220-215. Death to America.

Is anyone else feeling sick? Yesterday, Congressional representatives voted 220-215 to bankrupt America.  Nice going you fools.  3 voting changes and your grandchildren would still have a country rather than a national payday loan.  Radical Islam will not bring death to America - the Doomocrats have beaten them to it.  Meanwhile middle America is about to exerience the full impact of a national cash cleansing...

Calming down.

While this is not the end of the fight, it was certainly the biggest hurdle for Democrats to get over, and it's a big win for them. The Senate is still in or close to, filibuster-proof territory. Senators on the fence not up for re-election in 2010 can count on the passage of time to shield them from some backlash if they support the Democrat health care line.  And with a Republican Congress after 2010 creating legislation to reverse this bill before it kicks in in 2013, nothing guarantees that the Senate will pass the same reversal, and certainly it does nothing to ensure that the President would not veto the reversal.

Whether Americans have learned their lesson about living within their means as a result of the housing bubble, clearly Democrats, the ruling party, have not. This is going to be a financial disaster, a train wreck for liberty, and a national medical malpractice suit all rolled into one big cluster.

This is just sad for the country.

A couple of quick observations;

-LA. "Republican" Joseph Cao, who won in disgraced Democrat "cold cash"Jefferson's former district, voted with the Democrats. I've always been one for conservatives knowing who your friends are and not treating them like enemies.  But I've also always been one for unity around common principles (or in this case, principles plus party).  How to treat Cao as a Republican is troublesome.  Certainly a primary defeat by a more conservative candidate would be the normal ideal, but a less likely general election victor in the Democratic district.  Cao was looking at his own survival above the party line, perhaps honestly believing he could do more good by surviving 2010.  The problem with that is how much does every good he could possibly do for the next 10 years add up to more than $1 trillion of benefit in that time?  We asked fence sitting Democrats to put the country before their own political career.  The Democrats did the same.  If that's the standard, Cao has failed. He's not Scozzafava, but at this point he's a negative return on investment.

-38 Democrats defected to the Nay side.  There were others on the fence who followed the Democrat party line.  No doubt they were pressured to do so. Conservatives now know which districts to put as priority #1 in 2010.  Every action has consequences and real pressure should be put on them in 2010. Don't let them win in 2010.

-Speaking of real pressure, this vote was called before the next recess.  Congressional Reps will be going home.  Town halls, tea parties, protests, or whatever - now is the time to step them up into full gear.  They didn't listen before, we've got to get louder obviously, if we want them to hear now.  They may decide to turn a deaf ear, since what has passed cannot be undone (Congressionally at least).  But the Senate still has to act.  Enough noise might put them in touch with the public reality.

-2010: If the bill fails in the Senate, Democrats still may have won a political victory.  If they can argue that they pushed this plan further than ever before, they might help a liberal base turnout in 2010.  The Obama coat tails, gone in 2009 elections, might return for a final health care push.

-2010: How about this for a GOP platform; if everyone now has health care, Medicaid is redundant.  Instead of Medicare, let's kill Medicaid.  It doesn't threaten seniors and it plays right into the cost worries of Americans.  Plus as Democrat rhetoric claims EVERYONE will be covered, how can they argue it's still needed? It's win - win argumetnt for the GOP.

-If this makes it through the Senate, what now is the total price tag to date for President Obama? Just add $1 trillion to the previous total. I'm almost convinced doubling the national debt isn't enough for him.  Is he intent on tripling it?  He hasn't even been in power a year yet.  The country is, as I've written previously, bigger than 1 man.  Sadly, it's not bigger than 1+218+60 * 4 years. Not given the liberal excess on display.

-Can we hold Obama at his word he wouldn't sign anything that added to the national debt/deficit...never mind, silly question.

-Thanks America, it was a great couple of hundred years run.