Update: Conservative Redstate’s talented blogger Erick Erickson is now picking up the story and whipping up the troops. Early last week Tea Party Support and the Social Security Institute ran an email and fax blast campaign called “I Object” sending out over 1.5 million call-to-action emails to activists across the country. The campaign concerned the subject covered below – how to block ObamaCare in the Senate using the procedural tactic of removing unanimous consent on each and every amendment offered to the Reid healthcare bill. The information generated by Tea Party Support and the Social Security Institute is now being picked up across the internet and on the Hill. Even the big guy himself Rush Limbaugh blasted Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell for a flawed, treacherous, and wobbly strategy, forcing Senate Minority Whip John Kyl and Senator McConnell to provide a lackluster defense of the strategy. The narrative of the Republican sell-out was so compelling that soon after the TPS and SSI push CBS reported that Michael Steele sent a memo to the Senate GOP telling them to pull out all the stops and use every trick in the book to stop ObamaCare. Tea Party Support followed that story up with a press release Rush Limbaugh & Michael Steele Join Tea Party Support & Social Security Institute-Demand GOP Senate Stop ObamaCare by Any Means Possible.

A wise friend pointed out the obvious to me:

I am tired of hearing the GOP say they don’t want to be the party of no, that the party of no will not get them re-elected. In fact, quite the opposite is true. The Tea Parties are the party of no – no socialized healthcare, no cap-and-trade, no fiscal-irresponsibility, no, no, no, no.

And what did this lead to? As Rasmussen reports: Tea Party Tops GOP on Three-Way Generic Ballot. How much more evidence does the GOP need? How dense is the leadership?

Following is the original post:

Democrats reach agreement that includes the public option. Dick Morris is mad, but for all the wrong reasons.

Please note that this bill cannot be allowed to pass in any form and that it is within the power of the GOP in the Senate to ensure that it does not. This idea of watering down the bill is flawed from the start. Give a liberal a scaffolding for an entitlement program and watch it expand over time and drive this country over the edge.

Sorry folks, but the Republicans sold us out on this one. McConnell thinks that by allowing healthcare to pass he will guarantee GOP gains next year. Nothing could be further from the truth and the man has just put the GOP up a creek and threw away the paddle.

The Republicans just rolled over for the Democrats on ObamaCare and put their own self interests and vacation over country.

Thinking that allowing this bill to pass will lead to GOP victory is so myopic that McConnell needs to lose his leadership position. His credibility as a leader of the Senate GOP is shot and anyone who believes he puts country first needs to have their head examined. I doubt the man could pour water out of a boot if the instructions were written on the heel. This could have been stopped by simply removing unanimous consent on each and every amendment. Thanks for bending over and grabbing your ankles for the Democrats.

No, 2010 will find the GOP in a bare knuckles fight with the grassroots. McConnell just killed the GOP. That’s the real story here. The Democrats just gave him enough rope to hang himself and his party with it.

There is no reason for any of this bill to pass. That should have been the objective all along for even a watered down ObamaCare bill provides the scaffolding for a future monstrosity. What the hell is McConnell and the Senate GOP thinking? If they think that voters are stupid and blind to their treachery, they are in for a very rude awakening. Insulting our intelligence and selling us out is not a strategy that is going to get you re-elected. The GOP just screwed us for the last time and McConnell is going to go down in history as one of the biggest strategical half-wits to ever lead the party in the Senate.

This is the hill we will live or die on. This is it folks. For years we have allowed Republicans to act in the name of political expediency instead of taking off the gloves for a bare knuckle fight. For years we have allowed them to use one excuse after another to hide under a rock. For years we have allowed our so-called representatives to put self-interest over country. No more. As this story states the Tea Party is now more popular than the GOP in a national poll. Can you hear us now?

The time to pony up has arrived. If the Republican Party wishes to continue to exist they will start paying attention to their bosses – us. If they allow ObamaCare to pass – and don’t let them fool you or give sorry excuses for it is well within their power to stop it – then 1/6 of the U.S. economy will be under the control of wealth distributionists and socialists. If that happens, it is a fair question to challenge the usefulness of the Republican Party.

It doesn’t take 40 Republicans to succeed in stopping the Reid Bill; it doesn’t take 20; it only takes one Republican to object each time Harry Reid propounds a unanimous consent agreement to rush another amendment through the process.

Fortunately, under Senate rules the Democratic leadership can rush these amendments through only if they get what’s called “unanimous consent.” That means all 100 senators have to agree to rush the amendments through by consenting to a unanimous consent agreement, which severely limits debate and restricts the time available for experts to analyze the amendments. It’s the old bum’s rush.

Even ONE senator objecting would be enough to slow the rush of amendments down and give the American people at least two days of debate on each amendment. Two days is the minimum we should have to analyze amendments and to allow Senators an opportunity to comment on and debate them.

Let me say that again: It takes only one Republican to object each time Harry Reid tries to jam another amendment through the process with limited debate and little public scrutiny. With 40 Republicans in the Senate, that means even if Harry Reid kept the Senate in session 24 hours a day (as Senator Durbin threatened), each Republican Senator would have to spend no more than 36 minutes a day doing floor duty as a sentinel against the Majority Leader jamming another amendment through the Senate process under a rigged unanimous consent agreement. Last week Senator Jim DeMint did just that and waited for Republicans to back him up. When Dick Durbin threatened to keep the Senate in session 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, our so-called leaders in the Republican Party slithered away whimpering like a bunch of cry-babies and left Senator DeMint dangling over a cliff.

Christmas first, country second – a fitting label for a weak and morally corruptible party. Ask your Republican Senator, “Why are you allowing this to be done to our country?”. If ObamaCare passes the Republican Party will face an all out war from within their own ranks the likes of which they have never seen. Tea Parties will turn to state legislatures and nullification movements to take back this country and Republicans will face a wave of primary challenges beyond imagination.

