Thomas Mitchell

So that's what was meant by 'change'

That was then. This is now.

As the heated debate over health care reform winds down to the final hours and last bales of paper, as Congress attempts to reconcile the differences between the bills passed by the House and the Senate, the discussions have disappeared behind locked doors.

There will not even be the sham of a conference committee so the opposing sides can pontificate and bloviate before the cameras while real negotiations and horse trading take place in the shadows. All so the Democratic leadership can rush through a bill, any bill, to President Barack Obama for a dramatic Rose Garden signing ceremony before the State of the Union address so he may preen and posture over what his administration has accomplished in a single year.

The public's opinions are irrelevant. The polls are dismissed as flawed.

A poll of Nevada voters conducted this past week for the Review-Journal and reviewjournal.com found 54 percent oppose the reform. That's up from 49 percent in October.

Sixty percent disapproved of Majority Leader Harry Reid's efforts to push insurance reform through the Senate, up from 50 percent a month ago. As for the deals given Nebraska and Louisiana to gain 60 votes in the Senate, 72 percent of Nevadans disapproved.

Fully 44 percent of the small number of uninsured said they would pay a fine rather than buy insurance, waiting to do so till they become ill, since they can't be denied coverage because of a pre-existing condition.

Obama and congressional Democrats want some kind of health insurance reform, and they are darned well going to get it, whether people have any appetite for it or not.

Repeatedly Obama has stated -- on the campaign trail and since his inauguration -- that his will be the most transparent administration is history.

In an editorial board meeting with the San Francisco Chronicle in early 2008, then-Sen. Obama promised unprecedented openness on health reform. It was a promise he repeated frequently.

"But these negotiations will be on C-SPAN, and so the public will be part of the conversation and will see the choices that are being made," candidate Obama told the newspaper's liberal editorial board. "So if a member of Congress is carrying water for the drug companies and says, 'Well, we can't negotiate for the cheapest available prices on drugs because we need the money for R&D research,' well, we'll have a discussion right there in front of the American people about the fact that the drug companies do need profits, but they are also spending a whole bunch of it on marketing ...

"That builds in accountability in the system because that congressman is now put on the spot. I would not underestimate the degree to which shame is a healthy emotion and that you can shame Congress into doing the right thing if people know what is going on."

Apparently there is no shame in totally abandoning a campaign promise. (While campaigning he also ridiculed John McCain's idea to tax so-called Cadillac insurance policies, but now insists on it?)

That was then. This is now.

In fact, C-SPAN sent a letter asking to be allowed to televise such talks. It has been ignored.

Reid has changed his tune, too.

According to a Washington political newspaper, The Hill, in 2006 Reid made an impassioned speech rebuking his colleagues for forsaking the conference committee process on a bill regulating asbestos.

"Of course, nobody can see the managers' amendment. It is composed of over 40 amendments," Reid is quoted as saying then. "How could anyone vote for a piece of legislation such as that -- a managers' amendment with 42 separate amendments?" He complained Democrats, then in the minority, were "cut out of the process."

Reid's mid-December manager's amendment to the health insurance bill was 383 pages long.

At least House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is consistent. She delusionally insists there is no secrecy. When recently asked about the lack of openness and Obama's campaign promises, she meekly replied there were a number of things said on the campaign trail and dropped the topic.

She then boasted, "There has never been a more open process for any legislation for anyone who's served here's experience. ... Tens of thousands of people participated in our town meetings, over a hundred witnesses in our bipartisan hearings that were held in the conference and the list goes on."

Those were the town hall meetings at which she saw people carrying swastikas, right?

That was then. This now.

Thomas Mitchell is editor of the Review-Journal and writes about the role of the press and access to public records and meetings. He may be contacted at 383-0261 or via e-mail at tmitchell@ reviewjournal.com. Read his blog at lvrj.com/blogs/mitchell.

Trending topics:

• health care insurance reform
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Comments

Note: Comments made by reporters and editors of the Las Vegas Review-Journal are presented with a yellow background.

1. patrick Jan. 10, 2010 | 6:20 p.m. Report Abuse

   Anyone know of a purely "free market" system of economics that has EVER prevailed in ANY country?
   
   No? Huh, wonder why that is?
   
   Here's a thought; its cause the results would be so HEINOUS, that no country would tolerate it.
   
   The few have dictated to the many for so many years, and believed that it was their "birthright" or a right given to them by "God" that the many finally, after years of being oppressed by the few said ENOUGH.
   
   And so was born freedom and democracy, which of course the wealthy HATE, cause they know that they can only convince a very few fools to vote with them, leaving the world to be run by the many.
   
   God Bless America.

2. RightWingExtremist Jan. 10, 2010 | 4:25 p.m. Report Abuse

   Politicians lie. It's easy to tell because their mouths are moving. Obozo's campaign promises have been spewed all over the news and other media outlets but he, and his socialist minions in Washington, pooh pooh all that or, as the Socialist Queen, Pelosi, pulled out of her butt, "...there were a number of things said on the campaign trail" as if that defended Obozo and the rest of the socialists for running roughshod over the American people in their rush to cram this farce of a bill down our throats.

3. Thomas Mitchell Jan. 10, 2010 | 2:51 p.m. Report Abuse

   liar liar reid: Sorry, checked that one out a year ago.
   
   http://www.lvrj.com/blogs/mitchell/One_more_reason_for_journalism_of_verification.html

4. NO Union Jan. 10, 2010 | 2:17 p.m. Report Abuse

   It just all depends on how you look at some things...Here is how politic spin is done......
   Judy Wallman, a professional genealogy researcher in southern California , was doing some personal work on her own family tree. She discovered that Congressman Harry Reid's great-great uncle, Remus Reid, was hanged for horse stealing and train robbery in Montana in 1889. Both Judy and Harry Reid share this common ancestor.
   The only known photograph of Remus shows him standing on the gallows in Montana territory: SO.....
   On the back of the picture Judy obtained during her research is this inscription: 'Remus Reid, horse thief, sent to Montana Territorial Prison 1885, escaped 1887, robbed the Montana Flyer six times. Caught by Pinkerton detectives, convicted and hanged in 1889.'
   So Judy recently e-mailed Congressman Harry Reid for information about their great-great uncle.
   Harry Reid Camp said the following: Believe it or not, Harry Reid's staff sent back the following biographical sketch for her genealogy research:
   "Remus Reid was a famous cowboy in the Montana Territory . His business empire grew to include acquisition of valuable equestrian assets and intimate dealings with the Montana railroad. Beginning in 1883, he devoted several years of his life to government service, finally taking leave to resume his dealings with the railroad. In 1887, he was a key player in a vital investigation run by the renowned Pinkerton Detective Agency. In 1889, Remus passed away during an important civic function held in his honor when the platform upon which he was standing collapsed."
   NOW THAT's how it's done, Folks!
   That's real POLITICAL SPIN

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