Monday, January 25, 2010

Put it on the back burner - Never to return. Megan McArdle: "Why I still think health care won't pass." Megan touches upon something I mused about last week: a lot of Democrats secretly welcomed Scott Brown's election because it gave them a rationale to avoid a vote on an unpopular piece of legislation.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I could've sworn that both the Senate and the House of Representatives already voted...

Anonymous said...

To the previous commenter:

Since the House and Senate bills have to be reconciled, another vote is coming up - the one that would actually make it (with Obama's signature) the law of the land.

THAT's the vote they're worried about.

Anonymous said...

THAT vote is meaningless, because A) it mostly likely will never happen but B) they've already sold their soul by drinking the Obama kol-aid with their first vote.

The ones who should be upset are those who knew it was a political mistake to vote yes and did so anyway. Not only did they screw themselves politically, but now it turns out they did it for nothing.

Anonymous said...

Not only did they screw themselves politically, but now it turns out they did it for nothing.

Either:
(a) the above premise is wrong;
or
(b) the above premise is right.

Therefore:
"A lot of Democrats" did NOT "secretly welcome" Brown's election. Either they're still satisfied to have supported the legislation, or it's too late for them to "avoid a vote."

The only legislator who didn't already have to commit himself on the bill was Scott Brown, but he did it anyway. Scott Brown did welcome Scott Brown's election, but not secretly.