1 Boring Old Man

Health-Care Bill May Not Get Single GOP Vote in the House
Washington Post
By Ben Pershing
October 10, 2009

The House is inching closer to voting on a comprehensive health-care bill, even as the chamber appears so divided that the measure may not attract a single Republican supporter.

The final vote, likely in late October, is impossible to predict, but lawmakers and aides from both parties said this week that there is a strong chance the GOP will be unanimous in its opposition. Such a result would mark the second time – the first came on the economic stimulus package in February – that the entire House minority rejected one of President Obama’s top domestic initiatives…

I don’t think it’s "impossible to predict." Actually, it’s pretty easy to predict. The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior, they say. So no Republican was moved by the need for the economic stimulus package? And no Republican sees any merit in the comprehensive health-care bill? And I bet no Republican in the House will be voting for any Obama initiative in the future. One might, in fact, propose that there is a Republican Syllogism, "all Obama inspired initiatives are wrong." I would bet money that if you asked a Republican Representative if "all Obama inspired initiatives are wrong," it would be denied. Like in the famous Epimenides paradox, Epimenides was a Cretan who made one immortal statement: "All Cretans are liars." I expect if you asked Epimenides if he were lying, he would have said, "No!" too.