IBD: "Blue dogs roll over"

Promises, promises ... that's all it took for the Democrat Blue Dogs to give in. Socialized health care? No problem! According to Investor's Business Daily:

Apparently even a Blue Dog Democrat will stop growling if you toss him a big enough bone. Four of the seven who helped keep the House bill bottled up in the Energy and Commerce Committee — Mike Ross of Arkansas, Baron Hill of Indiana, Zack Space of Ohio and Bart Gordon of Tennessee — agreed to vote the bill out of committee in exchange for a promise of unspecified cuts.

Ross, a Blue Dog Coalition leader, said changes agreed to by the defectors and the leadership would cut the cost of the trillion-dollar House bill by almost $100 billion over the next decade. What the cuts are remains unknown, and in the past such promises of cuts have been like Lucy offering to hold the football one more time for Charlie Brown. In exchange, for their consciences, there won't be a floor vote before September.

As Erik Erickson at RedState wrote in Thursday's RedState:

"Judas only needed 30 pieces of silver to sell out Christ. How much did these four need to sell out their country?"

IBD's editorial has good background on the problem and concludes:

Committee and marginal deals aside, this solution in search of a problem is a very bad bill. Aside from its huge and burgeoning price tag, it will destroy private insurance, lead to rationing and place bureaucrats in a position to make the health care decisions that rightfully belong to you and your doctor.

They could have gone down as the Magnificent Seven, but at least four of the Blue Dogs won't hunt. Democrats may want to play doctor, but their constituents are about to tell them where it really hurts. If you want to tell the Blue Dogs yourself, here are their numbers in Washington (202 area code):

Altmire, Jason (Pennsylvania's 4th congressional district), 225-2565; Arcuri, Mike (New York's 24th), 225-3665; Baca, Joe (California's 43th), 225-6161; Barrow, John (Georgia's 12th), 225-2823; Berry, Marion (Arkansas' 1st), 225-4076; Bishop, Sanford (Georgia's 2nd), 225-3631; Boren, Dan (Oklahoma's 2nd), 225-2701; Boswell, Leonard (Iowa's 3rd), 225-3806; Boyd, Allen (Florida's 2nd), 225-5235; Bright, Bobby (Alabama's 2nd), 225-2901; Cardoza, Dennis (California's 18th), 225-6131; Carney, Christopher (Pennsylvania's 10th), 225-3731; Chandler, Ben (Kentucky's 6th), 225-4706; Childers, Travis (Mississippi's 1st), 225-4306; Cooper, Jim (Tennessee's 5th), 225-4311; Costa, Jim (California's 20th), 225-3341; Cuellar, Henry (Texas' 28th), 225-1640; Dahlkemper, Kathleen A. (Pennsylvania's 3rd), 225-5406; Davis, Lincoln (Tennessee's 4th), 225-6831; Donnelly, Joe (Indiana's 2nd), 225-3915; Ellsworth, Brad (Indiana's 8th), 225-4636; Giffords, Gabrielle (Arizona's 8th), 225-2542; Gordon, Bart (Tennessee's 6th), 225-4231; Griffith, Parker (Alabama's 5th), 225-4801; Harman, Jane (California's 36th) 225-8220; Herseth Sandlin, Stephanie (South Dakota at large), 225-2801; Hill, Baron P. (Indiana's 9th), 225-5315; Holden, Tim (Pennsylvania's 17th), 225-5546; Kratovil, Frank Jr. (Maryland's 1st), 225-5311; McIntyre, Mike (North Carolina's 7th), 225-2731; Marshall, Jim (Georgia's 8th), 225-6531; Matheson, Jim (Utah's 2nd), 225-3011; Melancon, Charlie (Louisiana's 3rd), 225-4031; Michaud, Michael H. (Maine's 2nd), 225-6306; Minnick, Walt (Idaho's 1st), 225-6611; Mitchell, Harry E. (Arizona's 5th), 225-2190; Moore, Dennis (Kansas' 3rd), 225-2865; Murphy, Patrick J. (Pennsylvania's 8th), 225-4276; Nye, Glenn C. (Virginia's 2nd), 225-4215; Peterson, Collin C. (Minnesota's 7th), 225-2165; Pomeroy, Earl (North Dakota at large), 225-2611; Ross, Mike (Arkansas' 4th), 225-3772; Salazar, John T. (Colorado's 3rd), 225-4761; Sanchez, Loretta (California's 47th), 225-2965; Schiff, Adam B. (California's 29th), 225-4176; Scott, David (Georgia's 13th), 225-2939; Shuler, Heath (North Carolina's 11th), 225-6401; Space, Zachary T. (Ohio's 18th), 225-6265; Tanner, John S. (Tennessee's 8th), 225-4714; Taylor, Gene (Mississippi's 4th), 225-5772; Thompson, Mike (California's 1st), 225-3311; Wilson, Charles (Ohio's 6th), 225-5705.

Give 'em a call ... tell them to stop selling out America.