The Republican Senators have been protesting vehemently in the media about how much they oppose ObamaCare and the Reid Health bill, and despite their constant reassurances to grassroots activists that they are doing everything humanly possible to defeat the bill, Republicans in fact are quietly stepping aside and allowing the ObamaCare Express loaded down with the Reid Bill and tons of amendments to barrel through the U.S. Senate so they can go home for Christmas Vacation without delay and not have to work long hours in the meantime. Cowards and swine.

All year we’ve been trying to convince Senators who support government health care to change their minds and Senators on the fence to come out against it. That’s still vitally important. But given the way the Senate works, it is more important right now to make sure Republican Senators who claim to oppose the Reid Bill have the courage and character to use the enormous leverage they possess to prevent the bill from passing this year. Remember, there is no way the Reid Bill can pass the Senate as it is currently written. Therefore, it must be amended to pass. But those amendments will be highly controversial, even among Democrats. That is why it is vitally important that each and every amendment be given close public scrutiny and at least two days debate.

If the Democrats want to play brinksmanship by holding the Senate in session long hours, seven days a week until Christmas Day, so be it. If the Democrats drag Senators back to Washington between Christmas and New Years for marathon sessions, so be it. Giving up Christmas Vacation is the least Republican Senators can do to stop a socialist government takeover of healthcare this year. Our troops in Afghanistan and Iraq don’t get to take time off from combat to celebrate Christmas, and they are putting their lives on the line every hour of every day. No U.S. Senator fit to serve in that august body would even think about shirking his or her duty to defend America against a government takeover of healthcare just so he or she can work bankers’ hours and enjoy college-student vacation time.

Millions of Americans across America don’t even have a job this Holiday Season and they are demanding that Senators do their jobs to protect and defend America against another government takeover.

If one or both of your Senators are opposed to the Reid Bill, contact them and make a very simple request: “Do not help Harry Reid rush any aspect of this outrageous legislation through the Senate by giving him your consent to proceed along the fast track. Use your power to object to any unanimous consent agreement limiting debate and restricting time for deliberation; demand that every amendment be given at least two days debate and public scrutiny so that everyone has time to understand and comment on each one of them.

If ObamaCare is enacted into law this year or next year, it will be the fault of the Republican Senators because they refused to suffer a little bit of personal inconvenience and political risk to defend their country against another government takeover. Make no mistake, all Republican Senators must do to stop ObamaCare this year is object to the Democrats fast-track scheme to jam one amendment after another through the Senate with limited debate and restricted public scrutiny.

Email and call your Republican Senators now. Let them know we are on to their game, that cowardice, self-interest, and treachery will NOT get them re-elected and that following Mitch McConnell off a cliff is the single most insane act of political suicide they could possibly commit. It is free and easy to do.

There is an organization out there ready to pull the plug on backroom deals through the use of a virtual cloakroom and expose the treason of the GOP to the country. It is Tea Party Support. In January, Tea Party Support will be hosting the National Conservative Symposium with Sarah Palin and other soon to be release VIPs. For more information about Tea Party Support, see here.

Tea Party Support is seeking donations from concerned citizens and activists. From the cost of servers, communications technology such as primary rate interfaces (PRIs) and high speed DS3’s, voter-rolls for every state at the precinct level, database programming, the design and staffing of the cloakroom – everything needed to assist TPS in allowing existing grassroots organizations access to the type of value-added services needed to turn the entire grassroots movement into what it is meant to be – the largest lobby and special interest group in the entire country with the largest clientele; the American people. Consider a donation if you are so inclined.

For all the talk around the blogosphere of this or that breaking news I don’t think any of it (the news) matters and, in the end, something will pass unless we all begin to understand how to fight this:

Senate insiders are saying that McConnell is using healthcare as his ace to ensure greater gains for the GOP next year. That is his strategy and it is plain to those who are aware of it. The obfuscation these guys are throwing up to give the appearance of fighting is treacherous. It is going to kill the GOP and lead to less gains next year, not more. McConnell is myopic in his strategical thinking because he is not aware the fig leaf he is used to hiding behind is gone and, as time passes, it will becomes obvious to everyone. If we don’t lean on him now to do the right thing and get the GOP to become the party of no when it comes to healthcare, we will all be jumping off the cliff right behind him, along with 1/6 of our economy.

Related:

Demcare crunch time: Kill the bill and start over

Lieberman Throws Monkey Wrench Into Reid’s Health Care Plans

Did Reid Kill ObamaCare?

Reid Panics

Reid’s Obamcare Compromise Runs Into Stumbling Block

Lieberman: No cloture on Reid package

I would like to bring to your attention an important effort by a Tea Party organization to take a quantum step forward in systematizing grassroots efforts.

Dr. Larry Hunter, former policy advisor to President Ronald Reagan and current President and CEO of the Social Security Institute had this to say about Tea Party Support (TPS): “I know all the people involved, and I do believe this is the cream of the crop. If we have an opportunity to take on MoveOn.org, this is probably our best bet… this one, I believe, is worth exploring.”

Tea Party Support provides a range of services and training to the tea party, 9-12 and other like-minded groups nationwide. Organizational services; management training; secure, encrypted email systems; web, video and professional voice over services are all available to TPS members. Through the slicing and dicing of a database of over 280 million registered voters, very concentrated pressure, fundraising, and information campaigns are possible. Comparing the Social Security Death Index with the database of registered voters will help put an end to one form of voter fraud – that of “ghost” voters. The goal of TPS is not to replace existing grassroots organizations, but rather provide the resources and tools to allow Tea Parties, 9/12, and like-minded groups access to communications and database technology, as well as training and insider information directly from Senate and House Cloakrooms. It is through the work of TPS, Dr. Larry Hunter, and Senate insiders that information concerning how to defeat ObamaCare through strategic voting came to public attention – and this is just the tip of the iceberg.

The operating system, database software, and servers are state of the art and can be found in 911 call centers and airline reservations centers nationwide. TPS utilizes Hewlett-Packards’ Multi-Programming Executive operating system. A quick survey of companies which use this operating system can be found at OpenMPE and reads as a who’s who of industrial and financial giants, including JP Morgan Chase.

