DEFEATING OBAMACARE: THE NAIL IN THE COFFIN
Now is the time to finish off the prospects of Obamacare with the Democrats reeling from the defeat in Massachusetts.
We must not trust them. The apparent reluctance of the House Democrats to pass the Senate version will evaporate once Obama puts his weight behind the bill and Pelosi starts to twist arms. Moderate Democrats cannot be counted upon.
So we need to target Democrats in swing districts who voted for the health care legislation in its first go-round in the House and convince them of the error of their ways. As the Republican floor leader in the 60s Senator Everett Dirksen once said “when they feel the heat, they see the light.”
Here is a list of twenty-three Democrats who voted for Obamacare and who are vulnerable in 2010. Its time to turn up the heat on them:
Harry Mitchell = Arizona 5
Gabrielle Giffords = Arizona 8
Alan Grayson = Fla 8
Mark Schauer = Mich 7
Carol Shea-Porter = NH 1
Mike Arcuri = NY 24
Mary Jo Kilroy = Ohio 15
Kathy Dahlkemper = Pa 3
Christopher Carney = Pa 10
Tom Perriello = Va 5
Ann Kirkpatrick = Arizona 1
Baron Hill = Indiana 9
Dina Titus = Nevada 3
John Hall = NY 19
Stephen Driehaus = Ohio 1
Paul Kanjorsky = Pa 11
Dan Maffei = NY 25
Allan Mollohan = W Va
Nick Rahall = W Va
Steve Kagen = Wisc
Marion Berry = Arkansas
John Spratt = Georgia
Zack Space = Ohio 18
These are the key votes. If we can create a groundswell among their voters, demanding that they retreat from their position of forcing socialized medicine and Medicare cuts on the country, we can win.
Nancy Pelosi’s strategy is to delay and let the impact of the Brown win in Massachusetts be blunted by time. Meanwhile, she will propose amendments to the Senate bill and submit her proposed changes to the upper chamber. Harry Reid will tell her that such a bill is dead on arrival but she will demand a vote. When the measure is rejected (or fails of closure), she will go back to her caucus and say, “I tried, but the Senate would not accept any of our amendments.”
Then the question is: What happens then? If we have prepared the way by influencing the districts of the marginal members who voted for the bill, we can assure that the centrist Democrats do not support the new legislation. We can peel away some of the 220 votes (with 215 against) by which the bill passed the House.
But we need to start now! We cannot let the momentum of the Massachusetts win dissipate as Pelosi wants. Please help us to run ads in the districts of these moderate Democrats and move them into the “no” column on Obamacare. This is our last, best chance to defeat this horrible bill.
Continue your support to defeat Obamacare by donating again to the League of American Voters.
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