Health Care BS

In its capacity as Democrat propaganda ministry, the Associated Press has produced another disingenuous story on Nancy Pelosi’s doomed effort to pull new Obamacare votes out of her hat.

In a “news” article with the misleading title, “Some House foes eye switch to ‘yes’ on health care,” the once-credible wire service begins its story with an equally dishonest lede:

Ten House Democrats indicated in an Associated Press survey Monday they have not ruled out switching their “no” votes to “yes” on President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul.

Sounds promising for Madam Speaker, does it not? But it deliberately exaggerates Pelosi’s true prospects for flipping “no” votes to “yes.” Eight paragraphs down, we find out the truth:

In interviews with the AP, at least 10 of the 39 Democrats [who voted “No” on the original bill] either declined to state their positions or said they were undecided about the revised legislation.

In other words, AP counts some Dems as potential switchers simply because they didn’t bother to respond. And others are counted because they refused to state a position, probably fearing they would be misquoted.

The reality is that Pelosi doesn’t have the votes, and isn’t likely to get them. After Virginia, New Jersey and Massachusetts, the Dems are decidedly jumpy. As Pennsylvania Democrat Jason Altmire puts it:

I just don’t know where they get the votes in the House … the people who voted ‘yes’ would love a second bite at the apple to vote ‘no’ this time because they went home and had an unpleasant experience as a result of their ‘yes’ vote.

No matter how many whoppers the AP or the (other) Democrats tell, the comprehensive Obamacare bill is dead. That’s why they plan to roll out a much smaller, face-saving bill this week.