Who Will They Punch Now?
by digby
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.
One thing you can say about Kucinich. When he’s in, he’s all in.
I’m sure this is very frustrating to the villagers, who want more than anything to blame the liberals for the failure to pass the plan. Kucinich is making that impossible. On the other hand, they will be able to blame the unpopularity of the plan on the liberals so that’s almost as good. After all, if Kucinich likes it, they know it must be bad.
Still, if the plan fails, the Democratic villagers won’t be able to blame it on Dennis the menace or the pro-choice Divas and that’s a problem. If Real Americas like Stupak and the Blue Dogs are the sole problem I don’t see how they hold it against the hippies — and I don’t think they know how to explain that.
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