On Tuesday's Situation Room, CNN's Jack Cafferty returned to targeting
Nancy Pelosi, this time for endorsing the controversial "Slaughter
Solution" to passing ObamaCare through the House of Representatives
without a vote. Cafferty labeled the proposal "beyond sleazy,"
and later flatly remarked, "This reeks!" The commentator even gave some
rare kudos to House Republicans [audio clips from the segment available here [1]].
Cafferty devoted his 5 pm
Eastern hour commentary to Pelosi's support for the "deem and pass"
procedural maneuver that Democratic Representative Louise Slaughter
submitted as a possible way of getting the Senate version of health care
"reform" passed through the House. He wasted little time in expressing
his amazement at the move: "Just when you think you've seen it all in
Washington, along comes something like this. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
may try to pass the controversial health care reform bill without making
members vote on it- simply unbelievable."
Later, after using his "beyond sleazy" label, Cafferty ripped into the
House Speaker and her Democratic colleagues, and commended their
Republican opponents for speaking out against the so-called Slaughter
Solution: "Pelosi says of this process- quote, 'I like it, because
people don't have to vote on the Senate bill,' unquote. In Nancy
Pelosi's world, accountability is a dirty word....This tactic has
been used in the past, but never- never for something as big and
important as the $900 billion health care reform bill- never. Republicans
are jumping all over this, rightfully so. They're painting it as a
way for Democrats to avoid taking responsibility, which is exactly what
it is. Some even suggest it's unconstitutional."
Near the end of
the segment, anchor Wolf Blitzer remarked, "We're earning a lot about
reconciliation, about 'deeming' bills passed into law. We're getting a
little civics lesson out there, aren't we, Jack?" The CNN commentator
replied, "We're learning a lot more about lack of political guts." When
Blitzer retorted that "that's been around for a while," Cafferty bluntly
replied, "Not quite in this obnoxious form or noxious form. This
reeks!"
The CNN personality bashed Pelosi earlier in March [2] for her handling of
the ethics investigation into Rep. Charlie Rangel. Earlier in 2010,
Cafferty devoted three other commentaries to criticizing the House
Speaker. On January 6, he singled out Pelosi [3] while criticizing Democrats in
general over their lack of transparency on the health care "reform"
issue. A week later, the commentator twice labeled the California
Democrat a "horrible woman [4]." At the end of that month, Cafferty
blasted Pelosi's failure to account for her spending on a trip overseas
to the UN's climate summit: "Her arrogance on this subject: breathtaking [5]."
The
full transcript of Jack Cafferty's segment, which began 14 minutes into
the 5 pm Eastern hour of Tuesday's Situation Room:
CAFFERTY: Just when you think you've seen it all in Washington, along comes something like this. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi may try to pass the controversial health care reform bill without making members vote on it- simply unbelievable. Pelosi says she might use a procedural tactic where the House will vote on the package of fixes to the Senate bill, and then that vote would signify that lawmakers- quote, 'deem' the health care bill to be passed.
Politically speaking, this is beyond sleazy. It's meant to protect House Democrats, who are all running for reelection in November, from having to make a tough vote up or down on health care reform. Pelosi says of this process- quote, 'I like it, because people don't have to vote on the Senate bill,' unquote. In Nancy Pelosi's world, accountability is a dirty word. The Senate bill, of course, contains many provisions that are unpopular among some House Democrats, including language on abortion funding and taxes on high-cost so-called Cadillac insurance plans.
This tactic has been used in the past, but never- never for something as big and important as the $900 billion health care reform bill- never. Republicans are jumping all over this, rightfully so. They're painting it as a way for Democrats to avoid taking responsibility, which is exactly what it is. Some even suggest it's unconstitutional.
Meanwhile, President Obama's campaigning relentlessly, calling on lawmakers to pass health care reform- quote, 'I want some courage. I want us to do the right thing,' unquote. Well, the irony here is if Nancy Pelosi gets her way, it won't take much courage at all on the part of our so-called representatives, will it?
Here's the question: should Nancy Pelosi be allowed to push health care reform through the House without a vote? Go to CNN.com/CaffertyFile, post a comment on my blog. Wolf?
WOLF BLITZER (off-camera): We're earning a lot about reconciliation, about 'deeming' bills passed into law. We're getting a little civics lesson out there, aren't we, Jack?
CAFFERTY: We're learning a lot more about lack of political guts.
BLITZER: Yeah, but you and I know that's been around for a while, right?
CAFFERTY: Not quite in this obnoxious form or noxious form. This reeks!
BLITZER: Jack Cafferty- telling it the way it is. Jack, thank you.
-Matthew
Balan is a news analyst at the Media Research Center. You can follow
him on Twitter here [6].