Is the Huge Medicine Ball Finally Gaining some Momentum? (w/ Update)

Yesterday Dennis Kucinich announced he was reversing his position on health care reform and would now vote for the bill.  And today Talking Points Memo reports that is also actively urging other wavering House members to join him:

A few hours after Rep. Dennis Kucinich switched his support to become a critical vote for the health care bill, he took to the House floor to ask wavering colleagues to join him. Astonished colleagues pointed to Kucinich (D-OH) darting from member to member on the House floor yesterday, saying privately they’d never seen him get so involved in whipping a vote.

It’s not just progressives he’s targeting to keep in the fold, it’s everyone, a top Democratic aide told me. Members know that Kucinich - a staunch antiwar liberal long in favor of a single-payer system and often going out on a limb with his own agenda - is setting aside deep ideology to help get something passed. “It’s a totally new dynamic. People are realizing he’s doing it for history,” the aide said.

Add to this that the CBO FINALLY came out with their report (I know, I know, they’ve been asked to do a lot lately) reporting that, while the newest version of the bill is slightly more expensive than the Senate version, it will still constrain costs and reduce the deficit significantly over time.  (And again, it should be emphasized that the CBO cannot score intangibles such as the value of much more preventive care in reducing overall medical costs in the future.)

AND both a coalition of Catholic nuns and the Catholic Health Association, which represents Catholic hospitals, have come out in favor of passing the bill, even to the point of defying the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops!  These aren’t just any nuns, by the way, they are all leaders of their convents and other organizations.  In their statement the nuns tell it like it is:

The letter argues that the legislation “will make crucial investments in community health centers that largely serve poor women and children.”

“And despite false claims to the contrary, the Senate bill will not provide taxpayer funding for elective abortions,” the letter reads. “It will uphold longstanding conscience protections and it will make historic new investments – $250 million – in support of pregnant women. This is the REAL pro-life stance, and we as Catholics are all for it.”

So, yeah it’s looking like we might get this ball rolling.  But I’m a huge not-counter of chicks before they hatch and this whole thing just makes me too damn nervous.  That’ll be me curled up over in the corner sucking my thumb until it’s all over.

UPDATE:  Revealing himself to be sexist as well as dumb, Bart Stupidpak disses the input of 59,000 nuns.  “When I’m drafting right to life language, I don’t call up the nuns” he says.  He calls up, like bishops and Focus on the Family, you know, GUYS who actually understand women’s issues.  What a tool.  Hope this guy gets primaried and we see the last of him.  (h/t Betty Cracker in comments)

Posted by marindenver on 03/18/10 at 10:44 AM • Permalink

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