Counting Chickens Before They Hatch

CNN reports that five more Democrats have stated they will oppose Nancy Pelosi's mystery bill, which as of noon today still had not been released for public examination.  That means that the bipartisan coalition which opposes a vast new government role in health care is only 11 votes shy of the 216 needed to finally wake the nation from our collective nightmare.

Of the 39 Democrats who voted against the House plan in November, 17 have indicated that they will vote against the Senate plan as written, 11 remain uncommitted, and nine did not return repeated calls for comment.

Meanwhile, Ms. Erica Werner writing for the Washington Post reports that the bill is moving forward, as though passage is inevitable.

The Democrats' drive took on a growing sense of inevitability, picking up endorsements Wednesday from a longtime liberal holdout and from a retired Roman Catholic bishop and nuns who broke with church leaders over the bill's abortion provisions.

Given that neither side has a guaranteed 216 votes and that the bill has not even been released, it is difficult to see how Ms. Werner arrived at this conclusion of growing inevitability, unless she already takes it for granted out of personal convictions that health care reform will pass.

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