One of the key projects of Tea Party Support is the National Conservative Symposium. It will be held in San Antonio, Texas, January 22-24, 2010 at the Hyatt Regency Hill Country Resort. The symposium will bring together conservative grass-roots leaders and community organizers from across America at one of the nation’s premiere resorts for a weekend of intense discussion, education and training. The objective of the Symposium is to inspire and empower conservative activists to take back their political party and to take the country back to constitutional governance and fiscal responsibility by organizing for political action in their local communities and then projecting their voice and actions all the way to Washington, DC.

In breakout sessions and special training seminars, attendees also will hear from a variety of experts and be exposed to the latest techniques and methods of networking and grass-roots organizing, including discussions of the proper way to contact neighbors and discuss issues. Attendees also will have a chance to learn about and get hands-on experience with cutting edge technology, and they will gain access to data-rich information systems heretofore unavailable to local grass-roots organizations. They will also be trained as poll watchers and to volunteer as election officials where possible.

The National Conservative Symposium is the first venture of this type, designed to inform, train and inspire conservatives who share a common belief in the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution and the role our Founding Fathers played in drafting these core documents.

The Symposium will go beyond inspiration and raising expectations. It will provide attendees the tools and strategy for liberty that will enable grass-roots leaders and organizers to launch their organizations on a course to success when they return home.

One of the most important value-added services of TPS is what is being called the Tea Party Cloakroom. The Cloakroom will be a special limited access section of the TPS website for members only. The idea is to provide grassroots leaders and organizers access to real time information on what is going on in the House and Senate, including committee activity, floor activity, upcoming actions on bills and resolutions, amendments and so forth. There will be commentary and analysis to clue people in on what’s happening with a special focus on strategy, namely which members need pressure which then can be translated quickly into grassroots action. The site will educate users on Senate and House strategies to defeat pending legislation that can then be communicated by the leaders to the grassroots as needed. The Cloakroom website will be run by two or more former congressional staffers. They will be housed a block away from the RNC headquarters and will also be able to update the site via an iPhone application from within the House and Senate. The former staffers will be chosen with an eye not only to their ideology but also their knowledge of how the system works and most importantly the relationships they have to get immediate access to what is going on in real time and how it ties in with long term strategic goals.

Tea Party Support will also be starting to score key-votes for particular legislation in the Senate and informing Senators of the definition how each key-vote will be scored by the grassroots.

During recent discussions with conservative groups on the Hill, Dr. Hunter reported that excitement about TPS is palpable and building. This is not an incremental change to the Tea Party Movement, but an order of magnitude value-add to all Tea Parties, 9/12, and like-minded groups.

My search for a group that can provide the type of access, information, and tools to aligned partnerships is over. Each grassroots organization will now have access to both overall strategy to defeat certain legislation as well as real-time updates from inside the cloakrooms where deals are struck behind our backs – and each group can use this information as they see fit. Tea Party Support is just that – a support organization for each grassroots group that wishes to utilize their unique infrastructure and information.

Tea Party Support is seeking donations from concerned citizens and activists. From the cost of servers, communications technology such as primary rate interfaces (PRIs) and high speed DS3′s, voter-rolls for every state at the precinct level, database programming, the design and staffing of the cloakroom – everything needed to assist TPS in allowing existing grassroots organizations access to the type of value-added services needed to turn the entire grassroots movement into what it is meant to be – the largest lobby and special interest group in the entire country with the largest clientele; the American people. It is our turn to have the power at our fingertips. Consider a single donation or a recurring donation (as low as $1/month) and help take this country back.

What else can you do to help? Use the ShareThis button at the bottom of this post to blast this information to the social networks or email it to a friend, or just email the following TinyUrl link to all you friends and family: http://tinyurl.com/yj9dgfp. Our battle will be won or lost based upon our ability to use and gather information, communicate that information, and make use of strategic directives from trusted legislative insiders. Which brings me to my next post coming soon. How we can help Senator Jim DeMint derail ObamaCare by demanding that other Republicans in the Senate stop the backroom deals with Democrats and selling out our country. Stay tuned.

In a way this is a post-mortem on the Tea Party movement concerning the House legislation, although in a peripheral way. If we lose the Senate where the chances are much greater to stop the bill then the information below is just the beginning of a post-mortem. For now, I choose not to go there unless events occur which dictate that I do so. I could say a great deal more, but will reserve additional information until such a point as it becomes critical or pertinent to winning the fight. For now, let’s assume the issue with Tea Party movement is limited to just the information below, although in truth the rabbit hole goes much deeper. This is not to say that all Tea Parties suffer from the maladies both written and unwritten in the paragraphs which follow.

From the Politico via the Social Security Institute.

Like most Americans, members of the House are expected to report promptly — no excuses — when summoned by their bosses for the start of another workweek. One difference: For lawmakers, starting time doesn’t come until about 6:30 Tuesday evening.

After taking control of the House in 2006 — and again when President Barack Obama was elected president in 2008 — Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) boasted that lawmakers would work four or five days a week to bring change to America.

But midway through Obama’s first year in office, Hoyer’s House has settled into a more leisurely routine. Members usually arrive for the first vote of the week as the sun sets on Tuesdays, and they’re usually headed back home before it goes down again on Thursdays.

Since the House returned for its fall session on Sept. 8, it has stuck around to vote on a Friday just once: to approve a 5.8 percent increase in Congress’s own budget.

A Democratic leadership aide vehemently defended the schedule, saying members shouldn’t be kept in Washington for four or five days when work can be completed in fewer.

And with health care reform, climate change legislation and a slew of appropriations bills lined up in the Senate, House Democrats know that a longer workweek in their chamber might do little more than add to the backlog.

Asked about the abbreviated workweeks, Hoyer said Tuesday: “I think you understand why we’re doing it.” He pointed to the appropriations bills stalled in the Senate, but he didn’t cast blame at senators for moving so slowly. “It takes a long time to do it,” he said.

