The Republicans are now in a win-win situation regarding Obamacare which is now called the "Edward M. Kennedy Memorial Health Care Reform Act" or nicknamed "ObamaTeddyCare". The Democrat leadership in Congress - cynical as ever- are trying to increase support for their deader-than-a-door-nail Obamacare and are taking advantage of Senator Kennedy's death by renaming this disastrous bill.
George Stephanopoulos, of ABC's Sunday morning talk show, told Laura Ingraham on Bill O'Reilly's show last night that Kennedy's death won't make that much difference in the health care debate. Stephanopoulos said if anything passes this year, it will have to be a scaled-back bill.
The liberals will have to accept a compromise and forget about the government option Stephanopoulos said. The moderate Democrats in Congress - named the "Blue Dog Democrats", who represent some 50 to 60 moderate to conservative congressional districts - know such a compromise health care bill needs to be the final bill which passes or many of them will lose their seats next year.
As Laura Ingraham told Stephanopoulos, Obama's poll numbers are dropping like a rock in all polls. Even in the more liberally-oriented Gallup poll, Obama now has his worst ratings since he became president. The polls show a 50% to 43% approval/disapproval rating; the smallest difference (7%) since his inauguration. The historically more accurate Rasmussen poll has had Obama below 50% approval rating for weeks now.
The Republicans are in a win-win situation because the American public rose up against Obamacare as the sleeping giant woke up after Pearl Harbor just as the Japanese admiral in charge of the surprise attack feared. If the Blue Dog Democrats who fear passage of ObamaTeddyCare - after being brutally beaten up by their constituents during their August recess - are successful in persuading their leadership to drastically pare back ObamaTeddyCare, the Republicans win a partial victory.
If, however, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid do not pay attention to the American people and to the Blue Dog Democrats, they will jeopardize their jobs as leaders of the majority party in Congress.
It is more than likely that these rabidly idealogogical leaders will try to ram through ObamaTeddyCare with no Republican support and with very little Blue Dog Democrat support, but with just enough to pass their hated bill after ferocious arm-twisting and deal-making by Pelosi and her thugs in the House.
If that is the case, the Republicans may even take over control of the U.S. House of Representatives next year and the White House and the Senate in 2012. That is exactly what happened after 4 years of the disastrous Jimmy Carter administration. The Democrats lost both the White House and the Senate in President Ronald Reagan's overwhelming victory.
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