One, Two, Three, Four, Counting the Votes For Health Reform

Slate's Tim Noah counts the votes for ObamaCare in the House and comes to the conclusion that, without an act of God—or at least a letter from the Pope, who could perhaps flip some pro-life Democrats—there isn't enough support for the bill to pass. For a more cautious, but equally thorough, take on the vote count, see Daniel Nichanian at Campaign Diaries. The best response the bill's supporters have left is to point out that a number of House Democrats who voted against the original bill have (so far) declined to confirm that they'll vote no again. But that's exactly what you'd expect if you gamed out a situation like this: It's probable, given their previous no votes, that none of them want to vote for the bill this time around. But in the interests of not angering their fellow Democrats, they probably don't want to be seen as leading the charge to kill it either.

I've been counting House votes for ObamaCare since the day after Scott Brown won in Massachusetts, and the math has never added up.