Still wondering what you can do to keep up the pressure on the Senate? Dr. Larry Hunter of the Social Security Institute counsels:

The good news is that Members of Congress are generally at home at least four days a week (Friday through Monday) where constituents can get their hands on them. This secret hidden in the open from constituents is vital for grass-roots organizations opposing ObamaCare to understand. THEY DON’T NEED TO WAIT FOR CONGRESSIONAL RECESSES TO HAVE CONTACT WITH THEIR CONGRESSMEN AND SENATORS. All they’ve got to do is be persistent four days out of seven, insisting that Members of Congress make themselves available to constituents at least one day every week, two when major bills such as healthcare legislation are under consideration. There is no reason Members of Congress cannot hold at least one major meeting with constituents every week when something major is under legislative consideration.

Grass-roots groups have been somewhat uncertain what to do next to combat ObamaCare after the successful August recess demonstrations and town halls and the September 12 Two-Million-Citizen March on Washington. Activists should take note: It is time to track down your Members of Congress at home—they are there at least four days a week—and insist that they hear your voices when you say, “No Public Option,” “No Insurance Mandates,” “No Tax Increases,” “No Medicare Cuts,” “No New Entitlements,” “No jamming ANY health bill down our throats under Reconciliation.” If they say they don’t have time to meet with you, they are dodging you. Track them down; give them no place to hide; insist they do their job at home if they are not going to do it in Washington.

During the August recess and on 9/12 millions of grassroots across the nation pressured lawmakers to the point where one insider reported to me that staffers were ringing their hands in fear. They believed their bosses were going to lose their jobs and therefore, by extension, would they. Shortly after 9/12 the atmosphere was dismissive of the Tea Parties. We have an objective metric and that metric stated the obvious – we lost our momentum and therefore our ability to control the debate. In one Google group for one of the Tea Parties I mentioned this over and over until the blowback convinced me I was wasting my time. Thankfully, Rep. Michelle Bachmann made the point during a Fox News interview, which prompted my response to the group:

…As you listen to her, please recall the numerous times the strategy memo was mentioned and the need for sustained pressure in a cohesive and coordinated way as opposed to local ad hoc pressure. Listen for the key phrases which are direct indicators that it was the lack of coordinated sustained pressure that has put us in this reactive mode as opposed to being proactive during the last two months…

…If we pull this off this week – and even if we don’t – there is still that final vote. If ever doubters wanted a smoking gun that the grass-roots vacation since August has put us behind the eight ball and greased the skids for ObamaCare, here it is – right out of the mouth of a Michelle Bachmann herself. Rep. Bachmann is polite but very telling in her delivery of that message. She also realizes that she must help recreate the pressure with the help of the grassroots, but it will be up to us to keep it going.

After this week – its sustained pressure time – unrelenting. As Ms. Bachmann says – “since the members of congress have been back here for two months they kind of have forgot that message” which she refers to in the previous sentence as the messages that came out in August at the Town Halls and Tea Parties. We cannot let them forget again. After the campaign this week, if we go back to business as usual, then so will the Congress. I hope this motivates us to do the right thing. This is not the first source inside the Halls of Congress to have stated this, but it is the first time I have seen it stated publicly. This is one concerned
politician’s way to telling us what needs to be done. This is somebody that knows what it is going to take. I applaud her.

Another contact with inside connections just emailed me:

This can still be stopped if the grassroots does it right. It is our game to lose.

Ours to lose.

When is comes to a winning strategy to pressure Senators to act a certain way it helps to think of it like pain. If you have pain for only half an hour you won’t be thinking about six hours later. If the pain is unrelenting, you are going to pay it a great deal of attention and possibly make an appointment with your doctor. In short, you will probably do something about it instead of ignore it.

The news from Senate insiders (Senators and their staff) concerning the 9/12 movement is now one of disappointment and a feeling of helplessness about three weeks after 9/12. I am not talking about the effect of 9/12, but rather the lack of effect just a few short weeks after 9/12.

The general feeling in the Senate was dismissive of the movement. This is real intelligence and very solid.

We saw what happened in the House. Now it’s the Senate’s turn. If you are part of a Tea Party, I hope the above information convinces you the current approach just is not working. We must re-create the tension of the August recess.

Local media is your friend – they are dying for some actual news – something that will draw viewers and is controversial. In each town in your state, challenge your Senator to a town hall through media outlets. You don’t have to wait for a recess to pressure your Senator. Look at the strategy memo from above and see if you Senator is listed. Call them, fax them, challenge them to hold town halls and, if you happen upon some intelligence on where they will be when in town – show up.

In other news and opinion:

Because Paul Krugman cares so much about the Republican Party

Health care takeover roll call vote — and what GOP Rep. Joseph Cao got from Obama; Plus: Organizing for America hustles more money

How To Divide a Party, In Three Easy Steps!.

Which would tie in well with how to divide a grassroots movement. Here is an historical perspective which is used only as an example of how not to run a war – and this is war. That is all I will say for now: The Southern Revolution And Confederate Leadership: A Recipe For Failure.. Bookmark this page and read the post. I may be referencing it heavily in the future

$25 billion “stimulus” program produces 0 jobs

ObamaCare: Dithering while the economy burns

Democrats Sold Their Party’s Reproductive Soul

McClintock, R-CA: Healthcare mandates “brazenly unconstitutional”

Update: Why this is reaching a critical moment: Howard Dean, DFA, Launch Campaign Encouraging 51-Vote Health Care Bill. If we ignore the following, we do so at our country’s peril. This strategy will work.

Keep the following in mind as you read this post: FORCE THE DEMOCRATS TO DEFEND IGNORING A RULE THEY AGREED TO. THEY HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO GROUND TO STAND ON. You will see this again below.

In this post, I argue how the coup de grace is nigh for ObamaCare. I also point to this post that details Senator Jim DeMint’s amendments how they can be used to kill reconciliation. From the second post:

During deliberations on the Senate Budget Resolution earlier this year, Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) introduced a point-of-order amendment that would require a 60-vote majority to pass “any bill, joint resolution, amendment, motion, or conference report that eliminates the ability of Americans to keep their health plan or their choice of doctor (as determined by the Congressional Budget Office).” The Senate approved the DeMint Amendment unanimously.

