Breaking: Driehaus and Others Shred Remaining Credibility, Vote to ‘Slaughter’ the Constitution
Michelle Malkin has the list of Dems who voted “no,” and Driehaus’s name isn’t on it. Nor is Zack Space’s, Charlie Wilson’s, or John Boccieri’s, or Mollohan’s from West Virginia.
Here’s the official roll call.
Nothing Driehaus or his office says about any other related upcoming vote can be believed. For what it’s worth (i.e., nothing), a person at Driehaus’s Cincinnati office told me today that the congressman is a “no” vote on ObamaCare (whatever the heck that is at this point).
The gentlemen noted above and all others who voted “yes” gave us a twofer: They substantively supported ObamaCare, regardless of their final vote (if there ever is to be one), and they showed their utter lack of respect for the oath of office they declared when they were sworn in to protect and defend the Constitution.
Consider this the “See that wasn’t so bad, you can do it again” vote.
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UPDATE: I would suggest that the prospects for stopping the madness are not at all good.
All 222 who voted as they did today have already told voters they don’t care about the consequences to the country of short-circuiting the constitutional process. At least three dozen of them would appear to be in line to pay dearly for having done so, no matter how they vote on whatever health care legislation (if any) comes up for a vote in the next several days.
I would not rule out the idea that a few of those whose constituents are intractably mad may even go so far as to resign and say “Nyah, nyah” shortly after their damning vote.
Is it a coincidence that Obama is way behind in filling Homeland Security posts (and likely many others)?
UPDATE 2, March 19, 1:00 a.m.: At Ace’s place, an explanation of the true nature of the vote —
Technically Speaking: Drew notes that this wasn’t a vote on the Slaughter House Rule itself, but on a GOP motion to compel the House to not employ the Slaughter House Rule.
The Slaughter Rule is not yet actually implemented. But the motion to halt it was rejected.
Technically, they could still reject the rule itself.
That’s some (but not much) comfort.
“At first glance, here are some of the vulnerable House Democrats who just voted that the health care bill does not require a separate vote, and that demonpass/deem-and-pass is just dandy:
* John Boccieri, Ohio.
* Steve Driehaus, Ohio.
* Marcy Kaptur, Ohio.
* Zach Space, Ohio.
* Charlie Wilson, Ohio.
From http://campaignspot.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NDMxZDkyNmQ2NTQ2OWE4ZWUwNTcwNmRjZmJkZjFiZTM=
UPDATE: A reader …argues that Kaptur is not that vulnerable (it is a D+10 district), but she seems to be sweating the abortion angle of the legislation, so I suspect she senses significant political fallout from this vote.
Comment by Cornfed — March 18, 2010 @ 7:20 pm
The fact that they only got 222 votes on an obviously partisan attempt to derail a (the) rule doesn’t bode well for the actual bill. That’s only 7 away from defeat on something that Dems should have been unanimous on if they were sticking with the Speaker. My guess is that more than 7 were just covering themselves to get Pe-lousy off their back a little.
Just an observation.
Comment by Joe C. — March 19, 2010 @ 7:45 am
#2, Michael Barone is saying that too.
Comment by TBlumer — March 19, 2010 @ 8:37 am
[...] vote-avoiding Slaughter gambit, Obama, Pelosi and the rest of the 222 congresspersons who voted as they did yesterday might consider the implications of the points made in a promised lawsuit by Mark Levin’s [...]
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