There was a very good discussion in the comments of Lucas’ diary about Nancy Pelosi only speaking against Republicans for opposing the children’s health insurance bill (SCHIP), and not criticizing the Democrats who opposed the bill.
I think the role of Pelosi and the House leadership on SCHIP deserves more discussion, so I’m creating a new diary.
While I agree with Brian’s point that he wouldn’t expect Pelosi to publicly call out these Democrats by name in her email, her failure to call for switching the No votes of everyone who voted against the bill rather than just among Republicans signals that this is about politics, not passing the bill. If it were solely about doing what was necessary to pass the bill, then Pelosi’s approach would have been much different from the start.
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For one thing, having any Democrats opposing SCHIP is a PR victory for Republicans: it means that there’s bipartisan opposition to the bill. Pre-emptively arm-twisting these 8 Democrats ahead of the vote would drastically raised the stakes for Republicans because they would get pinned for the full blame of the bill not being passed, or the veto overridden. Having a few Democrats lets them muddy the water enough to sell “Congress failed kids” rather than the truth, which is “Republicans failed kids”. Pelosi controlled the timing of the vote, so she could have easily put the full court press on beforehand, and given them ample warning that she would call them out for opposing the bill and all sorts of other things she could do to them to get them in line. But she didn’t, obviously.
Plus, we have to keep in mind the opportunity Pelosi lost by not getting these Dems to support the bill before they’ve publicly voted against it. Had she done so, they could have been able to claim they were always for it. As it stands now, they have to implicitly admit they did the “wrong thing” when they switch their vote to do the “right thing”. Admitting error is a very hard thing to do for a politician.
However, given the current situation, the fact remains that the easiest No votes to turn around should still be these Democrats – not the Republicans. To not go after them means Democrat incumbent protection has a higher priority than children’s health insurance, and that should be condemned.
And let’s not forget the bigger context here: Pelosi’s going to fundraise for Al Wynn, who has voted against his constituents and the most basic Democratic party principles (abolishing inheritance taxes, bankruptcy bill to name a couple). By doing this, she’s sending the signal that what matters above all is circling the wagons for fellow Democratic incumbents. And Marshall and the rest of the SCHIP opposing Dems qualify, so doesn’t it stand to reason she’ll give them a free pass too? (And perhaps even campaign for them when they get a serious primary challenge?)
Although I hope there’s real arm-twisting going on behind the scenes, the fact that there’s no public pressure on these Dems suggests that they’re not really going to go to the mat on this, and so thank heavens for Blog Pac and Blue America PAC for going after these guys.