Subsequently, before the Senate Budget Resolution went to a Conference Committee where differences with the House Budget Resolution were to be worked out, DeMint offered a motion to instruct the Conferees not only to insist on retaining the 60-vote provision in the final Conference Report but also to widen the scope of the provision to cover any provision and so forth that decreases the number of Americans enrolled in private health insurance while increasing the number enrolled in government-managed, rationed health care. The Demint motion to instruct passed the Senate by an overwhelming vote of 79 to 14.

As a matter of congressional comity, the House ordinarily would have been expected to accede to the Senate provision since it affected Senate rules that applied only to the Senate. Remarkably, Senate Budget Committee Chairman, Kent Conrad, allowed the Demint 60-vote requirement to be removed from the Budget Resolution in Conference.

One comment on first post linked above comes from jfxgillis:

G.J.:

To take them in reverse order, the motion to instruct simply isn’t operative anymore. The instruction was not in the Budget Conference Report but it passed anyway.

The other amendment appears to rely on a CBO finding that hasn’t happened yet on a bill that hasn’t had a floor vote yet.

The amendments only passed in the first place because they don’t matter.

Once again it is up to the grassroots to get involved and put serious pressure on the Senate concerning these amendments and make known our expectation that these amendments be adhered to because of the promise by unanimous vote in one case and a vote of 79-14 in the second. If we shame enough Democrats the possibility increases that votes will be lacking in the Senate even for Reconciliation. It is up to the us to pressure Republicans to make this an issue. Republicans, as we all know too well, are prone to rolling over and need prodding on a regular basis. To borrow a Texas phrase, it’s like herding cattle.

The amendments passed. Therefore, if the Senators wish to be seen as men and women of character, they should follow the rules they set out for themselves. No more rules for thee (you and me) but not for me (the elitist politicians). No more spineless non-responses and no more pompous attitudes. If the 9/12 DC march taught Republicans and Democrats anything, it is the grassroots is real, we are big, and we will vote.

The Senate insiders have tried all along to dismiss the DeMint provisions on technical grounds by ignoring the facts that got us to the current situation. The grassroots must be ruthless and relentless in pushing the Republicans to do the right thing. It is all about constructing the right narrative. If we start listening to excuses from insiders, our movement will be hijacked by the establishment (beltway insiders, including politicians of both parties), which is exactly what they will try to do. But hijacking the movement is less about elbowing for who gets credit than about herding us so we don’t rock the boat and make life uncomfortable for them. What they fail to realize is they are the cattle and we are the cowboys. We herd them, not the other way around.

First, by any stretch of the imagination any bill currently under consideration by the Senate satisfies the conditions set down in the original DeMint Amendment that passed by unanimous consent. I would love to debate anyone arguing otherwise.

We can argue all day whether or not CBO would rule otherwise but that gives up the fight before it even begins. The CBO doesn’t have to rule on anything since the provision has been stripped. I suspect my detractors response above has been talking to a Republican insider or is getting his information from one second or third hand.

Of course CBO hasn’t yet ruled whether or not a bill satisfies the DeMint conditions, because it is not law yet. But the pertinent point is that the DeMint Amendment is not law precisely because it was dropped unceremoniously in conference contrary to the will of the Senate as evidenced by a huge bipartisan majority (79 votes). How did that happen? The Senate Budget Committee Chairman who voted for the measure twice on the floor of the Senate and was under instructions from his Senate colleagues to insist on the Senate provision in conference turned his head.

The reader may be asking why Senator DeMint is not pushing this issue hard – after all they are his amendments. The answer is obvious – he knows his cowardly Republican colleagues won’t stand up and fight and he doesn’t think the grass roots can be mobilized by this kind of procedural argument, which seems to be confirmed by my detractor above. If we allow ourselves to get intimidated by the technical details and try to explain and discuss them so we pass the test as Senate parliamentarians, we will lose the American public. The parliamentarian test is another favorite technique used to keep strategy control firmly within the hands of the insiders. That is why we have to construct the narrative and control it from the outside rather than allowing the insiders to set the terms of the debate.

Republicans always allow themselves to be cowed. They know that as politicians they are a dreadful lot, their political skills leaving much to be desired. They reveal this inferiority complex by this kind of timid, overly cautious behavior. Well, sometimes cattle need prodding. We need to take up the issue and insist on it. We must put ourselves in the drivers seats. The Senate Republicans are our passengers, our guests, and it is we who must take them along for a ride – not the other way around. Then let the Democrats stand on technicalities after placed on the defensive. The American public will see right through them.

This is a very simple story. The Senate made a rule and then broke other rules in the dead of night to throw it in the garbage. This is the same way these jokers have destroyed the Constitution. The Senate passed a rule committing itself not to consider under Reconciliation any healthcare reform bill that satisfied certain conditions. It left it to CBO to determine whether the bill would satisfy those conditions but it is self evident that any bill currently under consideration does satisfy them. The Senate then instructed its conferees to insist on retaining that amendment in conference. The Senate Budget Committee Chairman betrayed his colleagues and acted contrary to their instructions. We know for a fact that it was he because the House conferees had no political purchase on the provision. It could only be stripped out with Conrad’s acquiescence.

Now someone wants to turn around and argue that the DeMint amendment doesn’t apply because it is no longer in the Budget Resolution and, oh by the way even if it were still in the Budget Resolution it wouldn’t make any difference anyway because CBO would not certify any current bill under consideration as satisfying the conditions established by the amendment. Of course the DeMint amendment doesn’t apply, but they had to cheat to strip it so that it wouldn’t apply — we should not allow ourselves to be conned into defending status quo rules when other rules and long tradition of the Senate had to be broken to get us to this status quo – this is so Republican. Instead, we should be arguing that the Senate should abide by the rule it adopted for itself anyway because it should still be in the resolution and would be in the resolution if the Democrats hadn’t played games and the Republicans hadn’t slept through them.

