CNN’s Dana Bash:
“I just talked to a senior congressional Democratic source who said that they believe this [Friday] is almost a de facto deadline for the White House to come up with a fix,” she continued. “Because, if they don’t, you’re going to see more and more Democrats defy the White House and vote for this Republican bill in the House.”
She said that this off-the-record comment is lent support by statements made by House Democratic Whip Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD) who declined to attack a Republican proposal that would allow those losing their health plans to keep them.
On Tuesday, White House Press Sec. Jay Carney told reporters the White House is opposed to both Democratic and Republican “keep your plan” proposals. “We see that as throwing the baby out with the bathwater,” he said.
Never mind the fact that those cancelled plans aren’t coming back, even if legislation were passed today and signed tomorrow and enacted on Friday. Canceling a health insurance plan isn’t like flipping a light switch. Actually, it is — but you can only flip it once, to “Off.” You can’t just flip it back on. And if there’s one thing we should have learned these last few weeks, it’s that government can’t just wish things so.
What amuses me is just how hysterically tone-deaf flackman Jay Carney is. His boss has an astonishing 60% disapproval for his handling of health care, and there’s Carney glibly saying (but I repeat myself) that the White House ain’t gonna budge. That has got to have Congressional Democrats reaching for the Tums, the Pepto, and the Imodium all at once. It’s not that Wiggleroom is taking a tough negotiating stance — with his own beleaguered Hill cohorts, I might add — but that Wiggleroom apparently doesn’t see the need for any real change to his health care law. From what I can gather, the thinking at 1600 Pennsylvania is once they get the website working, everything will be fine.
Did I say “tone deaf” a moment ago? I should have said “willful blindness.”
This thing is almost at the Life of Its Own stage, like Bush & Katrina in 2005, where every bad story is believed, repeated, and exaggerated. Only time time around, there won’t be any need for exaggeration.
I enjoy my popcorn with sea salt, butter, and just a hint of schadenfreude — how about you?
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