Death Panels for Democrats

Pepe

Senior Member
Jun 3, 2010
168
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Tennessee
They voted for ObamaCare, and now their party is putting them out of their misery.

How bad is it for the Democrats?

So bad that they "began a strategy of triage on Monday to fortify candidates who they believe stand the best chance of survival," the New York Times reports today.

So bad that this is the second "triage" story to appear in the Times. We noted the first Sept. 7.

So bad that the Cook Political Report yesterday downgraded Rep. Barney Frank, the disheveled, fast-talking Democrat from Massachusetts, from "safe" to "likely" Democratic. Four other representatives were dealt the same indignity: Raul Grijalva (Ariz.), Jim Oberstar (Minn.), Ben Ray Lujan (N.M.) and Solomon Ortiz (Texas).

We noted yesterday that Frank, Grijalva and John Dingell (Mich.) may be in some danger. Cook still lists Dingell, who has been re-elected 27 times, as safe, so there's some good news for the donks.

Here's the latest Democratic death list from the Times:

Representatives Steve Driehaus of Ohio, Suzanne M. Kosmas of Florida and Kathy Dahlkemper of Pennsylvania were among the Democrats who learned that they would no longer receive the same infusion of television advertising that party leaders had promised. Party strategists conceded that these races and several others were slipping out of reach.

What do Driehaus, Kosmas and Dahlkemper have in common? All voted for ObamaCare. Driehaus and Dahlkemper were part of the "Stupak bloc," antiabortion Democrats who were persuaded by Rep. Bart Stupak of Michigan to support federally funded abortion in exchange for Barack Obama's autograph.

Stupak is retiring, but we can't imagine his colleagues are pleased to be hung out to dry, having defied their constituents and their consciences (if any) to enact this monstrosity.

At least they're not the first. The Times's September piece included a six-member death list: Mary Jo Kilroy of Ohio, Frank Kratovil Jr. of Maryland, Betsy Markey of Colorado, Tom Perriello of Virginia, Earl Pomeroy of North Dakota and John Spratt of South Carolina. All but Kratovil also voted for ObamaCare.

ObamaCare passed the House by just 219-212, so a shift of just four votes would have killed it. Yesterday we noted that Rep. Chris Van Hollen, who runs the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, was touting his party's "ideological diversity" and claiming that Democrats' running against President Obama's agenda was a sign of strength.

Driehaus, Kosmas and Dahlkemper might not need the help the party is denying them had they not been bullied into voting for that agenda. For that matter, had ObamaCare not been enacted, the Democratic Party would not be as widely loathed as it is today, and might be on its way to retaining its majority. It's no exaggeration to say that ObamaCare turned Van Hollen's DCCC into the Democratic House Death Panel.

Con't at WSJ
 

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