Pelosi Beats Her Dogs Down

-By Warner Todd Huston

No, blue doggie, bad, bad dog. No deal for you. Speaker Pelosi has now told her Congressional Blue Dogs it’s no deal. The Hill reports that Pelosi is “backing away” from a deal that the conservative Democrat group had thought the Speaker had agreed to.

Apparently, Pelosi only agreed to the Blue Dog’s policy ideas on H.R. 3200 so she could get the bill out of committee and out to the floor for consideration because now she is guiding the bill back toward the extreme left as the bill proceeds.

Pelosi had agreed to downplay the public option in the bill but now that its out of committee she is again pushing that policy back into it despite what Blue Dogs wanted. One aide said that for Pelosi it’s “full speed ahead.”

Pelosi is also pushing for a get-the-rich provision.

Pelosi has also told her fellow leaders she still wants an income surtax on the wealthy, rather than a tax on “Cadillac” health plans, as a means to help pay the $1 trillion cost of the bill. The rest is to be made up with savings in Medicare by eliminating wasteful spending.

If Republicans eying Blue Dog seats are smart they will use this as a hammer to beat down every center left Democrat in the country.

____________
Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer, has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and is featured on many websites such as NewsBusters.org, RightWingNews.com, CanadaFreePress.com, StoptheACLU.com, TheRealityCheck.org, RedState.com, Human Events Magazine, AmericanDailyReview.com, and the New Media Journal, among many, many others. Additionally, he has been a frequent guest on talk-radio programs to discuss his opinion editorials and current events and is currently the co-host of “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Conservatism” heard on BlogTalkRadio. Warner is also the editor of the Cook County Page for RedCounty.com.

He has also written for several history magazines and appears in the new book “Americans on Politics, Policy and Pop Culture” which can be purchased on amazon.com. He is also the owner and operator of PubliusForum.com. Feel free to contact him with any comments or questions : EMAIL Warner Todd Huston

Fair Use: This site may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. I am making such material available in my efforts to advance understanding of political, human rights, economic, democracy, and social justice issues, etc. I believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research, educational, or satirical purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site/blog for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.


Copyright Publius Forum 2001