Let me preface this by saying I cheered loudly when I read some of the front page diaries like Hunter's on the potential for an epic failure of Democrats in this Healthcare debate. And I don't mean to make excuses for the members in both houses of Congress or for the Whitehouse.
But last night I came across some data that we might do well to take into account. I was looking for parallels between what the Right was saying during the Medicare debate in 1965 and what is going on now. I didn't find what I was looking for, but I found something else that was pretty enlightening.
Here are the numbers for the final passage of the Social Security Act of 1965 (Medicare/Medicaid).
Summary of Party Affiliation on Medicare Vote
SENATE
Democrats
YEA: 57 NAY: 7 NOT VOTING: 4
Republicans
YEA: 13 NAY: 17 NOT VOTING: 2
HOUSE
Democrats
YEA: 237 NAY: 48 NOT VOTING: 4
Republicans
YEA: 70 NAY: 68 NOT VOTING: 2
And here is the vote tally on the final passage of the Social Security Act of 1935.
Congressional Vote Totals by Party
SENATE:
Democrats
YES: 60 NO: 1 NOT VOTING: 8
Republicans
YES: 16 NO: 5 NOT VOTING: 4
Farm Labor
YES: 1 NO: 0 NOT VOTING: 0
HOUSE
Democrats
YES: 284 NO: 18 NOT VOTING/PRESENT: 20
Republicans
YES: 81 NO: 15 NOT VOTING/PRESENT: 6
Progressive/Other
YES: 6 NO: 1 NOT VOTING/PRESENT: 1
In both cases Democrats held enormous super majorities. Much larger than the majorities we have now. In the case of the Senate vote on Medicare we had 11 Democrats not vote for final passage and we still had plenty to spare.
Imagine what would be happening on Healthcare now if there were only 22 32 Republicans in the Senate. It would be impossible for them to mount any sort of credible opposition.
Anyway I found those numbers to be interesting. Maybe folks who are a bit older than I can shed more light on what was happening in 1965 beyond the raw numbers (impact of Kennedy assassination, Goldwater getting crushed in '64, etc...).