Free Republic

This IS an absolute disaster but one that pretty obvious in coming. Boehner has been open that he was willing to cut a deal that most of his caucus would oppose and that is probably what we have. The cuts are tiny reductions in the rate at which government spending grows. Obama gets trillions more to play with. The leverage the Republicans had over Obama with the debt ceiling issue will be gone at least for the next couple of years. The BBA vote was going to happen anyway. Boehner can call a vote on that at any time and Senate Republicans were going to tack it onto legislation in that chamber anyway. The commission recommendations will be like every other deficit commission in history — utter nonsense. The automatic cuts sound nice, but even if there are no gimmicks the amount of cuts is a drop in the bucket. This will pass, we'll lose our AAA bond rating and everyone will hate both parties. Sounds like my kids just got rooked by a bunch of RINOs and emperor Barack the first.

Markos has a screwy book coming out soon. He needed MSNBC and its leftist audience in order to promote it. This actually hurts Kos.

The ten votes shy prediction jives with the counts of two major anti-Obamacare interest groups I’ve talked to today. However, there are a lot of members who are “undecided” and or just plain hiding. There aren’t 216 no or yes votes yet. It’s tough and the odds are a bit long but we can beat this thing.

As incredible as it may seem, Nagin was the reformist politician down there. Landrieu is a return to the unmitigated graft and sleaze that New Orleans is famous for. Carville/Matalin live in a super-ritzy leftist neighborhood down there and Landrieu is that crowd’s candidate. Mary Matalin has never been an ideological Republican. No one should really be suprised she is supporting and working for a dirt bag like Landrieu

Virginia physically removed its GOP chairman last spring. Didn’t turn our too bad. Result was a GOP landslide in November!

On the plus side, the liberals are paying a horrific price. No thanks to the GOP though. Race by race polling that both parties have shows support for the Democrat party cratering more dramatically than in 1994. Bringing up immigration will only make it worse for them. Pretty sure an amnesty bill wont’ pass but Obama has to bring it up to pay off the Hispanic caucus and appease some of the liberals who really hate him right now. And even if health care passes, there are going to be a blizzard of lawsuits and fights over this bill for years to come. The libs think this battle will be over when Obama signs a bill. They are profoundly wrong.

Chances are, yes, that holding out for twelve more hours wouldn’t matter and this monstrosity keeps moving forward. However, nothing is certain and stranger things have happened. On something this important and with the base so distrustful of the Senate pubbies already, the GOP Senate caucus must keep fighting. Plus, in this political environment the GOP cannot afford to give up something for nothing. Does anyone really think that after this Harry Reid will take seriously any future threats from Mitch McConnell to disrupt a scheduled Congressional recess? I think not. Reid will keep steamrolling along. After health care is amnesty for illegal aliens!

Health care vote is 8AM. And they will vote to hike the debt ceiling. I assume the GOP filibuster of that will collapse, too. I believe that means the Senate does not have to come back before the end of the year. Socialized medicine and even more public debt for Christmas. At least the Senators get to go home to their mansions and mistresses for Christmas.

I’ll bet you the White House complained and McConnell caved. Obama desperately wants to get to Hawaii, yet the Dear Leader had to stick around for the vote. His own people would kill him if he left while they were still sitting here. However, Christmas Eve night could be kinda nasty weather-wise and that could have grounded the traveler in chief. McConnell probably justifies caving by thinking the President now owes him. That’s how some of these guys think. That’s why they lose.

Two of the dems are in horrible shape- Nye and Boucher. Odds are they won’t be back. Boucher may even retire. The fifth district should be an easy GOP pick up but the “establishment” is trying to ram a pro tax RINO down the base’s throat. It will be a bloodbath in a district that is as right wing as you can get. In the 11th in Northern Virginia the democrat is scared out of his mind and has a lot of enemies within his own party. It will be a close fight there. A GOP pick up of 2-3 seats in Virginia is very, very doable. Four is not at all out of the question.

Senate GOP will meet in a while to consider dropping their filibuster. They want to go home. Can’t win the game if our guys don’t want to get on the darn field.

