The United States of America was murdered today by a vote of 219 to 212.

I should note how ill-mannered the Democrats are by their hoots, catcalls, and generally immature behavior the evidence of which can be heard on this video.

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Whatever his reasons were, Stupak will be eaten alive this November. Fortunately, we have an excellent alternative to Stupak — a pro-life conservative surgeon named Dan Benishek. In one day, over 11,000 joined his Facebook page. Donations have allegedly already begun to pour in, which sounds like a mighty good idea to me.

Help bring Stupak down. Donate to Dan Benishek.

Benishek for Congress
802 Pentoga Trail
Crystal Falls, MI 49920

(And, as Jim Hoft points out, it sure does look like he could use some technical assistance. Hope someone gives him a hand.)

Cross-posted from Cassy’s blog. Stop by for more original commentary, or follow her on Twitter

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Of course, nothing could be better than the Tweet I saw from Sky_Bluez: “Stupid is as Stupak does.” That about sums up the whole day so far.

But here are a few others from various folks on my Twitter feed that are worth noting…

• buelldawg said: “Tea Party protesters who gathered on the Capitol lawn 2 sing “We Shall Overcome” stole the show” http://tinyurl.com/yf4h53u

• JimDeMint said: What’s happening in the Capitol today gives a whole new meaning to “March Madness.”

• Sky_Bluez said: “I’ve never been prouder to be a Republican” Powerline has some good “Silver Linings” http://www.bit.ly/dcbD4t

• RepMikePence said: It is disappointing to see Members exchange 30 years of pro-life law for a piece of paper from the most pro-abortion president in history

• JonHenke said: Prediction: This health care legislation will not reduce the deficit or health care costs.

• sanuzis said: Stupak opponent Republican Dan Benishek jumped from 166 fans to 1743 on Facebook in one hour!! http://ping.fm/ROi1X

• JonHenke said: 2nd Prediction: Before too long, Democrats will insist we need another #HCR to fix the problems this #HCR will cause.

• riley1999 said: Complete SEIU thugs forcing way into middle of #killthebill crowd. Potty mouthed as they are told to leave #tcot

• warnerthuston said: We are well on our way to a new USA, one more like Europe. The old US is now dead. Was a grand ride, but the Great Experiment is over!

• ChiNewsBench reminds us: Dems aren’t voting for Health Care. They are voting for the pork & entitlements they were promised

• BobGriggs said: John Lewis mocked the work of MLK.Jr when he locked arms with Pelosi in a pseudo-civil rights march through healthcare protesters.

• LarrySabato said: Did Dems have 216 firm on Friday? No. Was it virtually guaranteed they would by today’s vote? Of course. Party matters. Just Kabuki theater.

• warnerthuston said: Fla A. G. Bill McCollum will file lawsuit with SCOTUS to have Obamacare thrown out as soon as bill passes

• warnerthuston said: Just a reminder, Exec. Orders are only temporary and can be rescinded or changed at ANY time, by ANY president.

This was all in the space of an hour or so. Tweets like this have been going on all day long!

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DON STEWART, McCONNELL SPOKESMAN: “Republicans have been trying to set up a meeting with Senate Democrats since yesterday to discuss this fatal point of order but have been met with nothing but silence. We suspect Democrats are slow walking us so as to have the House vote first. Since Senate Democrats refuse to meet with us and the Parliamentarian, we’ve informed our colleagues in the House that we believe the bill they’re now considering violates the clear language of Section 310g of the Congressional Budget Act, and the entire reconciliation bill is subject to a point of order and rejection in the Senate should it pass the House.”

Here is the section in reference:

310(g) — LIMITATION ON CHANGES TO THE SOCIAL SECURITY ACT.—Notwithstanding any other provision of law, it shall not be in order in the Senate or the House of Representatives to consider any reconciliation bill or reconciliation resolution reported pursuant to a concurrent resolution on the budget agreed to under section 301 or 304, or a joint resolution pursuant to section 258C of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985, or any amendment thereto or conference report thereon, that contains recommendations with respect to the old-age, survivors, and disability insurance program established under title II of the Social Security Act.

