Because our national media (including many of the few progressive commentators) are basically retarded and can’t read a poll the narrative in Washington now goes like this:
Senate Republican Conference Chairman Lamar Alexander (Tenn.) on Tuesday said a partisan approach to health reform this fall would “wreck our healthcare system and wreck the Democratic Party,” raising the stakes of a go-it-alone strategy that Democratic leaders are considering.
At 59 votes with the passing of Sen. Edward Kennedy (Mass.), Democrats have said they will consider the use of a legislative tactic called reconciliation that could allow chunks of health reform legislation to be passed with a simple majority of 51 votes, instead of the 60 that normally would be required to overcome procedural obstacles.
Alexander said that town hall meetings last month demonstrated most Americans are opposed to reform and that Democrats should heed the message.
Well, it’s true that Lamar Alexander said that most Americans are opposed to reform, but it isn’t remotely accurate. What is accurate is that Obama’s approval numbers have come down over the last couple of months. Most of that deterioration has come from liberals who are no longer willing to give pollsters the thumb’s up while Congress is twiddling their thumbs on health care reform. Obama ran on a platform of universal health coverage with a public option. Liberals expect him to deliver, not compromise with some watered down bill that doesn’t cover people for a decade and doesn’t address the budget deficit.
Americans support these reforms in large numbers, as every reputable polling outfit attests. But, really, do you think Lamar Alexander would warn us if he truly thought we were on a course to wreck the Democratic Party and hand control of the Senate back to the Republicans? Really?
Maybe people could report some skepticism about the ridiculous things he says?
