McCain: Hey, Where the Hell is the Gang of 14 on Reconciliation?

One can give McCain points for keeping a consistent stance.

But, at the time, McCain's conservative critics noted that Democrats in the Gang of 14 would never honor a similarly consistent stance. McCain, Graham, Snowe, Specter, Voinovich and the others were all being used by the Democrats to protect their own privileges in the minority, we said, but we would never see the reciprocal protection of Republican minority rights that McCain promised.

He's finding out now that we were right.

“Back a few years ago when the Republican side was in the majority and there was a movement toward the ‘nuclear option’ … I stood up as a member of the majority and said we should not erode the 60-vote majority rule that has prevailed here in the Senate for many years,” McCain said Thursday evening. McCain noted that he took heat from fellow Republicans for standing up for their rights in the minority. “That was not greeted on this side of the aisle, frankly, with approval by a lot, but what we did then was preserve the Senate,” he said. ...

The Gang of 14 enraged conservative activists, many of whom still view McCain and Graham with suspicion.

And rightly so, if Democrats, as we suspect, wind up playing McCain for a chump.

Keeping Hope Hostage: Pelosi thinks she has a way to reassure wavering Democrats about a possible betrayal by the Senate, in which the Senate doesn't do anything through reconciliation and instead just forwards the now-passed bill to Obama for his signature.

Her idea? The House can vote in favor of the Senate bill, but they will not actually send it up for the President's signature until the Senate makes changes the House wants through reconciliation.

This, however, just changes which party can screw you -- can Bart Stupak trust that Nancy Pelosi won't send the bill up to be signed into law unless the Senate adds in the Stupak abortion language? That makes me laugh, ha-ha.

And, for that matter, lefties can't trust the power-mad Pelosi to hold out for their precious leftwing changes. Pelosi just wants a win.

That said, it could be the fig-leaf these idiots in the House need to vote America into ruin.

posted by Ace at 03:01 PM

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