administration planning the future of recreational fishing access in America based on a similar agenda of these same groups and other Big Green anti-use organizations, through an Executive Order by the President. The current U.S. direction with fishing is a direct parallel to what happened in Canada with hunting: The negative economic impacts on hard working American families and small businesses are being ignored.

“In spite of what we hear daily in the press about the President’s concern for jobs and the economy and contrary to what he stated in the June order creating this process, we have seen no evidence from NOAA or the task force that recreational fishing and related jobs are receiving any priority.”

Since Rahm Emanuel is allegedly the “voice of reason” in the Obama WH,  shouldn’t he be advising his boss that taking  job killing, moonbat marching orders from the green, eco-socialist left is not going to win the Dems friends and influence people this fall, iykwimaityd.

Cross-posted at Potluck

UPDATE:

Michelle Malkin has more…

Why Stupak Will Fold

Over at Potluck, Pundette linked to this revealing video, via The Foundry, of Stupak expressing his feelings re abortion at a town hall in Cheboygan, MI.

I had no idea…

If everything I want [is] in the final bill, I like everything in the bill except you have public funding for abortion, and we had a chance to run our amendment and we lost. OK, I voted my conscience, stayed true to my principles, stayed true to the beliefs of this district, could I vote for healthcare? Yes I still could.

Game over, man.

Is this the position of the Catholic Church?

Not according to Fr. Habiger of Human Life Intl:

It is a scandal that Catholic politicians vote for bills which fund or otherwise advance abortion. They should be named, publicly shamed and admonished so that they can cease their evil and return to God.

To vote for such a candidate is to willfully participate in that candidate’s choices and deeds. It is a sin, and must be repented.

Fr Matthew Habiger,
Human Life International
4 Family Life
Front Royal VA 22630
(540) 635-7884
www.hli.org

Stupak Wavering

The fight for the Stupak 11 continues:

The AP is reporting, (via Hot Air):

Rep. Bart Stupak said he expects to resume talks with House leaders this week in a quest for wording that would impose no new limits on abortion rights but also would not allow use of federal money for the procedure.

“I’m more optimistic than I was a week ago,” Stupak said in an interview between meetings with constituents in his northern Michigan district. He was hosting a town hall meeting Monday night at a local high school.

The president says he doesn’t want to expand or restrict current law (on abortion). Neither do I,” Stupak said. “That’s never been our position. So is there some language that we can agree on that hits both points — we don’t restrict, we don’t expand abortion rights? I think we can get there.”

Horrifying. We do not want to “get there”.

This comes after Kathleen Sebelius said in a “This Week” interview on ABC, that if the abortion language in the Senate bill does not satisfy Stupak, “the conversation will continue”.

The question everyone is asking, is: Can These bluedog Dems trust Senate leadership to make the changes he seeks, when this whole process has been so characterized by deceit, and subterfuge?

Sebelius apparently couldn’t keep her stories straight on the Sunday talk shows, last weekend:

Sebelius applauded the Senate language before and talked about mandatory abortion fees, but now she claims there is no funding.Sebelius also appeared to contradict herself within the interview, saying at one point that abortion funding is a part of the government-run health care bill. …

Yet, when she spoke with ABC’s “This Week” program yesterday, she said “Yes, abortion services are provided” under the Senate health care bill.

She tried to qualify her answer by adding, “people will pay out of their own pockets, in both the Senate and the House, but they do it in slightly different ways.”

But in an interview on December 21 with Morra Aarons-Mele of the pro-abortion web site BlogHer, Sebelius praised the Senate language that funds abortions and talked about how everyone would be forced to pay for them.

“And I would say that the Senate language, which was negotiated by Senators Barbara Boxer and Patty Murray, who are very strong defenders of women’s health services and choices for women, take a big step forward from where the House left it with the Stupak amendment, and I think do a good job making sure there are choices for women, making sure there are going to be some plan options [that pay for abortions],” Sebelius said then.

How is Stupak supposed to know when these people are telling him the truth?

Allahpundit explains why trust is the operative word on this issue:

As far as I know, the only way they can fix the abortion language to Stupak’s liking would be via a separate third bill that would have to pass the House and Senate. (They can’t do it in reconciliation because abortion isn’t related to budgetary matters.) Ed is skeptical that Obama would go for that but I don’t see a problem: He’s already crapped away so much political capital on this, what’s a few ounces more? Besides, his base will be happy enough to have finally passed O-Care that they’ll tolerate a cave on abortion.

The real question is what sort of guarantee Reid and Pelosi can give to Stupak that they’ll actually take up an abortion bill later. Remember, the first thing that has to happen is the House passing Reid’s Senate bill. Everything after that is a wild card, which is why House Democrats are nervous about Reid or Obama stabbing them in the back by abandoning the reconciliation process once the Senate bill is passed. Stupak would have to worry about that plus being stabbed in the back on the promise of a separate abortion “fix.” And even if an abortion bill were introduced, they’d need 60 votes in the Senate to get it through.

RELATED:

Stupak gets an open letter of support from N.Y. state senator Ruben Diaz, the only pro-life Democrat in Albany’s upper chamber.

UPDATE:

Michelle Malkin says Stupak must be held to these words, via CNS, 12/22/09:

“We’re getting a lot of pressure not to say anything, to try to compromise this principle or belief,” Stupak said. “[T]hat’s just not us. We’re not going to do that. Members who voted for the Stupak language in the House – especially the Democrats, 64 Democrats that voted for it – feel very strongly about it. It’s been part of who we are, part of our make up. It’s the principle belief that we have. We are not just going to abandon it in the name of health care.”

Stupak’s contact info:

2268 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225 4735
(202) 225 4744 – Fax

Video: Mark Levin Speech At The Reagan Library

On March 5th, Mark Levin spoke at The Reagan Forum, attracting the largest crowd they’ve ever had for one of their events. Doug Ross says it’s a good ‘un, and I trust his judgement, so I’m posting it before watching it, myself.