I have seen multiple comments blaming Rahm Emanuel for the Stupak Amendment passing and the Health Care vote being so close because he recruited conservative candidates in 2006. This just isn’t true. In 2006, as head of the DCCC, Rahm Emanuel recruited candidates based on their electability not on ideology. That resulted in many conservative Democratic Representatives being elected to Congress. These Democrats have not always toed the party line, but they came through for us last night.
There were 64 Democratic yes votes on the Stupak Amendment. Here is a breakdown of those votes:
Freshman Representatives (elected in 2008 and 2009 with Van Hollen as head of DCCC) – 8
Elected Prior to 2006 (Before Rahm was head of DCCC) – 49
Elected in 2006 (When Rahm was head of DCCC) – 7 (Brad Ellsworth, Charles Wilson, Christopher Carney, Heath Shuler, Jason Altmire, Joe Donnelly, and Zachary Space)
If all 7 of Rahm’s recruits had voted no on the amendment, the amendment still would have passed.
There were 39 Democratic no votes on the final health care bill last night. Here is the breakdown of those no votes:
Freshman Representatives (elected in 2008 and 2009 with Van Hollen as head of DCCC) – 15
Elected Prior to 2006 (Before Rahm was head of DCCC) – 22
Elected in 2006 (When Rahm was head of DCCC) – 2 (Jason Altmire and Heath Shuler)
So, the Netroots can blame Rahm for 2 of those votes. One of those votes was most likely offset by Rahm getting Republican Cao to vote yes.
What is interesting is how many of those 39 candidates were supported by the Netroots. 4 No Votes, Eric Massa, Larry Kissell, Dennis Kucinich, and Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, were all strongly supported by the Netroots.
Does that mean that the Netroots is responsible for more no votes than Rahm? It sure looks like it to me.
We have a limited amount of time to change the outcome on the health care battle. And attacking the liberal blogs' boogeyman, Rahm Emanuel, is an unnecessary waste of time. I am all for pressuring President Obama, Speaker Pelosi, Majority Leader Reid and the conference committee members to strip the Stupak amendment out of the health care bill during conference. I strongly support pressuring the no votes to vote yes on the final bill. Lastly, I think progressives need to start looking for primary opponents for all Democrats who vote no on the final health care bill that includes Massa and Kucinich if they vote no on the final bill.