Speaker Pelosi Mixes More Kool-Aid, Drink Deep My Colleagues

From TIME Magazine:

“House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is sounding very determined–and surprisingly upbeat–about the prospects for a comprehensive health care bill in the wake of last week’s Senate election in Massachusetts, which cost the Democrats their 60-vote, fillibuster-proof majority.

“You can always find a way. You can always find a way,” Pelosi told a group of about a dozen journalists this afternoon. “We have to get this done for the American people—one way or the other. … We need to get this done. Process I don’t care about. But we need to get this done.”

“Of course, Pelosi does care about process. And no one is more effective at making the process work. As Pelosi talked, it was pretty clear that she has already developed at least the broad tactical outlines of how she intends to get health care legislation to President Obama’s desk:

“As I wrote yesterday, that health care legislation would be delivered to Obama in two parts: (1) the legislation that passed the Senate on Christmas Eve and (2) a set of revisions, which would skirt a Senate filibuster by passing under the budget reconciliation process, which requires only 51 votes.

Pelosi continues to insist that the Senate bill, in its current version, could not pass her chamber.”