O.K. So, basically it is saying reconciliation can’t be considered under House rules and to do so is to violate those rules which would result in a point of order where it could possibly be completely killed. It is important because of certain posturing of vulnerable Democrats. They have stated their vote of yes is dependent on certain fixes in reconciliation. Without this assurance they could possibly feel too insecure to vote yes. We only need about 2 or 3 people to change their votes to no. It isn’t the holy grail, but it is a glimmer of hope.

If it does pass, and you are wondering what the next step in the fight is…wonder no more. Its constitutionality will be challenged.

More from Ace:

DON STEWART, McCONNELL SPOKESMAN: “Republicans have been trying to set up a meeting with Senate Democrats since yesterday to discuss this fatal point of order but have been met with nothing but silence. We suspect Democrats are slow walking us so as to have the House vote first. Since Senate Democrats refuse to meet with us and the Parliamentarian, we’ve informed our colleagues in the House that we believe the bill they’re now considering violates the clear language of Section 310g of the Congressional Budget Act, and the entire reconciliation bill is subject to a point of order and rejection in the Senate should it pass the House.”
BACKGROUND

DEMOCRAT LEADERSHIP RELEASE: “The Congressional Budget Office estimate of the health care legislation shows an increase in Social Security revenues… CBO projects that the resulting increase in wages will generate $29 billion in additional FICA contributions to the Social Security Trust Fund.” (“Health Care Reform Update,” Office of Rep. Steny Hoyer, 3/21/10)

CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET ACT: “LIMITATION ON CHANGES TO THE SOCIAL SECURITY ACT.—Notwithstanding any other provision of law, it shall not be in order in the Senate or the House of Representatives to consider any reconciliation bill or reconciliation resolution reported pursuant to a concurrent resolution on the budget agreed to under section 301 or 304, or a joint resolution pursuant to section 258C of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985, or any amendment thereto or conference report thereon, that contains recommendations with respect to the old-age, survivors, and disability insurance program established under title II of the Social Security Act.” (Congressional Budget Act Of 1974, Sec. 310g, P. 31)

So, I think, the attempt to divert SS payments into this bill is illegal (and of course it’s a gimmick in the first place to get a better CBO number, once again double-counting a revenue source) and so the reconciliation will fail.

I think that’s the claim.

More….

“Immediately after receiving the final reconciliation bill language, Senate Republican staff was ready and willing to meet with Senate Democratic staff and the Senate Parliamentarian to discuss the fact that the House reconciliation bill may be brought down by the 310(g) point of order in the Senate. Senate Democrats are mysteriously unavailable until after the House votes on the health care bill tonight. The Senate Democrats appear to be pushing off this meeting so that House Democrats will remain in the dark about what is likely to happen to the reconciliation bill on which many have staked their careers in Congress. House Democrats should be alarmed by this latest development, since the survival of the reconciliation bill is clearly at risk in the Senate.”

Eyorepundit isn’t optimistic:

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The last book of the famous Lord of the Rings Trilogy is ripe for some updating, so here’s a proposal to that end. The Dark Lord Sauron is a perfect evil villain, of course. He’s shadowy, unseen, hard to grasp, but pervasive and the personification of oppression and evil. But his name needs to be updated and so does his downfall in order to reflect today’s sensibilities.

So, instead of being named Lord Sauron, his new name will be the Dark Lord ACORN. See, the evil still works but it’s updated, ya know?

Now we all know that in the original final book of LOTR, The Return of the King, the Dark Lord and his forces are beaten by the combined forces of the good people of Middle Earth. Evil is vanquished and all live forever after in love and harmony. The age of magic does pass, but a new idyllic age of man dawns.

Well, poppycock says I. We all know that evil isn’t so easily vanquished, don’t we? We need to rewrite the demise of the evil Lord ACORN to one more befitting of reality.

So, as Breitbart the White gathers his forces to wage mortal battle with the Dark Lord ACORN we see a whole new cast of characters sallying forth to defeat evil on the earth.

We’ll find the happy-go-lucky Journo O’Keefe who carries with him the magical golden camcorder. With the glare of its unblinking eye that sees all, it is this magical device that serves as the one weapon that can kill the evil Lord ACORN.

Also we’ll meet the plucky Hana that serves as Journo O’Keefe’s right hand girl, always ready to put on her cloak of faux prostitutability so that she might slip by the lumbering, doltish gatekeeper trolls that Lord ACORN employs in his many dungeons and lairs.