As for CBO, we must simply assert that the only way CBO could possibly not certify a bill as satisfying the conditions of the amendment is if they were being manipulated by the Democrats.

The Republicans have the rules and the politics on their side, and they have simply been unwilling to pick up the ball and run with it just as they were unwilling to fight ObamaCare and RHINOCare until we made it impossible for them not to. We have to stick the ball in their hands and push them out front so either they run with it or get crushed. We have to re-focus the debate on fairness, abiding by the rules. Oddly enough, Robert C. Byrd provides us the best arguments for not passing healthcare reform under Reconciliation. Just ask yourself this: If the situation were reversed, would the Democrats be wringing their hands and being so fastidious? One guess, and my bet is you will get it right. Why, because if you are reading this chances are you are smarter than most politicians. I know you, not personally, but I have met hundreds like you and color me impressed. For any mindless ObamaBots who are reading this, the answer is – of course not.

The establishment knows how to play the game and that is why they take us to the cleaners on a regular basis – in the past. Now its our turn. Spin cycle anyone?

It’s up to us, the grassroots. We can’t go all wobbly on America now.

The argument that the Senate would have rejected the entire conference report if it really wanted the amendment in is weak. First, it all happened so fast I am sure only a couple of Democrats realized it was gone. The Republicans voted against the Resolution anyway. This was a set up and we are falling into the trap they set. Finally, we have to make it clear that this was not a provision in dispute between the House and Senate, which would have given the “it-passed-anyway-without-it” argument more saliency; this was a provision the House didn’t care about and the Senate was on record by huge bipartisan majorities in favor of twice.

The American people will want to know why was it stripped to begin with? More importantly, why wouldn’t the Senate abide by its own rule? The House has no say in it. FORCE THE DEMOCRATS TO DEFEND IGNORING A RULE THEY AGREED TO. THEY HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO GROUND TO STAND ON.

So how do you put the pressure on Republicans to make this an issue and subsequently push enough Democrats away from Reconciliation because the political stakes are too high? Copy this link (http://tinyurl.com/m6ywb7) and sent it out to everyone you know. Send it to the Tea Parties, make it viral, and continue to take back this country. Or feel free to use this material as you wish. Copy it, paste it, put it on your own blog. A good friend once told me of a quote by President Ronald Reagan.

There is no limit to what you can accomplish if you don’t care who gets the credit.

Amen. I am not looking for recognition, instead I am looking for the day to arrive when I turn on my computer, go to my favorite blog or internet news site and read: Healthcare Reform Dies.

Can you imagine? This is a group effort, it is a grassroots effort. None of this would be possible without millions of disillusioned citizens taking their grievances to the government, or putting in their time going to rally’s, protests, marches, writing on blogs, and organizing local tea party chapters. This is truly an amazing time in the history of this country.

We did it on 9/12, we can do it again.

Kill ObamaCare. Hit the reset switch. Then we can do it right. Simple free-market solutions exist which can drive down costs without liberty destroying legislation that favors big government and/or big business and without the budget busting price tag attached to all these proposals. I live in Texas and the benefits of tort reform by itself are quantifiable and beneficial to both patients and doctors.

Update: Reader SteveL in the comments asks the question why only a few are taking up this issue? The answer lies in the post above – it is how the establishment has gamed the system. I reply that I have contacted major bloggers on the issue and have yet to hear back from them. Nobody is interested. However, should ObamaCare pass and later analysis indicates the above approach would have killed it, then at least I was on the right side of history. I have contacted some Tea Party groups, including the national chapter. It has only been a couple of days for the later, so I am still holding out hope.

In other news and opinion:

Does Anybody Actually Like the Baucus Health Care Bill?

Doctors Threaten to Go Galt if ObamaCare Passes

ACORN’s Comprehensive Ho-migration Reform

The Useful Idiots Are After Rush Limbaugh Now

President Obama: Back to Square One on Health Care

ObamaCare: Who loves the Baucus bill?

Coward-in-Chief

Gallup: Obama under 50% on Afghanistan, economy, health care, deficit

Obama’s solution on illegals and health care? Amnesty; Update: Video added

Rasmussen: ObamaCare hits highest disapproval rate yet

A few more myths from the White House

Dr. Lawrence Hunter of the Social Security Institute has a ringside seat of what is really happening in the ObamaCare negotiations and it is not anything like any of us would expect.

Serious pressure is building and the momentum is on our side. However, without the knowledge of what is actually happening behind the scenes, the grave we are digging for ObamaCare could actually become our own graves. Our collective effort could all be for naught if we allow the construction of any scaffolding for a public option. Liberals are very patient about realizing their agenda. They will build upon any infrastructure that allows for a Trojan Horse to a single payer system. And Republicans are often the unwitting contributors of legislation that is not in our best interests. More damage is done in the name of bi-partisanship and those Republicans with a proclivity to reach across the aisle need to be reigned in. We are so close and now is not the time to go wobbly.

The word from Dr. Hunter: Don’t get all excited about Obama dropping the public option. It is a head fake. Republicans should stop all negotiations with the Democrats, kill any ObamaCare bill and start over. And don’t thing that big pharma and the big insurance are our friends in this battle. The real behind the scenes maneuvering is a hodgepodge of nefarious backroom deals. I have talked with Lawrence Hunter and communicated with him via email for about two weeks now. My understanding of the real inner workings of the beltway have increased an order of magnitude and many of my previous beliefs exposed as nothing less than naivety. Prepare to be educated, entertained, and re-invigorated at the same time. Our energy needs to be directed now towards Congress, where the message must be clear – kill this bill. No co-ops, no bill written by big insurance companies or big pharma, no nothing. Hit reset, start over, and create a bill for the American people that keeps the government out of our business, allows for competition in the private sector, stops the creation of large insurance cartels and allows smaller insurance companies to thrive and compete. In short, a bill for the people, not the government, not big pharma, and not big insurance. Time for the lobbyists to go home, for we are the biggest lobby of all and we are awake. Let us be clear on this. Any Republican who wishes to usurp our will and allow ObamaCare to pass with the public option, a Trojan Horse public option, a large influence by big pharma, or big insurance will face political extinction. As all of the current bills fit this description, the sane choice is to stop and start over.

