Twenty House Democrats voted AGAINST the Stupak-Pitts anti-choice amendment and voted FOR health care reform despite representing districts which lean Republican or are otherwise difficult. They're worthy of your support to show that when they stand up and do the right thing, progressives will have their backs.

They're ranked on this page from the most Republican district down towards the middle. Each of them deserves some support today -- $5 each, $10, whatever you can do:

http://www.actblue.com/page/wevegotyourb…

Pelosi's right about that. They got the best bill they could reasonably be expected to have gotten through through by the slimmest of margins. She deserves kudos just for getting it through.

The question now is will Reid have the balls to hit the Lieberbag with the ultomato: vote for cloture and let the bill come to a vote or get thrown out of the D-caucus? Or will he successfully court the Snowe Queen to break ranks and get something real through so the bills can be reconciled? It's a big if. Reid hasn't been displaying much in the balls department.

Polanski Redux
- Nancy Pelosi reminds me of Mia Farrow's neighbor in "Rosemary's Baby."

It's Hero-or-Goat time now.

Sadly, my money's on both Reid and Lieberman for goatiness. I hope I'm wrong.

Hey, Nancy, ya know what else is necessary? A third party to compete with the Democrats and the Republicans since neither is representing the voters.

Is there anything I don't love about Jim McDermott? No. No there isn't.

Agreed. Pelosi has to Gosi. Her leadership during Bush's reign was non-existent, so no surprise she can't rally Dem's now.

The whole vote count thing is a sham.

They claim that they needed to add the amendment because even with it it passed with "the slimmest of margins", but as soon as they lock in 218 votes they let other do whatever they want.

They couldn't have passed it without the votes from the progressive caucus either, yet instead of using that as a reason to pass it WITHOUT the amendment, they say they need the blue dogs and add it.

It's all bullshit.

If nothing else, this bill finally puts to rest the idea that we have a two-party system. We've developed into one of those multi-party countries like Israel in which the center parties need to appease the fringes in order to get anything done. It won't work here any better than it does there - reasonable members of parliament see that it's hogwash, and by definition the extremists can't be satisfied. Now that they've successfully bullied Congress into accepting this crazy demand, the next one (and the next and the next and the next...) is just around the corner.

@7, @9, @10

You three are not understanding how our republic works. Here's how a bill becomes a law, boys and girls: Pelosi had two options before the final vote on the bill could take place. She could a) take a vote on the Stupak amendment, see if it wins, then proceed to final passage or b) refuse the vote on the Stupak amendment, allow Republicans to offer a Motion to Recommit and vote on the amendment (and more toxic garbage) anyway.

What's the difference between the two? The language on a motion to recommit is out of Pelosi and the Democrats' hands, thereby posing more risk. The Republicans could say they want a motion to recommit to "study the effects of health care legislation on government-funded abortions" and send the whole bill right back to the committees, which would effectively kill healthcare legislation cold. That motion to recommit, if it was offered by the Republicans, may have won. And instead of talking about how much you hate Nancy Pelosi, you would be talking about how you will never, ever get healthcare reform in this country.

Next time, educate yourselves before you all go off and shoot your mouths.

http://rules.house.gov/Archives/recommit…

Pelosi knows how to count to 218 and score a victory for Obama and the Democratic Party.

Sorry - I find it hard to celebrate any type of victory when my uterus is being used as a bargaining chip.

does anybody currently have insurance that covers abortion? i've had to pay for all my own, ha! seriously though- are they usually covered?

Well, the last time we had a dem in office we gay people got shit on. Looks like this time it'll be women. I promise you Obama and the senate dems don't have spine enough to stop the roll back of rights. We all know this.

Throw basic women's healthcare under the bus. I mean especially poor women. They may as well not exist. Thanks, Democrats! You leave me with a ton of options. Oh, and for all of you out there saying it needed to be done in order to get the healthcare passed and blah blah blah? Call yourself a Democrat, not a Progressive, please. And fuck you.

If you rip it out, you rip it out just before the 3rd and final passage, when it's a straight up/down majority vote.

But I'm not joining the plan so long as it doesn't include abortion and reproductive services.