Garden State Patriot

As scary as it is, I have been watching C-Span for most of the day. One of the big issues in this debate is abortion. As I mentioned in my post below, the Stupak Amendment was being brought up to stop taxpayer funded abortions from being in the final bill.

However, politically the right move for the GOP was to vote AGAINST the amendment. This way pro-life Dems would not want to vote for the larger (and more dangerous) healthcare bill.

But National Right to Life pressured Republicans. They told them that even a ‘present’ vote would be considered a ‘no’ vote, thus affecting their rating from that group. Only one Congressman, Rep. Shadegg had the guts to vote present. The rest of the Republicans went along.

Additionally, earlier today in the debate Rep. Boehner, in a heated exchange with Charlie Rangel, asked for reassurance that the amendment would be in any final bill. No such commitment was given. So, even with the passage of the Stupak Amendment it may well be meaningless.

Now, pro-life Dems will be able to freely vote for the bill. The vote is due fairly soon. And if it passes by a small margin with the support of pro-life Dems it is the Republican’s own fault.

And it’s also the fault of a one-issue, myopic group - National Right to Life.

Cross-posted at Conservatives with Attitude!

The cost of the Democrats’ plan to socialize health care? How does more than a $1,000,000,000 sound? How does $600,000,000 in tax increases sound? The cost in our freedom and liberty? Immeasurable. 

June 12 (Bloomberg) — Health-care overhaul legislation being drafted by House Democrats will include $600 billion in tax increases and $400 billion in cuts to Medicare and Medicaid, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel said.

Democrats will work on the bill’s details next week as they struggle through “what kind of heartburn” it will cause to agree on how to pay for revamping the health-care system, Rangel, a New York Democrat, said today. He also said the measure’s cost will reach beyond the $634 billion President Barack Obama proposed in his budget request to Congress as a down payment for the policy changes.

Asked whether the cost of a health-care overhaul would be more than $1 trillion, Rangel said, “the answer is yes.”

House Democrats plan to release their legislation next week. Obama has made a health-care overhaul a top domestic priority and is working with Congress to get legislation to his desk by October.

Democrats in the House and Senate are working on legislation that would require all Americans to have health insurance, prohibit insurers from refusing to cover pre-existing conditions and place other restrictions on the industry.

The legislation would establish online exchanges for individuals to purchase insurance and would require employers to provide health benefits to workers or pay a penalty. Some Democrats also are backing creation of a government-run program to expand coverage to the uninsured. The issue is the subject of bipartisan negotiations with Republican opponents.

Representative Charlie Rangel appeared on New York 1 last night to discuss next year’s Democrat primary in New York. During the discussion Rangel lashed out Andrew Cuomo, the state’s current Attorney General because he has not ruled out a primary challenge against sitting governor David Paterson. Rangel went on to say that the prospect of such a challenge could cause ‘racial polarization’ within the Democrat Party.

Rep. Charles Rangel Friday warned of “racial polarization” if Attorney General Andrew Cuomo challenges Gov. Paterson in a primary next year.

Rangel, who is close to the poll-challenged Paterson, ripped Cuomo on New York 1 last night for flatly not ruling out a run for governor next year.

“You cannot support the governor, prepare for reelection and at the same time say that you’re keeping your options open for a primary,” Rangel said.

Cuomo has repeatedly said he expects to run for reelection, but has noted that next year is a long way off.

Should Cuomo run, Rangel said, it would create a divide that could be “devastating” to New York Democrats.

“I think that there might be an inclination for racial polarization in a primary in the state of New York,” Rangel said.

“Since we have most African-Americans registered as Democrats, and since you would be making an appeal for Democrats, it would be devastating in my opinion.”

Paterson, of course, was appointed to the governorship after Elliot Spitzer’s sex scandal led him to resign. However, since taking over, Paterson has grown increasingly unpopular. His budget proposals, laden with increases in taxes and fees, have not been well-received.

So, according to Rangel, a Cuomo challenge would be racially polarizing. How this is not dealing the race card from the bottom of the deck, I don’t know. Just what is the meaning behind Rangel’s statement?

• Is Rangel saying an incompetent governor, or any governor for that matter, is above a challenge merely because he is black?
• Is he saying that black voters within his own party would not understand the reasons for Paterson being challenged?
• Is he saying black voters are all drones who vote in lock step?
• Is he saying black voters in the Democratic Party will revolt because a white man challenged a black incumbent?

It’s hard not to read at least some of the above into Rangel’s comments, none of which can be viewed as anything but race baiting.

However, it’s also quite ironic to witness this kind of politics play out within the Democratic Party. After all, this is how Democrats like use race to attack Republicans. In fact, it’s not really any different than the warnings from Democrats or liberals in the media for Republicans not to oppose Sonia Sotomayor’s nomination to the Supreme Court now, is it?

Cross-posted at Conservatives with Attitude!