Happy St. Patrick's Day. No, I am not wearing green. I don't do that. That's an Oregon color.

--

Health care: the recruiting battle.

This is completely true: Dennis Kucinich will announce how he is going to vote on healthcare at 10 am today. This he'll pick between an Obama hat and an American flag lapel pin? This is so far beyond ridiculous.

Of course, this kind of thing isn't altogether unusual, but generally they just leak it and have the media do some legwork. The media doesn't really do that anymore though (or at least not the media you watch - remember newspapers?).

The consensus is that the bill must be presented today in order for it to be voted on before the president leaves town on Sunday. That is to allow the House to abide by the 72 hour rule (bills must be posted online for 72 hours before being voted on - you know, unless Nancy Pelosi decides otherwise).

One final health care note: apparently Dems are 11 votes shy in the House as of this moment. By the I hit 'publish' it's anyone's guess. That's it, I'm done talking about it.

Okay, one more thing. I refuse to talk about this process stuff. If someone has a specific question, I'll answer it. Here is a New York Times piece that talks a little about the "Slaughter" rule. My problem is simple: this stuff happens all the time. If you think Democrats and Republicans have never used this sorts of "tricks" before, you're way wrong. It is part of the process and the reason the process shouldn't be televised. Most people just don't understand it. I took a class in which it was my job to understand and I don't get all of it. Rest assured of one thing though: it will require a vote. Even though it is just a rule they may be explicitly voting on, every senator knows what's in that rules bill. They are free to vote no. Also, this brings the statement Harry Reid brought up yesterday to the forefront. Right now Republicans are complaining that Pelosi isn't going to have a vote, but in the Senate the same part has been doing everything he can to block him from having the same vote.

This is what I mean. It's process and people don't understand process. Pass the bill and people won't remember it when they have health insurance. I firmly believe that. All of this complaining about the process is political. If you have a problem with the bill, vote 'no'. That's how this whole thing is supposed to work.