This may be good news - as long as the Reid story keeps churning in the media.
Senator Chris Dodd was quoted as saying yesterday that health care reform "hangs by a thread" in Congress and one of the reasons is almost certainly the damage done to Harry Reid by his stupid "Negro dialect" remark. Here's Martin Kady writing in Politico's The Huddle:
While one congressional leader is obsessed with salvaging his political career, the other chamber's leader is focusing on how to get what she wants in the big policy fights of the day.In other words, Nancy Pelosi finally has some leverage over Harry Reid after weeks of being told her caucus would have to roll over the Senate. Reid is now in his fourth day of full-on damage control after his 'Negro dialect' comments, but Pelosi is focused on actual policy, trying to get bits and pieces of her House bill inserted into the Senate version of health reform.
Whether this dynamic actually gives Pelosi any real traction in the big debates remains to be seen, but one thing is clear: Reid is weakened both inside the Capitol and back home and Pelosi is heading into health care negotiation with a long wish list for the House.
What the article fails to mention is that the more Pelosi adds stuff from the House bill, the less likely moderate senators will be to support the final product.
So give 'em hell Nancy. Keep trying to play "one up" on the senate. You may be sowing the seeds of your own destruction.
Hat Tip: Ed Lasky
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