One thing is sure: To proceed in this way creates an unnecessary risk that the legislation will be invalidated for violation of Article I, Section 7. Will wavering House members want to use this procedure when there is a nontrivial probability that the courts will render their political sacrifice wasted effort? To hazard that risk, the House leadership must have a powerful motive to avoid a straightforward vote.If passage of this bill is dependent on a dubious constitutionality [a reality borne out by fact that even left leaning academics have noticed the dark constitutional clouds hanging over it] then why risk it? Where's the logic to this? I take it McConnell is suggesting the bill is so flawed that even though democrats control congress the only way to get it passed is through less than honest means - I guess the logic being that Obama has invested so much in this nonsense that to not pass something now would drive his administration into lame duck status with three years still remaining in his term ergo, if his presidency is toast anyway, might as well fulfill, even if only partially, one long cherished liberal dream, the thinking being that once in place you'll never get rid of it and therefore it amounts to a crucial first step in the long march towards socialized medicine and the consequent decline [or transcendence as liberals would have it] of America into a passive, European styled tax heavy social welfare ladened bureaucracy. Or something like that.
If true it suggests that Washington is an even bigger mess than one was already quite willing to believe and that democrats are not only benighted ideologues, they're incompetent benighted ideologues - a characterization that can really work against you if you happen to be up for re-election. No doubt though they're sustained by the conviction, like all zealots and true believers, that they're on the right side of history and their efforts and sacrifices will eventually be deemed glorious. I'm sure Trotsky was thinking similar thoughts just before Stalin's axe came crashing through his brain.
[update: democrats abandon controversial 'deem and pass' tactic. So much for that. They just come to their senses? Classic bait and switch trickery? Or they feel they now have the votes so tricks are not necessary? And if that's the case, what happened to change things - in other words, whose been promised what?