No jokes now, folks.  It’s zero flak time.

Even after their smackdown at the Obama healthcare “summit”, the Democrats are moving forward with Obamacare.  Or trying to, anyway.  Whether or not they succeed yet remains to be seen, but the logic behind it is this:

1. They’re already going to take an electoral drubbing.
2. It won’t change whether they do this or not.
3. So why not pass something they’ve calculated will give them long term power.
4. It’s not as though the Republicans have the guts to repeal an entitlement.

Ok, so let’s start out with the premise that this sort of thinking prevails in the Democratic party, and they’re really going to give it a shot.  Being the political hobgoblin that I am, I can think of a few more consequences to this that don’t have anything to do with politics.  What else could happen?

1. De facto exile:  I’ve mentioned this before but it bears repeating.  Ben Nelson is two years out of a re-election fight, but he’s scrambling to distance himself from the Cornhusker Kickback right now.  Why?  Because he’s paying for it now, as demonstrated by the pizza shop incident.  He’s a pariah in his own home state for just taking one action on this potential nightmare.  What happens if it passes?  The reminders of his complicity in this never end, and he’s never welcome in his home state again.  Now, why don’t some of those Democrats thinking they’re going to vote for this imagine that it’s them, because it very well could be.
2. Entitlement?  What entitlement?:  “Oh, it’s an entitlement, and they’re never repealed!”  Great thinking, except that it’s not an entitlement until 2013.  Right now, it’s a combination monster tax hike/Medicare cut/individual mandate all-in-one-infuriate-everyone bill.  They can’t run on “Well, the Republicans will repeal it if they’re elected” attack line if there’s no sugar from the federal sugar daddy until 2013.  Especially since it will be all but certain that Obama is gone in 2012.  So basically, who wants to lose their jobs for nothing when they still have a chance to save them by flipping votes with a good excuse?  Show of hands, please!
3. What goes around, comes around:  These politicians may not have to suffer the same medical system they helped to destroy, but how about someone they know?  How about their grandchildren?  How about the day they couldn’t pull strings fast enough for someone they loved who needed life-saving medical care in minutes, but couldn’t be penciled in until next week because of the wonderful new medical rationing system they helped to create?  Want to imagine how much fun that funeral won’t be?  I wouldn’t either, so why risk it?
4. Do they really think their leadership knows what it’s doing?:  I mean, come on.  There have been such monumental displays of competence from Reid, Pelosi, and President “Votes Present” himself.  Nothing like the Tea Party movement could ever happen.  And no one ever protests pork like that imaginary state of Nebraska and that whole non-existent Cornhusker Kickback thing.  I’m sure it will all have just gone away by November, when everyone realizes how brilliant they all are despite the fact the country is still in a recession and everyone is mad because the medical system is going to hell on top of it.

This bill isn’t merely an electoral nightmare for those who’ll consider voting for it.  It could well become the thing that goes bump in the night for a lot of the true believers, or those too scared to resist their leadership.  Losing their seats could be the least of their problems.