After seeing the reaction to mythoughts on the passage of the health care bill, I have decidedto dedicate another posting to this topic. Many Americans did notwant the reconciliation bill to pass, as was evident by theprotests at hundreds (if not thousands) of town hall meetingsduring the summer congressional recess. Several who did favor thebill disagreed loudly with much of what I said in my last post. Ifelt some of the comments were lacking in specifics and were drivenpurely by emotion. While I welcome criticism on my posts, I believea productive exchange of ideas must be based on specifics.

I welcome people to challenge me with regard to bipartisansupport for this bill; however, the record shows bipartisan supportwas not present for this reconciliation bill. Democrats did nothave support within their own party. Back room deals were needed toget support from within the Democrats' own ranks - not theconservatives. If there had been any measure of support fromRepublicans, there would have been no need to eschew transparencyin favor of vote buying. One of these sweet deals went to Sen. MaryLandrieu (D-La.) for the new Louisiana Purchase. This dealinitially allocated $100 million in exchange for her wavering vote.Unfortunately for taxpayers, Landrieu's "yes" vote did not becomesolid until an additional $200 million was promised.

Mathematically, the Democrats could have easily pushed thisthrough the Senate with the Democratic supermajority. If you wantto talk about transparency and truth, let's talk about theeducation reform that was included in the health care bill. What doprivate tuition loan companies have to do with health care? Let'salso talk about Nancy Pelosi telling the American people congressneeds to pass the bill in order for the people to see what is init. I'm still scratching my head wondering if she actually saidthat.