Several readers argue that I’m being too generous below. This e-mail is represenative:
Regarding your agnosticism on the subject at The Corner …
“Is that an intended outcome of the bill or just a practical result of ill-defined legislation? Well, it’s hazy enough that I’m not sure I’d throw the word “lie” around.”
… it seems to me it’s about as provable that it was intended, short of a confession, as anything in legislative politics, no?
To review:
1. If you don’t want illegal aliens covered, why wouldn’t you vote for the Heller and Deal amendments? What’s the actual, policy-driven argument against doing so?
2. Unlike the Heller amendment, the Deal amendment wasn’t defeated quite party line because a few committee Dems were allowed to vote with the Repubs in that committee. Waxman evidently released a couple of Dems who were most in need of “boob bait for bubbas” with respect to their districts (your memorable coverage of the Hoyer meeting, which I saw days ago, explains why). If you look into the re-election prospects of whichever Dems got the craved-for nod from Waxman, I’ll bet you can nail this even better.