Reid: Those tonsil vultures stole my vote

(By Ed Morrissey, Hot Air) - A funny thing happened to the way to the first Senate floor vote on the health-care overhaul pushed by this administration. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, with 60 Democrats in the upper chamber, couldn’t get enough of them to end a filibuster. Who’s to blame for the failure to get a vote? Debbie Stabenow, who wrote the bill that attempted to sneak an extra $250 billion in costs past the CBO for ObamaCare? Centrist Democrats from red states who have to face the voters? A Majority Leader who has trouble “leading” himself the right way out of a paper bag?

No, of course not. It’s those evil Tonsil Vultures and Foot Rustlers:

Reid brought the bill to the floor in an effort to secure the support of doctors groups such as the American Medical Association (AMA) for the future fight over an overhaul of the nation’s healthcare system.

Reid’s gambit, however, backfired, leaving Reid blaming the AMA for failing to secure GOP votes and the AMA retorting that the leader misinterpreted its pledge.

Reid told colleagues that the AMA said it could deliver 27 Republican votes for the legislation, according to two Senate Democratic lawmakers, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Some Democrats wondered whether it was reasonable to expect that as many as 27 Republicans would support a 10-year freeze in light of the fact that only 17 Senate Republicans voted for a one-year freeze last July. Of that group, only 11 remain in the Senate.