John Boehner Wants "Gimmick"-free Vote On Health Care

House Republican Leader John Boehner chimed in on the rampant lies that are being spread regarding the push for health care reform, in particular, the House vote on the Senate bill and the numerous lies propagated by the right that the Democrats will pass the bill without a vote. "Republicans believe that if the Democrats are willing to have the government take over our health care system, they should be willing to vote for it -- without any gimmicks," House Republican Leader John Boehner's office said in a statement. "Democrats wonder why people are so upset with Washington."

Boehner's response is ridiculous, considering the numerous "gimmicks" Republicans and conservatives have employed in shutting down the legislation. Let's talk about gimmicks. How about toting around a huge stack of papers to represent the bill and talk about how big it is and wordy it is and ask how come it is so big? What about crying about campaign pledges to televise debates on C-SPAN, but when that moment finally comes, the Republicans balk and cry that it is a trap? What about the numerous claims of Democratic corruption involving unions or the health care industry, or James O'Keefe getting arrested for trying to interfere with Senator Landrieu's telephone cabinet? The list can go on, but the fact of the matter is Republicans have been trying out every gimmick in their playbook to try and derail any progress, and every time the Democrats do something, they claim that that is a gimmick, such as wearing a purple cancer bracelet or, get this, passing legislation with a majority vote. The play Republicans seem to be working real hard at is playing off the average American's ignorance of legislative procedure to try and stop this thing from going through, or if it does pass, for hope that it would bolster their numbers at the polls later this year, which I am sure they would claim to be a referendum against what the Democrats have done. Any increase they see will be a backlash against the current administration, but not because of factual evidence of wrongdoing or knowledgeable opinions, but because the Republicans are spoon feeding lies to America to try to get back into power.