Last Saturday night – at about 11:15 pm Eastern Standard Time – hyperliberal House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Cal) rammed her healthcare reform bill through with the smallest of margins.
Pelosi needed 218 to get the bill passed, and she got all of 220, opponents registering 215. In short, three votes pushed the Pelosicare through to the point where the Senate can now consider it or some other version of it.
Where did those 220 votes come from? Too many came from the so-called “Blue Dog Coalition” in Congress, a group of 52 Democratic representatives that claim to hold in high esteem the principles of “fiscal conservatism,” should be coming down hard on the side of responsible spending. Their record, as has been repeatedly documented on this site but has received little attention anywhere else however, casts grave doubts on the seriousness of their claim to “fiscal conservatism.”
There is little doubt that the American health care system is in a crisis. There are two facets of this crisis: the large number of Americans that can’t afford insurance and the out-of-control costs of the present system. To attack one facet of the problem on the back of the other is not only bad economics, its bad politics. The Blue Dogs, most of whom come from conservative districts, have been far from solid in their opposition to Pelosi’s irresponsible and damaging health care plan, and – we sincerely hope -- will pay dearly come next year’s midterm elections.
But the Pelosicare vote – standing alone – isn’t painting a clear enough picture of the Hapless Liberal Hounds. Some of them – a group of 22 voted for the “cap and trade” global warming tax earlier this year.
Now we can really narrow this down. Here, courtesy of the number crunchers at HUMAN EVENTS, the 17 Blue Dogs that have shown their true stripes voting for a government takeover of health care and Pelosicare:
Blue Dogs that voted for H.R. 3962 “Pelosicare” and H.R. 2454 “Cap and Trade”
Joe Baca (CA-43)
Sanford Bishop (GA-02)
Leonard Boswell (IA-03)
Dennis Cardoza (CA-18)
Jim Cooper (TN-05)
Henry Cuellar (TX-28)
Gabrielle Giffords (AZ-08)
Jane Harman (CA-36)
Baron Hill (IN-09) [Blue Dog Co-Chair for Policy]
Mike Michaud (ME-02)
Dennis Moore (KS-03)
Patrick Murphy (PA-08)
Loretta Sanchez (CA-47)
Adam Schiff (CA-29)
David Scott (GA-13)
Zack Space (OH-18)
Mike Thompson (CA-01)
The above consists of 33% of Blue Dog membership
Blue Dogs that voted for Pelosicare, but not Cap and Trade
Mike Arcuri (NY-24)
Marion Berry (AR-01)
Christopher Carney (PA-10)
Jim Costa (CA-20)
Kathy Dahlkemper (PA-03)
Joe Donnelly (IN-02)
Brad Ellsworth (IN-08)
Earl Pomeroy (ND)
Charles Wilson (OH-06)
The above consists of 17% of Blue Dog membership
In total: 50% (26) of the supposedly fiscally conservative Blue Dogs voted for Pelosicare.
Please print this page out and slip it under a refrigerator magnet in your kitchen. You may want to find it again next November.
Human Events intern Jordan Vivian contributed to this report
Pelosi needed 218 to get the bill passed, and she got all of 220, opponents registering 215. In short, three votes pushed the Pelosicare through to the point where the Senate can now consider it or some other version of it.
Where did those 220 votes come from? Too many came from the so-called “Blue Dog Coalition” in Congress, a group of 52 Democratic representatives that claim to hold in high esteem the principles of “fiscal conservatism,” should be coming down hard on the side of responsible spending. Their record, as has been repeatedly documented on this site but has received little attention anywhere else however, casts grave doubts on the seriousness of their claim to “fiscal conservatism.”
There is little doubt that the American health care system is in a crisis. There are two facets of this crisis: the large number of Americans that can’t afford insurance and the out-of-control costs of the present system. To attack one facet of the problem on the back of the other is not only bad economics, its bad politics. The Blue Dogs, most of whom come from conservative districts, have been far from solid in their opposition to Pelosi’s irresponsible and damaging health care plan, and – we sincerely hope -- will pay dearly come next year’s midterm elections.
But the Pelosicare vote – standing alone – isn’t painting a clear enough picture of the Hapless Liberal Hounds. Some of them – a group of 22 voted for the “cap and trade” global warming tax earlier this year.
Now we can really narrow this down. Here, courtesy of the number crunchers at HUMAN EVENTS, the 17 Blue Dogs that have shown their true stripes voting for a government takeover of health care and Pelosicare:
Blue Dogs that voted for H.R. 3962 “Pelosicare” and H.R. 2454 “Cap and Trade”
Joe Baca (CA-43)
Sanford Bishop (GA-02)
Leonard Boswell (IA-03)
Dennis Cardoza (CA-18)
Jim Cooper (TN-05)
Henry Cuellar (TX-28)
Gabrielle Giffords (AZ-08)
Jane Harman (CA-36)
Baron Hill (IN-09) [Blue Dog Co-Chair for Policy]
Mike Michaud (ME-02)
Dennis Moore (KS-03)
Patrick Murphy (PA-08)
Loretta Sanchez (CA-47)
Adam Schiff (CA-29)
David Scott (GA-13)
Zack Space (OH-18)
Mike Thompson (CA-01)
The above consists of 33% of Blue Dog membership
Blue Dogs that voted for Pelosicare, but not Cap and Trade
Mike Arcuri (NY-24)
Marion Berry (AR-01)
Christopher Carney (PA-10)
Jim Costa (CA-20)
Kathy Dahlkemper (PA-03)
Joe Donnelly (IN-02)
Brad Ellsworth (IN-08)
Earl Pomeroy (ND)
Charles Wilson (OH-06)
The above consists of 17% of Blue Dog membership
In total: 50% (26) of the supposedly fiscally conservative Blue Dogs voted for Pelosicare.
Please print this page out and slip it under a refrigerator magnet in your kitchen. You may want to find it again next November.
Human Events intern Jordan Vivian contributed to this report
Mr. Babbin is the editor of Human Events and HumanEvents.com. He served as a deputy undersecretary of defense in President George H.W. Bush's administration. He is the author of "In the Words of our Enemies"(Regnery,2007) and (with Edward Timperlake) of "Showdown: Why China Wants War with the United States" (Regnery, 2006) and "Inside the Asylum: Why the UN and Old Europe are Worse than You Think" (Regnery, 2004). E-mail him at jbabbin@eaglepub.com.
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