If Stupak doesn’t have the D votes to stop this a good number of Dems will have decided to reverse their positions completely to now vote for a bill that they said they would never vote for. Could happen, but it’s going to take some doing on the Administration’s part to get those votes.

Next, there will be a conference committee unless Nancy Pelosi completely caves and rooks the labor unions who hate the “cadillac plan” tax. There are massive differences in the bills.

Finally, the conference report can and will be fillibustered and they will need 60 votes to break it. There are still a lot of hurdles the Dems have to clear.

On one hand Nelson has sold out. He got his Medicaid money which is all he wanted. The abortion “compromise” should be a big problem in the House. Federal money will be used to pay for abortion and Stupak and his dem allies shouldn't go along with this. Now, they might cave and support the Senate abortion language but we would be much worse off is Nelson had held out for Stupak’s language and then caved. Basically, this should still be a battle royale in the House. The left wants to fight over the public option some more, Moveon is going nuts. The Republicans are unified in opposition. It's certainly tough sledding for supporters of freedom but it's not over yet. We must keep fighting. the left is paying an incredible price and at the very least we must keep the heat on.

It can and will be fillibustered. The conference report can’t be changed, however. It’s a pure up or down vote. The question is what the House will do. Last I heard the conference committee will meet on Friday and the House will want major changes. Then, each chamber votes again. Lots of voting to go before Obamacare becomes law.

The CBO score won’t change anything because this bill is less expensive than the original Reid bill. However, this is far from over. The abortion language is an absolute abomination. Nelson got nothing in that regard. It funds abortion unless a state legislature “opts out”. The lack of of an official public option and this abortion language is going to be a real problem in the House. Plus, voting this nonsense through late at night on Christmas Even will tick off the American people like nothing in recent memory. We all have to just keep fighting.

That’s how I read it too. If that is the case Nelson only really cared about the Medicaid cash. Politicians in the various states are going to be furious is they are now dragged into this mess and will have to vote on abortion funding bills thanks to this nonsense. Most importantly though, is that it is going to be very, very hard for Stupak and friends to support this in the House. This is not over. Reid seems to only care about getting something out of the Senate and punting problems with the bill over to Pelosi.

I’ve met Mr. Buckles. He has some unbelievable stories. Had to con his way into the service because he was so young. Drove an ambulance in France, I believe. Met Pershing. In World War II he was a civilian in the Philippines and was captured by the Japanese. His house has all kinds of awards from world leaders on display. Why no one has made of movie about Frank Buckles’ life is a real mystery. I think he told me his great grandfather was killed at the battle of Oriskany during the Revolutionary War, or something like that.

Absolutely Hoffman can pull this out. He’s in second place and the race is between him and the Dem. Hoffman now probably has the best organization. He has offices all over the place now and more and more volunteers. What he doesn’t have is enough cash. At least not yet. The labor unions are pouring money into this race and the RNC is making this a veritable Stalingrad — no price is too high to secure victory or at least to stop the conservatives. Any amount anyone can give Hoffman’s campaign is needed. This is history in the making.

Clam down. McDonnell's run a defensive campaign since he took the lead after the Dem primary. That's a fact. It was a strategic decision made by Tim Phillips, his general consultant and a very bright guy. Now, however, it is time to fight. The NRA endorsement of McDonnell was HUGE. Deeds’ performance at the debate today was horrible. Obama is a big problem for him. This race ain't over by a long shot. However, it is time to kick it into high gear. Whining about the Washington Post and trying to explain away what he wrote in a college term paper isn't going to win. Laying out a strong conservative case for why Bob McDonnell should be hired as governor over Deeds will. At the moment that isn't happening. However, I expect it will. Regarding the regular volunteer requests, I'm glad you are being given a chance to help out. For some wacky reason I'm not. As long as it isn't a case of an over confident staff then I'm fine with it.

McDonnell is running a “I know my thesis makes me look like a loon but I’m not really a crazy nut who hates working women and doesn’t care about our stinky economy” ad right now. It has to be killing him. That and all of a sudden about last month I stopped receiving any kind of communication from the campaign. No emails, calls nothing. In the spring plenty. Now, none.