the rightwing czar

“$787 billion for a stimulus. $1.8 trillion for healthcare. Calling Steny Hoyer a liar: priceless.”

A great piece over at Legal Insurrection looks at how the Democrats might start wishing they weren’t pushing the Birther story so hard. What they thought was an excellent way to destroy the public perception of Republicans (likely to distract them from Obama’s healthcare reform blowing up in his face), might end up backfiring:

Kuhn plays it a little coy, but he basically has it right. Media Matters, Think Progress, and a host of left-wing blogs all became obsessed with the Birther theory and movement in the past month, as opposition mounted to Obama’s health care plans. What better than to distract attention.

But it is backfiring. It’s like telling people not to think about something, which virtually guarantees they will think about it.

Oops?

The most puzzling thing about this health care debate is why exactly Obama and the more left-wing Democrats in Congress are so intent on passing a bill that would destroy them in 2010 and beyond? That’s what I can’t figure out.

Sure, it makes sense that they have a particular ideological agenda – and that they want to satisfy the left-wing special interest groups and their base – but surely they realize they are going to alienate the moderates in the country, who are ultimately the ones that decide which party will be in power. The only reason to take extraordinary steps to satisfy your constiuents is to remain in power – but the hard-left in the country isn’t going to get you reelected in 2010.

What’s even more odd is that, despite polling that shows Americans do not want ObamaCare, left-wing Democrats keep telling us they do. What do they think that is going to do, besides piss people off when they see you clearly aren’t listening to what they’re saying?

The news this week has been that Obama’s approval on handling the health care mess has now dippedunder 50%. Less than half the people trust ObamaCare these days, but Pelosi still insists that they are going to ram the bill down our throats because Americans have been waiting too long for it:

Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Wednesday she intends to move forward with a vote on health care reform this summer and indicated Democrats may keep the House in session past its scheduled summer break if needed.”We believe that the American people have waited long enough,” Pelosi told reporters. “I want to see a bill.”

That’s fine, Ms. Pelosi. It’s your funeral. The question is though, are you so intent on passing this health care bill that you’re willing to give Congress back to the Republicans?

I’d love to see Republicans take back some power next year, but I can’t quite seem to figure out why the left-wingers running Congress seem like they’re working toward the same goal.

On Face the Nation this morning Orrin Hatch made Charlie Rangel look like the partisan hack he is.

Since the stimulus bill Democrats have been lamenting that they can’t have bipartisan bills in congress because Republicans don’t have any ideas, they just want to say no. We all know that’s just an outright lie and that Pelosi, Reid, and Obama have consistently locked out Republicans from deliberation.

Rangel tries to pull that line about the health care bill and Hatch calls him out on it. Good for you Senator. This is why I have your picture hanging in my room.

Obama wants Congress to complete one of the most radical overhauls of our health care system in a matter of weeks, so is anyone surprised that after House Democrats rushed a bill through committee that even Democrats have “basic questions about whether some of their proposals might do more harm than good”?

And while senior Democrats vowed to press ahead to meet Mr. Obama’s deadline of having both chambers pass bills before the summer recess, some in their ranks, nervous about the prospect of raising taxes or proceeding without any Republican support, were pleading to slow down.

Now why would they be nervous? Is it because the Congressional Budget Office said that the budget numbers in ObamaCare are a load of crap?

Obama and Pelosi seem intent on ramming government-run health care that nobody wants down our throats, and if the President isn’t careful, he’s going to destroy his presidency in the process. His approval rating is already dropping and he’s losing his political capital fast.

Given that, I fully support all attempts at making this bill law. There’s nothing thatwill sink Obama’s ship faster.

Well that sure is reassuring, isn’t it?

Secondly, and perhaps more pertinent to today’s debate, officials arguably oversold the stimulus package’s inherent efficiency.

Really? They “arguably” oversold it? Hah.

Whatever happened to those days?

He wants to sign a health care reform bill by October – and understandably so since his ability to throw gigantic, expensive legislation down the throats of the American public is going to rapidly shrink next year.

“Reform is coming,” he said. “It is on track. … We have never been as close as we are today.” And in a firm message to lawmakers, Biden added, “We must and will enact reform by the end of August.”

Obama has set an ambitious timetable for legislation, with the hope of signing a comprehensive bill in October. But lawmakers returned Tuesday from their July 4 break with lots of questions about the complex legislation and deep misgivings about key elements under discussion.

But how in the world does he expect to have a bill pass both the House and the Senate by October when even Democrats can’t seem to agree on really big issues. Not to mention that pesky problem of public opinion toward Obama’s rampant spending and sneaky taxes.

So yeah, good luck signing that bill by October, Mr. President.

Politico has a story up about how Democratic congressmen hailing from more right-leaning districts might have an uphill reelection battle if they voted for cap and trade last week.

Rep. Thomas Perriello relishes an energy fight with Republicans — even here in the rural Southside.

The freshman lawmaker understands the potential consequences that he and other vulnerable Democrats face for backing a sweeping climate-change bill, and rather than ducking the issue, he’s embracing what may have been the toughest vote of his young political career. …

Like many Democrats from Republican-leaning districts, Perriello is back home this week defending what may be a game-changing vote with consequences for 2010.

Nothing unusual about this story, right? We expected Democrats from more conservative areas of town to have a tough time defending their votes on some of the more left-wing parts of Obama and Pelosi’s agenda. The fact is that being a Democrat in rural America isn’t exactly like being a Democrat in San Francisco – but unfortunately, a lot of that distinction gets lost in the House roll call and congressmen end up paying for it back home.

The interesting part to this story comes later, though. Two different people – a political science professor at the University of Virginia and an economic development consultant – offer their opinion about how cap and trade might affect voter opinion. They both say essentially the same thing. First the economic development consultant:

“What’s going to increase the price of energy more?” asks E. Linwood Wright, an economic development consultant with the city of Danville, Va., in Perriello’s district. “The things in this bill? Or crude oil going back to $150-a-barrel?”

That’s a good question, Ms. Wright! What will increase the price of energy more? Gas prices, or cap and trade?

The only problem is, why would gas prices go back up to $150-a-barrel? Is there a reason we should think that gas prices will skyrocket again? I thought the reason they were so high was because of the evil Republicans who refused to regulate the oil companies. With Democrats in control, we shouldn’t worry about that, should we?

Or maybe Democrats want gas prices to skyrocket so that no one will notice how cap and trade is silently raising the price of almost every good and service on the market. What you’re basically saying is that cap and trade will raise prices, but it won’t be as bad as skyrocketing gas prices. (If gas prices skyrocket.) So do Democrats now have a vested interest in skyrocketing gas prices so that people will be too distracted by fueling their cars to notice what cap and trade has done to the price of everything else?

Wright, though, only hints at what Larry Sabato states pretty bluntly:

However, “if the economy improves,” Sabato continued, “voters won’t find the attacks credible. Really, how is anybody — even a professional economist — to know exactly what the effect of this bill will be? It’s so entangled with the rest of the economy.”

Sabato is really just stating the facts and I don’t smell a motive of any kind here. What he’s saying is true: our economy is so big and complicated, how is any regular voter going to figure out what problems cap and trade has caused and what problems were caused by something else?

If cap and trade turns into law and prices start to rise, you can guarantee that Democrats are going to start pointing every which direction in an attempt to scapegoat the blame onto anything but their precious bill.

And they’ll hope that voters are stupid enough to believe them.

How many Democratic scandals does it take for the media to notice?