Damned if they do, damned if they don’t

But Republicans did vote en masse for the Stupak-Pitts
amendment regarding the government’s funding of abortion services. Apparently,
it was scored by a key constituency of conservatives, the National Right to
Life, and GOPers decided that they didn’t want to vote against it. When rumors
floated that the Republicans might vote present in order to cause chaos among
the Democrats, the pro-life groups shot down that option, giving the minority
few other options.

As an armchair quarterback, I questioned the strategy of
voting for the amendment. I even put such a question on my Facebook account.
Why did we vote for the amendment if we knew it would ensure passage of the
underlying bill?

Such a decision seemed a bit silly to me.

Today, the decision looks a little less silly. Now the ones
who are in chaos are the Democrats. Their hardcore abortion-rights supporters
are livid. Forty Democrats said that they would vote against any bill that
contained the Stupak-Pitts language.

The National Abortion Rights Action League said that it
would score the bill the other way if the conference report contained such
offensive language. What seemed like a smooth road to final passage now seems a
lot rockier.

The Senate doesn’t seem to have much interest in taking up
the issue. As Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) put it, “This is a
healthcare bill, not an abortion bill.” If the Senate doesn’t include a
provision on abortion funding, it will make the choice easier (and harder).
Either take the House language or they drop. Either way, they offend somebody
and make it harder to pass a final bill.

The problem with having the government take over the whole
healthcare system is that issues like abortion and illegal immigration keep
popping up. This is not the slam-dunk that the Democrats thought it would be.

The Daily Kos said that it will withhold funding to the
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee because it is supporting 18
Democrats who voted against the healthcare bill. That sounds like a good plan
to me. Why should the Daily Kos boys support anybody who so dislikes what the
hard left is pushing?

Of course, by withholding support to their most vulnerable
candidates, the lefties make it easier for the GOP to take back the House.

The problem with influence of outside groups is that they
don’t want to understand how the House or the Senate really works. They just
want results.

For the Democrats, they are damned if they do and damned if
they don’t. They are damned if they make concessions to pro-life Democrats,
because the hard left hates them. But they are damned if they don’t make those
concessions, because in that case, there will be no bill.

So whatever decision the GOP leadership made on this debate,
it seemed to work out for them.

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