Steve Benen gives us something to think about:
Put it this way: imagine there’s a big meeting with every member of the Democratic caucus in both chambers. You stand at the front of the room and make a presentation: “If health care reform falls apart after having come this far, tens of millions of Americans will suffer; costs will continue to soar; the public will perceive Democrats as too weak and incompetent to act on their own agenda; the party will lose a lot of seats in the midterms and possible forfeit its majority; and President Obama will have suffered a devastating defeat that will severely limit his presidency going forward. No one will even try to fix the dysfunctional system again for decades, and the existing problems will only get worse.”
For progressive Democrats, the response would be, “That’s an unacceptable outcome, which we have to avoid.”
For conservative Democrats, the response would be, “We can live with failure.”
But, it’s the conservative Democrats who are most likely to lose their jobs. So, is there something missing from this example?
Update [2009-11-23 12:43:9 by BooMan]: In answer to Duncan, I don’t mean that voting for health care is dangerous, but that failing to pass health care is dangerous. And the danger will fall on the most vulnerable Democrats, who tend to be the most conservative Democrats. So, why would they be so indifferent to massive electoral losses? See my point?
