Convenient Amnesia – How Nuclear Option Becomes Reconciliation

Although the Republicans acquitted themselves nicely at the recent healthcare summit with the president, and articulated numerous reasons why going forward with the current bill is not a good idea, the Democrats have been buzzing about passing a bill through the "reconciliation" process, meaning that they can skirt the requirement for 60 votes in the Senate. If they follow through with this veiled threat, then they will show themselves as hypocrites of the first order for at least two reasons.

First, the Democrats will prove that the recent summit was nothing more than a sham, a fig leaf to cover their real intentions that they had all along. By passing a bill through the reconciliation process, they will not only be by-passing the Republicans in the House and Senate, but the will of the people, the majority of whom do not wish to see their health care taken over by the government.

Second, by using reconciliation to ram an unwanted bill through, the Democrats will be engaging in essentially the same process that they railed against several years ago when the Republicans were in power. The reconciliation process allows the Senate to vote on a simple majority and prevents the use of a filibuster. Which is all fine and dandy for the Dems now that they are in the majority. Back in 2005, however, when President George W. Bush was trying to get some judicial nominations approved, he and the Senate were accused of trying to employ the "nuclear option," the term clearly signifying how dastardly it was to end-around the minority party in this way. Funny how the horrific nuclear option of 2005 is now the tame "reconciliation." But in the world of War-shington, spin is king, especially when the Democrat position is involved. And a judicial nomination, even to the Supreme Court, cannot compare to a power grab intended to take over one-sixth of the American economy.

An old friend of mine used the term "convenient amnesia" to describe someone who had a deliberate memory lapse when they were confronted with a contradiction in their current position versus what they had stated earlier. The Democrats use convenient amnesia all the time, since they have no real principles to guide their actions. So it seems they are pretending to have forgotten their howls of protest regarding the potential use of the "nuclear option" just a few years ago. However, certain members of Congress, radio talk hosts, and many of the public are not letting them get away with it anymore. This continued pressure is necessary to foil the Democrats' attempts at their "reconciliation" charade.