We find good King Roger of Ailes the brave ranger that fearlessly confronts evil Lord ACORN and leads his band of the FOX against them.

This band of hardy fighters for all good peoples everywhere have taken to the field of battle to face down the dark forces of Lord ACORN. Breitbart the White brings along his people of the outlying lands of BLOG to his side and the dark forces are laid low in a great battle played out before the eyes of the world.

The evil Dark Lord ACORN knows that Journo O’Keefe is focusing his magical golden camcorder on him and he feels the heat and light of the eyes of the people upon him. His mighty powers are shrinking as his once powerful allies in the land of Congress are fleeing from the field in abject terror of Breitbart the White, his people of BLOG, and their allies from the land of voters who begin to gain the upper hand.

The Dark Lord ACORN knows that he’s about to lose everything. His minions are being convicted of voter fraud right and left, he’s lost his outpost in the Ohio Valley, his finances are drying up. The evil Lord ACORN knows that he must do something too, maybe fall back, regroup, recharge his fading power. Something must be done before the Dark Lord is defeated utterly.

Then the evil Lord ACORN realizes what he must do. If he stays on the field of battle much longer he will be destroyed, he knows this. So, in a last ditch effort he crafts a spell of invisibility for himself and his remaining forces.

The Evil Lord ACORN is now simply going to be known as “Californians for Community Empowerment,” or “New York Communities for Change.” No more is he Lord ACORN. Perhaps no one will notice, he thinks. If he just changes his name but keeps all his evil troll warriors and monstrous war dogs in place, perhaps no one will notice that Lord ACORN still exists but just changed his name? And so, the Dark Lord ACORN, after much loss, slinks away, changes his name and hopes that no one will realize he still lives to continue his acts of evil.

Will Breitbart the White, Journo O’Keefe, the plucky Hanna, and King Roger of Ailes and his forces of the FOX be fooled? Will the people of the land of BLOG have the wool pulled over their eyes to the fact that the Dark Lord ACORN is but hiding in plain sight? Will the people of Voter turn away imagining that the battle is won when nothing could be farther from the truth?

Tune in as the story continues…

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Robert Creamer of the HuffyPost penned a very revealing piece that proves that Democrats simply don’t care at all about anyone’s “health,” but that this whole fiasco is solely about political “wins” and power. If someone happens to get a little healthcare out of the thing, that is purely incidental to the actual purpose of Obamacare.

Creamer’s piece describes the top 10 reasons why voting yes on Obamacare is “good politics for Democrats.” Tellingly, not one of the reasons is because healthcare “reform” is good for the people. In fact, most of his “reasons” that Dems should vote for Obama’s socialist take over of our healthcare system is because it’s good for Obama’s political fortunes.

One would think that Democrats should vote for this “reform” because it’s good for the people, but that idea doesn’t seem to factor into Creamer’s reasons at all. And from the political calculations we’ve seen during this last year of healthcare debate, he isn’t much different than those whose vote will create this socialized healthcare program.

His tenth reason is the most childish and free of any analysis of all of them. As far as Creamer is concerned the tenth best reason to vote yes on nationalized healthcare is simply because the GOP is voting against it. Isn’t that some deep thinking?

His other reasons mostly revolve around how the vote would give a victory to Obama and strengthen his presidency and serve to prove that Democrats actually can get something done. It is interesting that Creamer finds the total remaking of the United States from a capitalist, representative republic, to some sort of quasi European social democracy is justified just because it makes Obama stronger. Quite short sighted, but typical of Democrat thinking.

Creamer also admits that the ultimate goal is to have a complete government takeover of healthcare and cut out all private medical activities. This is in contravention to all of Obama’s lies that he isn’t interested in a complete government takeover of healthcare. Like most left-wingers, though, Creamer doesn’t care if Obama lies about things as long as his side wins in the long run. Like most Democrats, Creamer feels that principles are not part of the political calculation.

His reason number two, however, is interesting for its aspects of class warfare. He says voters “hate the insurance industry” and says that a Democrat vote against the insurance industry will raise Democrat’s appeal. Of course, the sad fact is that Obamacare will actually embolden the insurance industry, at least temporarily. So, when the voters find this out (and the far left has been warning about this all along) what will happen the Democrat’s new found approval?

