Today is the much-hyped political circus. I can’t help but think this going to be like a big Hollywood movie. Some special effects, dramatic pauses and feel-good platitudes but at the end of the day the same old scene that gets played over and over again.

Susan B. Anthony List announced that Congressman Marsha Blackburn will be one of the Republicans at the summit. Blackburn is a tough, fiscal and social conservative. It also helps to have a woman articulating pro-life views. Plus she’s from Tennessee. Not that important of a factor, but she’s part of the delegation from my state.

Independent Women’s Forum raises some good points. Let’s scrap this bureaucratic monstrosity and find real answers that actually lower costs, such as tort reform and portability. The only problem is that those two issues directly hurt special interests that are long-time Democratic supporters. Thus, President Obama is at a crossroads. He can pass actual health care reform that will save money and make the market more affordable for all Americans. Or he can grow an increasingly bloated government with money that we don’t have and lower the quality of healthcare for all Americans. Option A actually helps people, while Option B protects his special interests. Sadly, I’m fairly certain that Obama will go with Option B, particularly since unions have been given special consideration.

But can he actually pass something? Can the anointed one, who entered his presidency with approval ratings in the high 70s and majorities in both houses, actually pass some type of major legislation before the mid-term elections? It’s not looking so good for the Dems. I hope that my Democratic friends on the Hill are job hunting.

Hot Air and Daily Caller question if Pelosi has the votes. House numbers have changed since the December vote while outrage over healthcare has only increased. February to November is a much shorter time period to remember a vote than December to November. House Democrats need this vote over and forgotten, and the American people are clearly tired of this debate. A CBS survey reports that 53% of Americans don’t believe we can afford to pass this legislation, which is more expensive than the Senate bill and provides funding for abortions.

Then there’s the problem of the vice president. Perhaps, we should make a new euphemism: out of the mouth of Biden.

Wondering who the targets are to stop the Reid bill? The RNC has set up “Health Care Flip Floppers” to help stop the seven Senate Democrats who are opposed to the bill but will vote for it to go to the floor.

• Kay Hagan (NC)
• Evan Bayh (IN)
• Ben Nelson (NE)
• Mary Landrieu (LA)
• Mark Blegich (AK)
• Kent Conrad (ND)
• Byron Dorgan (ND)
• Blanche Lincoln (AR)
• Mark Pryor (AR)

The American people simply need more time to debate and read through this version of the bill. It’s even longer than the House version  (2,074 pages) and does not protect life. National Right to Life exclaimed that the Reid bill is “unacceptable:”

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nv.) has rejected the bipartisan Stupak-Pitts Amendment and has substituted completely unacceptable language that would result in coverage of abortion on demand in two big new federal government programs.

According to Patient’s First (part of Americans for Prosperity), here are just three problems with the bill. They’ve also outlined 10 more problems.

1.”The Reid bill starts hiking taxes and cutting Medicare immediately, while the new spending programs are delayed until January 2014…Without this gimmick, the fully phased in 10-year cost would be not the much-touted $848 billion is about $2.5 trillion.”

2.”The Reid bill pretends Medicare payments to doctors will be cut by 23 percent in 2011 and stay at that low level. That’s totally dishonest, because it would drive most doctors out of Medicare. That raises the real price-tag of the bill another $247 billion.”

3.”The bill includes yet another new entitlement program, a long-term care insurance program called the CLASS Act. This new federal entitlement program will supposedly reduce the deficit. That’s because the CBO counts the program’s 10-year revenues of $72 billion as deficit reduction to help pay for the Reid bill, even though it will cost far more than it raises once benefits start being collected in the future. This is another new entitlement time-bomb, when Social Security and Medicare already have staggering multi-trillion dollar unfunded liabilities.”

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