If they think they have a chance of surviving (and most honestly do, re-elect rates are usually above 95%) they wont commit suicide over ObamaCare …. That’s like having a cyanide pill in your mouth and making the decision to bite down hard. If you think you can survive, would you do that?

“Once again, the Obama White House (and also the media, with its fawning coverage of Kennedy) is just reading the nation wrong on this one.”

Once again, the liberal MSM thinks they are inside the heads of most Americans and dont realize they are as outdated and obsolete as Kennedy’s liberalism. Honestly, they are so clueless its laughable.

I live in a fairly liberal town, and honestly Kennedy’s death is being met with a kind of ho-hum disinterest, and an underlying “are we finally done with that family?” I see absolutely no outpouring of grief that requires immediate action by Congress on health care or anything else. I just don’t see it. Once again, the Obama White House (and also the media, with its fawning coverage of Kennedy) is just reading the nation wrong on this one. Ted Kennedy was a hero to a fairly small group of far-left people.

The screeching negative reaction to Caroline Kennedy’s “candidacy” for Hillary’s seat should demonstrate to the dems that the Kennedy mystique went away a long time ago. Their efforts to resurrect it to pass a health care bill the nation does not want will be met with more mocking and more anger. The American people have already shown Obama quite clearly that they do not want to be toyed with on this issue. This transparent effort of engaging voters’ pathos with a dead senator named Kennedy is just going to be seen as more insulting stagecraft and manipulation. It really is like watching a train wreck about to happen and you can’t do a thing to stop it.

The only Dems delusional enough to think the Blue Dogs and red state Dem senators will jump into the fire over Kennedy are those from the bluest of blue states, in other words, those most out of touch with reality. Those who face a looming bloodbath in 2010 harbor no such delusions.

I think the 65% repulsed is a little high. Its more like 50+% ‘Ted who?’. People know him from seeing on tv, etc but deep emotions outside of Mass, the northeast, politcal class I doubt it. Nothing against him but he wasn’t our senator and a good chunk doesn’t remember ‘Camelot’.

I don’t know if lion’s numbers can be verified, but they strike me as about right. Dems may have gotten totally out of touch with reality in the last few months, but those who face tough re-election campaigns next year are fully aware that Kennedy dead or alive was irrelevant as to how their constituents would treat them if they voted for this bill. Now, some who may know they are going down next year (Cook puts the Dem MoCs at plus 20 now) might–might–be swayed because they know it is over for them. But most pols never can admit to themselves they will be defeated.

I’ll go out on a limb. Health care reform with a public option is dead, and all the publicity stunts in the world won’t revive it.

This isn’t a matter of propriety. It is a matter of reality.

If ObamaCare is called KennedyCare so be it. Kennedy was an undisciplined over-the-top tax-and-spend Liberal and so its not an unfit label for an over-the-top tax-and-spend power-grab and Trojan Horse for single-payer. As #2 points out, though, this will not impress the vast majority of American voters who have no use for socialized medicine or for Kennedy the politician. It will just remind us of why we oppose it.

In fact, Chrissie Matthews absurd “Obama is the last brother” comment does more to hurt than help Obama … he’s now anchored to the tax-and-spend liberalism of Ted Kennedy. that’s *old* not new. The more the two are associated the worse it is for Obama.

And baby, the Dems are going to milk the death of Kennedy until they wring every last ounce of political capital they can manage from his rotund carcass.

Well played Rick. This wasn’t just some simple LOL here. There was an LLOL. I literally laughed out loud, thus putting to rest the rumor that Republicans are mostly unfunny. Thank you. More please.

However, I am certain that, as much press as this is getting, the left is completely confused about Main Street’s opinion of the man. Of course, this is completely unscientific, but I’d put the percentage of Americans that loved him at 10%, liked him at 15%, were repulsed by him at 65%, and hated his guts to hell at 10%. Now I don’t run with any lefty loons, but everybody I know (even my democratic friends, and yes, I have a few) were repulsed by him.

All of this is to say that tying an very unpopular government program to an extremely unpopular elitist-liberal-career-politician can only help conservatives. Please, please, please, name it KenndyKare!