HEY, NO KIDDING – AT 6:05 P.M. ET:  The Dems are reportedly "rethinking" their approach to health care.  It reminds me of the old diplomatic phrase, "an agonizing reappraisal."  From The Politico:

Scott Brown’s shot heard 'round the political world left congressional Democrats stunned and befuddled about what to do next in the yearlong push to overhaul the country’s health care system.

Maybe they'll finally realize the people don't want an overhaul.  They want the carburetor fixed and the oil changed.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and his top lieutenants emerged from a Wednesday morning strategy session with no clear path to proceed in the health care fight, while Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) could only repeat her well-worn promise that Congress “will move forward.”

Even though the other Dems "moving forward" are moving forward right off a cliff.

"People just have different feelings about this," said Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.). "This was obviously not a good day for us. To be honest, you have to sit back and reassess and move forward."

Democrats were weeks — and possibly even days — from achieving their decades-long goal of near-universal health care coverage, only to watch the finish line move once again when a long-shot Republican beat the Democratic candidate in a race to succeed the late Sen. Ted Kennedy. But after Democrats lived dangerously all year by passing controversial bills on tight, party-line votes, Tuesday's results were the biggest blow yet to health care reform.

A bit of bias there.  No, they weren't the biggest blow yet to health-care reform, they were the biggest blow yet to the particular bill before Congress. 

As lawmakers sifted through the wreckage on Wednesday, no clear strategy emerged to keep President Barack Obama’s top domestic priority moving through the halls of Congress. With the loss of the crucial 60th vote, two alternatives moved into consideration.

One idea is to pass the Senate bill through the House, with the addition of a “cleanup” bill that could be done through a parliamentary process, known as reconciliation, that requires only 51 votes.

A second idea is to move a dramatically scaled-back bill either through reconciliation or by attracting Republican votes.

But each of those scenarios makes an already difficult needle to thread even harder. And House Democrats have little appetite to swallow the Senate bill as it passed at the end of December.

"I don't feel like I can vote for it," Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), a prominent liberal and Pelosi ally, said of the Senate health care bill. "I'm not drawing any lines in the sand, but I really don't feel like I can vote for it."

Of course not.  It wasn't introduced into Congress by Lenin himself.  McGovern is so far to the left, he needs binoculars to see the center.

These guys remain in their dream world.

January 20, 2010