For an eye-opening view of what is really going on read Obama Jettisons Public Option Right on Cue and Phase Change in Healthcare Negotiations. Dr. Hunter’s bio can also be found on this site. He served as President Ronald Reagan’s policy adviser and has a long and distinguished career.

Dr. Hunter described the current landscape to me very well. To paraphrase Dr. Hunter:

There is a fundamental fissure that divides our camp. On one side stand those who believe some healthcare bill will pass this year. On the other side of the divide stand those who believe it is possible to checkmate the Obama Administration and prevent any bill from passing this year. The outcome of the healthcare-reform struggle will be determined by which view governs our strategy and activities from here on out.

This game is ours to lose, and there is nothing President Obama or his congressional Democrats can do on their own to win it if we don’t make a mistake. Any deviation from the strategy to “Kill Bill” is a mistake. To take a sport’s analogy, the fastest way to lose this game is to start thinking about the next game. If we are thinking and talking policy, we are thinking about the next game because there is no way a sufficient amount of good policy can make its way into a bill this year to make it acceptable. Hence “Kill Bill”, period.

We are now entering the End Game, and no matter how brilliant our Opening Game and Middle Game were – and they were brilliant – we will throw it all away if we fail to make the transition in our play. You can’t win at golf if you can’t putt; you can’t win at basketball if you can’t hit free throws; you can’t win at chess if you can’t play the end game; and you can’t win at politics if you can’t be ruthless in playing the political end game. That is why Democrats repeatedly beat us – we play policy when we should be playing politics while they play politics from beginning to end.

All politics and no policy makes a political party corrupt and degenerate but all policy and no politics makes a political party just plain dense. The little ditty about the Democrats being the evil party and the Republicans being the party of dim bulbs didn’t arise out of thin air.

If we assume some bill will pass, we can pretty well bet that prophecy will become self-fulfilling and some bill will pass.

If we have confidence we can stop all comers, we stand a very good chance of succeeding. But we will only stop all comers if we lay policy aside and do whatever is necessary to defeat the bill, which means all of our energy and resources must be concentrated on preventing a single Republican from defecting.

The debate is entering the stage (the Obama counter-offensive stage) in which any continued discussion of policy (what we should do or what we would accept) is counterproductive to defeating a bill. Look, I know that many of us in this struggle are policy wonks and medical professionals with very strong views about what should be done and about how negligent the Republican Party was for not doing them when they were in power.

But politics has a flow and a rhythm to it—it moves in seasonal cycles. As difficult as it may be for we policy wonks and medical professionals to accept, the season for substance and policy has ended and will not return until after the healthcare reform debate is put on the shelf, which means until after we defeat any and all comers during this Congress. If we try to exploit Obama’s weakness now by trying to craft a bill he will accept that we can live with, we not only will strengthen and empower him, we almost certainly will create a monster that will get out of control in very short order.

Continuing to focus on substance (other than to criticize the substance of the Obama/Dem bills) will divide and divert us, and it will allow Republicans such as Olympia Snowe to avoid her responsibility to ensure good policy for the American people by doing whatever is necessary to defeat a bill.

You can see what I mean coming through clearly in this Washington Post article: The Divisions in the White House Over Health-Care Reform

Snowe is scared to be the sole Republican supporting this bill, not to mention the Republican who ensures the passage of this bill. The reprisals within her caucus could be tremendous. If Snowe drops off the bill, using the budget reconciliation process will probably be a necessity.

As long as we continue talking about alternatives and options, we encourage her to continue negotiating whether that is our intent or not. And, rather than fearing Reconciliation, we should relish forcing the Dems into that corner because if they go down that path we can checkmate them.

We must agree among ourselves that our strategy is to “Kill Bill”, any bill, every bill, a big bill, a little bill, kill them all. If we can’t pledge that to each other, we don’t have the right stuff to win.

Also read the following posts from Dr. Hunter:

Trojan Rhino Smuggles In ObamaCare As “Bipartisan Compromise”

Senator Bob Bennett should stop negotiating. This post contains the two Jim Demint Amendments I have written about extensively after hearing about them from Lewis K. Uhler and Dr. Hunter. In a nutshell, these two amendments would make it impossible to pass ObamaCare under reconciliation, something even Robert Byrd is on the record as opposing. One amendment was voted on unanimously and the other by a wide margin of 79-14. Remarkably, Senate Budget Committee Chairman, Kent Conrad, allowed the DeMint 60-vote requirement to be removed from the Budget Resolution in Conference. Also included are links to the amendments and the roll call for the second amendment that passed by 79-14.

Also of interest is this story from The Hill:

GOP readies wave of objections to stall healthcare bill in Senate

Sen. Judd Gregg has hundreds of procedural objections ready for a healthcare plan Democrats want to speed through the Senate.

Gregg (N.H.), the senior Republican on the Budget Committee, told The Hill in a recent interview that Republicans will wage a vicious fight if Democrats try to circumvent Senate rules and use a budget maneuver to pass a trillion-dollar healthcare plan with a simple majority.

Our strategy is now clear and it becomes increasing apparent to me that not only can we stop reconciliation, but ObamaCare itself. Keep up the pressure on Congress, especially your Senators. Let them know you are aware of the Demint amendments and demand the Senate follow its own rules. As Americans, there are all sorts of rules that we must follow. And as Americans we are sick and tired of a privileged group that lives by the motto “Rules for thee, but not for me”. Enough is enough.

In other news and opinion:

Another Snowe Job

White House Floating “Snowe” Trigger

ObamaCare: Public option + trigger = exit strategy?

“I believe Jesus would vote yes for a public option”

Video: Rep. Pete Stark tells interviewer, “Get the f**k out of here or I’ll throw you out the window”

CNN poll: Majority now oppose ObamaCare

Did Rangel pay off Ethics Committee members?

