Democrats by the Numbers

With Al Franken the undisputed senator from Minnesota, the Democrats now have a filibuster-proof Senate. The last time that happened -- in the wake of Watergate -- they passed a bunch of procedural measures, like lowering the filibuster-breaker from 67 to 60. They also put us on the metric system and then slowed us down to 55 mph.

We all know how those last two went. We're still buying gas by the gallon and cruising the interstates at 65 mph and then some -- unless you're on I-66 during traffic times or a presidential motorcade.

Before the Dems let their numbers go to their head, here are a few numbers they need to seriously consider. A new Gallup poll shows "a statistically significant increase since last year in the percentage of Americans who describe the Democratic Party's views as being 'too liberal,' from 39 percent to 46 percent. This is the largest percentage saying so since November 1994, after the party's losses in that year's midterm elections," according to a CNN editorial.

Another Gallup poll shows that 40 percent of Americans consider themselves conservative, 35 percent moderate and only 21 percent liberal. "This represents a slight increase for conservatism in the U.S. since 2008, returning it to a level last seen in 2004," according to Gallup.

The numbers also are telling when it comes to President Obama's hurried push to change healthcare. According to a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey released this morning, 51 percent of people surveyed say they favor the president's healthcare plan, with 45 percent opposed. But when questioned more closely, most of the people surveyed are concerned that their healthcare costs would go up if the president's proposals are passed. And only 20 percent think their families would be better off under the Obama plan.

So before the Dems spend trillions more that we don't have on public insurance programs or a Hawaiian bank partially owned by a Democratic senator, they may want to chew on some of these numbers for a while. But in the meantime, don't put it past them to pull a few more procedural shenanigans to give themselves even more power.

Spinning the Healthcare Change

The spin is on big time when it comes to changing healthcare. (Note that I am not using the term reform, which suggests improvement. President Obama ran on a platform of change -- not reform. I'm convinced our healthcare system will change but not necessarily for the better.)

One of the president's healthcare buzz terms was comparative-effectiveness research (CER) -- also known as cost-effectiveness research in some circles. Because of legitimate concerns that CER could lead to a one-size-fits-all healthcare system, the government has come up with a new name for it. Now it's "patient-centered research," according to a news release put out today by HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. The purpose of this research is to "help give patients and doctors more information so they can make the best decisions," the news release says.

No matter how you spin it, the gist is the same. We are spending $1.1 billion in "stimulus" money on CER to find out how to limit Medicare/Medicaid coverage without cutting entitlements. Of course, most of our money will never be spent on research. Much of it has to pay for the council that was set up to steer the research, the reports that various agencies are doing to discuss the need for the research, all the "listening sessions" in which said council will listen to public health officials describe the problems to be solved by the research, preparation for congressional hearings on the research, education (read "propaganda") programs to sell us on the results of the research, etc. Very little will be left to actually spend on the research.

The council today made a number of recommendations on how the HHS secretary should spend her $400 million of the $1.1 billion CER stimulus money. Topping the list? "It is critically important to be able to share the results of comparative effectiveness research with doctors and patients and make better investments in how information is disseminated," the news release says. In other words: spin, baby, spin. That's our tax dollars at work.