Health Care Endgame

The process by which the Dems hope to pass their bill has become more fascinating than the substance of their bill itself. Five things to ponder:

1) nobody knows what's inside it yet. The Democrat leadership will unveil it later today or this week. They promise it will be made public 72 hours before folks can vote on it. Now just stop for just a minute and ponder the significance of this.

- A major piece of legislation, under discussion for over a year.

- A "reconciliation" of bills that have already passed both houses of Congress.

- Possibility of major innovations being put into it that were not in the original bills that passed.

Has there ever been a legislative process like this before?

2) What's up with that "reconciliation" buisness anyhow? Remember at that Health Care Summitt, where the Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid declared that no one is talking of reconciliation?

3) This voting to "deem" to pass instead of just voting for a bill: did you ever hear of such a thing? I must admit that this came as a complete surprise to me. Is there any precident for this?

4) Under the circumstances, the word "pass" takes on a whole new meaning. The Democrats may declare the bill passed. The President may sign the bill. The MSM may tout the bill as having passed and signed. But will it have actually been passed? Will it actually be enacted into law?

5) If the Democrats can pull this off, then why cannot this same kind of process be used by the Republicans in some future time when they're in the majority to pass conservative legislation?