His first reason, however, is the most egregious of all. Creamer absurdly equates the end of slavery with this socialist healthcare bill. He thinks that civil rights and giving women the right to vote is exactly the same as this socialist healthcare plan. This sort of idiotic hyperbole galls and makes light of real civil rights and the end of slavery.

This bill does not free anyone. It does not assure anyone any god-given rights. In fact, it enslaves people to government as opposed to freeing them. But Creamer disgustingly claims that “freedom” will occur when all that will really happen is that Americans will forever more be placed under the thumb of an all intrusive government that will be created with this socialist takeover of our healthcare system.

The fact is, to Creamer and Democrats this healthcare bill is all about the power they can gain over America. It has nothing at all to do with healthcare.

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House Democrats are predicting that a rare Sunday session will produce one of the most significant legislative triumphs in decades: passage of a historic bill to overhaul the nation’s health care system to provide coverage to millions of people who currently lack it.

Remember, that was the original point of this whole boondoggle: coverage for those who lack it, sometimes 45 million, sometimes 30 million, many of whom are illegal aliens and those in the 20-30 year old range who do not want to purchase it.

The legislation, affecting virtually every American and more than a year in the making, would extend coverage to an estimated 32 million uninsured, bar insurers from denying coverage on the basis of existing medical conditions and cut federal deficits by an estimated $138 billion over a decade.

We all know the deficit reduction part is sheer and utter mule fritters, to put it nicely. As for the rest, that is the reason why the majority of Americans are against this legislation. On many of the individual merits, the People support them. On the whole, people understand that this will damage the economy, reduce medical services, increase costs, drive up unemployment, make them change their health insurance, and plainly ruin our country.

Since this massive crap sandwich of a legislation cannot stand on its actual merits, Obama was out and about giving an emotionally charged speech

Obama told House Democrats they have arrived at “one of those moments” when they can realize their highest aspirations in public life.

“This is one of those times where you can honestly say to yourself, ‘Doggone it, this is exactly why I came here,’” he said. “‘Because I believe so deeply in this country and I believe so deeply in this democracy and I’m willing to stand up even when it’s hard.’”

How much guff has Sarah Palin taken for using phrases like “doggone it”? Anyhow, he proves once again why Washington is actually broken: elected officials do NOT listen to We The People. Particularly Democrat officials. They think it is All About Themselves. And the resulting chaos will by at their feet. So will the resulting losses in November. The GOP had best be ready to bring it on.

John Boehner

“I have never seen anything this bizarre. You know, when you look back through our history. We’ve never had a big change in our government that wasn’t done on a bipartisan basis. When you see all of the deals that are going on around here, in order to shove down the throats of the American people this government takeover of health care, it is no surprise to me that the American people are in full rebellion. They don’t want any part of this.”

When We The People see the taxes going up, their doctors leaving the profession, the IRS coming after them, their employers dropping their coverage, and, oh, the actual “we have to do this right now” health measures not kicking in till 2014, things could get ugly. Hopefully, the ugly will only be a massive loss for Democrats in November. We’ll see if Democrats vote with We The People, or Pelosi and Obama.

Here is the schedule for the vote.

Crossed at Pirate’s Cove

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GOP Minority Leader John Boehner (R, OH) is calling for a stand-up, out-loud vote on the House floor for Obamacare.

Boehner wants each House member to be called on a roll call vote and to “stand up before God, their country, and their constituents and announce their vote.”

In fact, we should support this roll call vote no matter which side of the Obamacare issue you stand upon. All Americans should know where their representatives stand.

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Anyway, it’s easy to feel fearful and negative right now. Stop biting your nails. I think the Democrats are bluffing to the end. I don’t think Nancy has the votes yet. I think she needs the Stupak crew and she still doesn’t have them.

So, they had the ace up their sleeve of using the Slaughter method to sneak and pass this bill. They have abandoned that now.

Top Democrats confirmed Saturday that the House would hold separate votes on the Senate healthcare bill and the reconciliation bill making fixes to it.

Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), one of the chief deputy whips, Rep. Melvin Watt (D-N.C.), and Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), all of whom said that Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) won’t use the tactic of deem and pass for healthcare reform.
The move effectively kills the “deem and pass” strategy Democrats had been eyeing to make changes to the Senate bill through a rule on the bill, which at the same time would have deemed the original Senate healthcare bill to have passed the House.

The House appears set now to move toward an up-or-down vote on the Senate healthcare bill, as well as a separate, up-or-down vote on the series of changes to that bill. There will still be a vote on the rule, as there always is for a piece of legislation, though it will not package the two bills together.

So, what does this mean? It either means she has the votes or enough heat was put on them about this crooked method they knew they were too exposed to still garner the votes through that method. The latter would be good news. The first one I don’t think they have yet.

The most likely explanation for the breakdown of talks between Rep. Bart Stupak and Speaker Nancy Pelosi is not that Pelosi decided she didn’t need Stupak and his crew in order to have enough votes to pass Obamacare. Rather, it is that Stupak — who is increasingly emerging as this drama’s Jefferson Smith (Jimmy Stewart’s heroic character in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington) — held firm in insisting on language that would truly prevent taxpayer-funded abortions, and in insisting that such language be passed by the Senate before the bill could become law.

In turn, Pelosi either decided that by accepting the language, she would lose more votes in the House than she would gain, or else knew that Democratic senators, with their strong preference for taxpayer-funded abortion, would never go along with this concession to the views of the vast majority of Americans.

In any event, by all accounts, Pelosi is now trying to pass the bill without the pro-life Democratic vote — or at least without Stupak. As of now, it doesn’t appear that she has the votes. I currently count 208 leaning in favor of Obamacare and 214 leaning against, with 9 undecided. Here they are — with the margin by which the presidential vote was won (by one party or the other) in their districts over the last three elections:

• Marion Berry (D., Ark.) (GOP +8) — pro-Stupak Amendment

• Henry Cuellar (D., Tex.) (Dem +1) — pro-Stupak Amendment

• Bill Foster (D., Ill.) (GOP +4)

• Jim Matheson (D., Utah) (GOP +30) — with nearly two-thirds of his constituents having supported GOP presidential candidates over the last three elections, a “yes” vote on Stupak, and an earlier “no” vote on Obamacare, a “yes” vote would mean that, for the rest of his days, he would be remembered as the guy who sold his vote for the price of Obama’s having just nominated his brother to a federal judgeship

• Michael Michaud (D., Me.) (Dem +7) — pro-Stupak Amendment

• Solomon Ortiz (D., Tex.) (GOP +1) — pro-Stupak Amendment

• Earl Pomeroy (D., N.D.) (GOP +21) — pro-Stupak Amendment — yes, that’s GOP +21

• Nick Rahall (D., W.V.) (GOP +6) — pro-Stupak Amendment

• Zach Space (D., Ohio) (GOP +12) — pro-Stupak Amendment

Also, here is a partial list of some particularly key members who are leaning “no”:

• Christopher Carney (D., Pa.) (GOP +15) — pro-Stupak Amendment

• Dan Lipinski (D., Ill.) (Dem +22) — pro-Stupak Amendment

• Kathleen Dahlkemper (D., Pa.) (GOP +3) — pro-Stupak Amendment

• Glenn Nye (D., Va.) (GOP +9) — “no” last time

Meanwhile, the Dems have admitted they just make up the rules as they go. The American people are making sure Washington hears them loud and clear!

Update: Check out the liberal Firedog lake count:

The new count is 204 Yes, 205 No, with now 12 undecided and 10 assumed in the Stupak bloc.

Assuming there’s breakthrough with the Stupak block, here are the votes they say will decide health care:

Baird, Brian: D+0
Davis, Lincoln: R+14
Matheson, Jim: R+15
Nye, Glenn: R+6
Tanner, John: R+6
Foster, Bill: R+1
Kanjorski, Paul: D+4
Michaud, Mike: D+5
Ortiz, Solomon: R+2
Pomeroy, Earl: R+10
Space, Zack: R+7
Schrader, Kurt: D+1

Update!!!! A YES Vote just Turned NO!!

Update #1 (5:48 PM EST): Zack Space just came out as a “no.” The Firedoglake count has him at undecided, so by their count, we just hit 216 no votes for the very first time. Will it stick? Who knows, but getting over the threshold is important.

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