On kicking through the door

I came across the phrase in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal, and it sounded so over the top that I immediately Googled it. Every reference went to a right-wing blog or newspaper (mostly the Washington Examiner), but I finally found the source, which is no less than the Washington Post and its left-wing blogger, Ezra Klein. According to Mr. Klein, this is what the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, said on Monday about the pending health-insurance legislation:

"My biggest fight has been between those who wanted to do something incremental and those who wanted to do something comprehensive. We won that fight, and once we kick through this door, there'll be more legislation to follow."

In order words, if she and Harry Reid manage to ram ObamaCare through the Congress by a ploy that is highly unusual and perhaps unconstitutional, then the “public option” (i.e. government health care on the British model) is sure to follow. And who knows what else?

Mr. Klein says that Ms. Pelosi made her prediction “to reporters.” So where was the media on this astonishing story? Why wasn’t it on the front page of the WaPo, the NYT, or indeed the WSJ on Tuesday morning? This really shakes me up. If a Speaker of the House declares that we are about to nationalize health care, and there is no blogosphere to pick up on it, did it really happen? Blue skies! – Dan Ford