Insiders Betting On Health Care Passing
While GOPers in the House and Senate appear to be holding ranks in their unanimous opposition to health care reform and allied interest groups are pouring millions of dollars into 11th-hour television ads to defeat the measure, GOP operatives and lobbyists nevertheless believe the legislation is likely to pass, according to the latest National Journal Political Insiders Poll.
GOP and Dem Insiders were asked to rate on a scale of 0 to 10 -- with zero being no chance at all -- the likelihood that Congress will pass health care reform. The average score of the Dem Insiders was 7.9 among the 101 who participated, and among the 100 GOP Insiders the average score was 6.5.
To put those figures in some context, they are very similar to the ratings that Dem and GOP Insiders gave in Oct. '06, when assessing the chances that the Dems were going to recapture the House in that year's midterms.
In a Political Insiders Poll published on Oct. 14, the GOP Insiders rated Dem chances of taking over the House on a scale to 0 to 10 as a 6.7 and the Dem Insiders rated it a 7.7. Likewise, 56% of the GOP Insiders said there was a high likelihood -- they gave a rating of 7 or higher -- that Congress would pass health care reform. In Oct. '06, 60% of the GOP Insiders said that there was a high likelihood Dems would recapture the House.
But GOP Insiders are upbeat in believing Dems will pay a price for their success in Nov. As one GOP Insider put it, "They've come this far so now they have to drive over the cliff." Said another: "The Democrats have enough internal divisions to scuttle this, but where there is a will there is a way. And they seem to have the will."
Obama has done nothing but lobby for this health care disaster. I'm sick of it. But more than sick I am outraged. Can't wait for Nov 2 to show the democrats just how mad America is.
Republicans are upset they may lose this vote so they are saying that Dems decided "anything" was worth passing and would pass the phone book. Whatever makes them feel better. Too bad for them that if it passes that it will be a huge accomplishment, shifting the narrative of 2009-10 somewhat from "where Dems went wrong" to "elections have consequences".
When this gets passed, and the Fox/Bachman/Palin/Beck/Bohener etc lies are exposed as just that, this will go down as a landmark day when America started the long journey towards taking back health care from the for-profit corporations who currently run it, and care ONLY about their profit.
It'll still be the most uncivilized, crude system, in the civilized world, but it's just a start.
Me and my son enjoyed reading your blog post. Keep up the good work.