IN MS PELOSI'S DEFENSE...:

Pelosi versus Palin (Carolyn Lochhead, August 10 2009, SF Chronicle)

Before leaving for the August recess, before health care town halls became the story, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she would use her successful defeat of former President George W. Bush's Social Security overhaul as her "template" for pushing health care reform. [...]

Hello? Pelosi was trying to block legislation in 2005, not pass it. Ask Newt Gingrich. Governing is a lot harder than bomb throwing.

Pelosi's challenge on health care is precisely the reverse of her attack on Bush's Social Security plan. Back then, she succeeded in uniting Democrats in opposition, rapidly quashing any effort by any Democrat to offer an alternative that would have set the stage for negotiations. The message was: kill it.

Republicans and other opponents are doing just that on health care, which is easier to do with health care because it is much bigger, much more complex, more emotional for more people, and has many more vested interests.

...she is doing to health care reform what she did to SS reform.

Posted by Orrin Judd at August 10, 2009 3:52 PM