Kristol: Reconciliation "Fixes" Make Health Care Reform MORE Politically Toxic

Thank you, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Rules Committee Chair Louise Slaughter.

(By William Kristol, The Weekly Standard) - Nancy Pelosi and Louise Slaughter have come up with a parliamentary maneuver -- "deem and pass" -- reeking of evasiveness and trickery that Democratic members are going to have to embrace. But it gets better! The point of "deem and pass" is to allow representatives to vote directly only on the reconciliation "fixes" rather than on the Senate health care bill (which will be deemed to be passed if reconciliation passes). But the reconciliation "fixes" make the Senate bill even more politically unattractive.