Video: Van Jones and “revolution”

Obama planning Sister Souljah moment over public option

Another Reason Government-Sponsored Health Care Is Destined to Fail

MoveOn.org Thug Bites Off Protester’s Finger At Obamacare Rally!

Yes We Cannibal

The Holdren & Letterman lovefest

Wrong Turns: How Obama’s Health-Care Push Went Astray.

POLITICS: When Does School Start? The President Doesn’t Know

Turbo Tax Tim tucks tail

The NHS “death pathway”. Chilling.

A Truther Czar?… Obama’s Green Czar Van Jones Believes Bush Government was Behind 9-11

This Wouldn’t Be Happening If Obama Were President

Hands off my health care. Teeth off my hands.

Is There Any More Point to Talking About Health Care?

Operation “Hall Pass on That”

Update: The Nightmare That Is The Senate Finance Committee Healthcare Proposal – RINOCare Gone Wild. Are you ready for governement controlled health insurance cartels? Socialized healthcare vs. fascist healthcare, the dangerous bi-partisan compromise.

The endgame is here and the most important aspect that could kill the above linked post concerning the Senate Finance Committee healthcare bill and any other form of ObamaCare is being ignored by not only the media, but major bloggers everywhere. The only other reference I can find other than on the Social Security Institute website (see link below) is from FreedomWorks. Given that these two amendments kill any chance of reconciliation, I am at a loss to explain the complete lack of interest in this topic.

There were two amendments offered by Senator DeMint prior to the health bill conferences and debate in the Senate – a point-of-order amendment and instruction to conferees. The following is taken directly from an email Mr. Uhler received from Dr. Lawrence Hunter of the Social Security Institute that was forwarded to me and placed in the first link above. Dr. Hunter also has a very long and distinguished career and served as policy advisor to President Ronald Reagan during Reagan’s second term. He also served as a Member of the Board of Advisors for the NTLC:

During deliberations on the Senate Budget Resolution earlier this year, Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) introduced a point-of-order amendment that would require a 60-vote majority to pass “any bill, joint resolution, amendment, motion, or conference report that eliminates the ability of Americans to keep their health plan or their choice of doctor (as determined by the Congressional Budget Office).” The Senate approved the DeMint Amendment unanimously.

Subsequently, before the Senate Budget Resolution went to a Conference Committee where differences with the House Budget Resolution were to be worked out, DeMint offered a motion to instruct the Conferees not only to insist on retaining the 60-vote provision in the final Conference Report but also to widen the scope of the provision to cover any provision and so forth that decreases the number of Americans enrolled in private health insurance while increasing the number enrolled in government-managed, rationed health care. The Demint motion to instruct passed the Senate by an overwhelming vote of 79 to 14.

As a matter of congressional comity, the House ordinarily would have been expected to accede to the Senate provision since it affected Senate rules that applied only to the Senate. Remarkably, Senate Budget Committee Chairman, Kent Conrad, allowed the Demint 60-vote requirement to be removed from the Budget Resolution in Conference.

Prior to the above statements by Dr. Hunter is information of great importance:

However, with a united Republican front in the Senate, Democrats would be hard pressed to jam a bill as comprehensive and detested as ObamaCare down Americans’ throats. Current polls indicate that more people oppose ObamaCare than support it. Moreover, Senate Republicans stand on very strong procedural grounds for resisting a bum’s rush on government-run healthcare through the Reconciliation process. It would take an act of extraordinary arrogance and recklessness for the Democratic Leadership to use Reconciliation this way.

If agreed upon to be enforced, the Demint amendments would in effect kill the reconciliation process and force 60 votes to pass ObamaCare in its present form – even with the co-operative option, which is nothing more than a Trojan horse for what ultimately will become a single-payer system. Mr. Uhler has identified five Republican Senators that need to align themselves with the party and forgo their proclivity to reach across the aisle. If this story goes national and pressure is brought to bear on these five Republican’s to stand firm with their party, then it is reasonable to assume the above conclusion from Dr. Hunter to be correct. Under these circumstances I do not believe the Democrats in the Senate would have the votes to commit “an act of extraordinary arrogance and recklessness”. However, wide public knowledge of the amendments and the subsequent pressure on Senators to follow their own rules requires national exposure. The average American is completely unaware of the procedural hurdles that Senator Jim Demint placed to block the ramming of a very unpopular plan onto the American people.

One could reasonably ask themselves why the public must follow rules, where the Senate can choose to ignore them. It will focus attention on the contempt that some Senate elitists have for the public. However, to date no major conservative talk show, media outlet, or think tank has covered this tactic. Everyone is talking about Blue Dogs killing the legislation. While certainly one strategy to pursue, I personally believe Blue Dogs have a habit of growling but, at the end of the day, many of them will roll over. I prefer a multi-pronged strategy that would include the above approach outlined by Dr. Hunter. On the legislative front, what is called for is combining public pressure on the Blue Dogs in the House and placing pressure on five Senate Republican’s to stand firm with their party and not negotiate ObamaCare Lite with the cooperative option replacing nationalized health care. Instead the public should insist the Demint rules be followed. This could very well kill the bill as it exists today. We could then press the reset button and start talking about real reform.

Using Reconciliation to force feed ObamaCare to an unwilling nation would backfire in ways that Democrats will find difficult to imagine. That is the type of atmosphere some liberals, such as Chuck Schumer are willing to create now and for the foreseeable future.

Here is the link to the story on the Social Security Institute article from Dr. Hunter:

In other news and opinion:

As the Byrd Rule Flies: Why Dems Can’t Use Reconciliation to Pass Radical ObamaCare

Co-ops a federal-subsidy trough

From Moe Lane at Redstate: Howard Dean threatens primary challenges on public option ‘no’ votes.

Is ObamaCare Constitutional?

Blue Dog: Hey, maybe we should start over on ObamaCare. Won’t happen, but this can be killed in the Senate. I am still astounded nobody has picked up on this yet.

ObamaCare: Does the media matter?