Chris Matthews: Avoiding An Up Or Down Vote In House Allows Democrats To “Pull A Fast One”

Yesterday saw the unveiling of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s hinting at a new strategy to get the health care reform bill railroaded in Congress: A “Deem and Pass” rule that would allow lawmakers to vote on a more popular package of the Senate bill, and if that’s approved in the House, it signifies that the health care bill to be passed.

But MSNBC’s Chris Matthews takes issue with this plan: If the Democrats avoid a direct up or down vote on the bill, they would expose themselves to criticism of “pulling a fast one,” by allowing members of Congress to claim they didn’t support the reform bill in its entirety, and thereby avoid having to answer for their votes.

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