Judgment Day---Healthcare Bill Goes To House Floor

Damn the torpedoes and icebergs---full steam ahead.

Congressman Joe Barton, (R-TX) said this morning on America's Newsroom, (with Bill Hemmer and Martha McCallum working on Sunday, that the Democrats DO NOT have the 216 votes needed to pass ObamaCare. "Others", (including deputy whip Debbie Wasserman, (D-FL) have said they don't have the "hard numbers". Could Nancy Pelosi actually bring this legislation to the floor not knowing the final results? Pelosi has once before allowed a vote to go to the floor that got defeated back in September of 2008. This failure was the first of many government proposed bailouts to prop up Wall Street. Sources, back then said Pelosi may have been the major reason for its failure, because of a speech she made just days before the vote:

"Following the bill's failure, both parties embarked on a round of bitter finger-pointing. Congressional Republicans cited a speech by Ms. Pelosi on the House floor that blamed the economic crisis on years of Republican economic policies, including deregulation. "For too long this government, eight years, has followed a right-wing ideology of anything goes, no supervision, no discipline, no regulation," Rep. Pelosi said. "It has created not jobs, not capital; it has created chaos."

Little did Ms. Pelosi know we would be revisiting her profound words today. While it's doubtful Ms. Pelosi will make the same mistake again today prior to this "historic vote", the above bolded quote could easily describe this first year of a Democrat controlled government. One of the best arguments in this healthcare debate has been the cost of another "big government" entitlement in an environment where unemployment hovers at 10% or higher. With national polls for months now showing a majority against the bill, Barack Obama and the Democrats have put all their eggs in this one basket, not only ignoring the will of the people, but having to spend every piece of political capital, (including taxpayer capital to purchase votes with backroom deals), to rein in Democrats within their own party.

The process for this historical legislation has been just as disruptive and corruptive as the substance. From the Cornhusker Kickback, Louisiana Purchase, to the "deem and pass" and reconciliation, (that will take place just days after this vote), and the "fake, but accurate" legislation submitted to the CBO, the Democrats have invested their careers to pass this poorly crafted bill. Whether this nation can afford another government entitlement that will pile on billions more in national debt, including taxing an already fiscally strapped public will be decided in just a few short hours.

The Democrats will tell the public that they gave everyone seventy-two hours to decipher and decide the fate of this "new direction" designed to empower an already bloated government, and yet, even in the face of public opposition, they’re in a “damn the torpedoes/icebergs, full steam ahead modus. However the outcome after today, one thing is certain: change is coming---again. And we will all be searching for a lifeboat on this “unsinkable legislation”.