Healthcare Reform vote may be pushed back into next week

  As of right now the vote on healthcare reform is scheduled to take place sometime later on today but that seems like it could be in jeopardy as Democrats still do not have the votes. The vote may be pushed back to tomorrow or maybe even next week. Steny Hoyer claims they are close to having the votes but they are just not there yet.

  Usually leadership waits until they know the votes are there for legislation before they bring it up for a vote to avoid this exact type of embarrassment. But Nancy Pelosi scheduled the vote before she could pass the legislation and I can think of only one reason.

  She announced the Saturday vote last Wednesday, the day after Republicans swept the Virginia races and took the New Jersey governorship. While claiming that she thought the election of these Republicans was a Democrat victory she announced the healthcare reform vote. She did this in a defiant manner, she was trying to take the headlines away from the Republican victories. She almost seems to have done it in spite. “Oh yeah you stupid Virginians and New Jerseyans(ites?), I will show you who is boss!” That was the message that Nancy Pelosi seemed to be trying to send. She was angry at the Republican gains and scheduled the vote in a moment in which she was not thinking clearly.

  And now she doesn’t have the votes. Nancy Pelosi was so concerned about grabbing the headlines away from the Republicans that she rashly scheduled this vote hoping that between last Wednesday and today she would be able to threaten Democrat legislators and twist enough arms before the bill came up for a vote. She has not been able to do this and now may face the embarrassment of having to push the vote back into next week.

  Nancy Pelosi and the Democrat leadership have been trying to force this legislation down our throats, in doing so they are not always thinking clearly and this was just one such example.