By Dave Andrusko

We had, as they say, technical problems, which meant that yesterday's edition did not go out. It appears as Part Two today. The comments complement what is discussed the morning after Republican Scott Brown defeated Democrat Marsha Coakley to replace the late Sen. Ted Kennedy. Please send your thoughts and comments to daveandrusko@gmail.com.  Thank you!

"The Republican upset, which saw independents flock to the GOP, will send tremors through every Democratic lawmaker in the House and Senate facing voters in November, from California Sen. Barbara Boxer to the 49 House members elected in districts carried by Republican John McCain in the 2008 presidential race."
     -- From this morning's San Francisco Chronicle.

Scott Brown waves to supporters after winning Senate contest in Massachusetts

As defeated Massachusetts Democratic senatorial candidate Martha Coakley ruefully pointed out last night, the Wednesday morning quarterbacking (i.e., second guessing) would be fierce. In an attempt to preempt some of it, in her concession speech Coakley defended her campaign's competency and energy.

This was a not-very-subtle slap at the various Obama Administration officials who trashed her, on and off the record, as a sub-standard candidate. This exchange of insults continues today, as Democrats sort out the significance of (as all the news accounts put it) a "little known Republican state Senator" in the bluest of blue states defeating a Democratic Attorney General to win "Teddy Kennedy's seat." Fear and trembling anyone?

Our single-issue concern is how this will shape the contours of whatever health care restructuring bill the House and Senate come up with. There are any number of alternative ways the pro-abortion Democratic leadership can try to move legislation along quickly, but the legislative mechanisms are a topic for another day.

What matters today is Scott Brown ran on a you-know-my-meaning opposition to health care restructuring. He would be vote "41," he vowed, meaning the Democrats would no longer have a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. Those 60 votes had proved an irresistible temptation to try to ram through a proposal with no Republican input and no public mandate.

Don't forget, Obama, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi intended to pass this legislation by last August. No matter where you are coming from politically, the notion of refashioning a sixth of the entire economy with virtually no in-depth conversation and analysis ought to send chills up and down your spine. One outcome of last night's special election is to increase the likelihood that the public has a chance to digest this massive initiative.

Second, debate over the abortion issue--which took place, thanks to you--was absolutely critical to slowing down the out-of-control Obama/Reid/Pelosi train. Pelosi made it clear that she had no intention of allowing a vote on the Stupak-Pitts amendment which would prevent federal subsidies for abortion by applying the principles of longstanding federal laws such as the Hyde Amendment to the new programs created by the health care legislation.

When this stance proved untenable, Pelosi reluctantly agreed to allow a vote, all the time making it clear she opposed it and would try to defeat the amendment. The Stupak-Pitts amendment passed 240 to 194 . An equivalent was defeated in the Senate. Which brings us back to "the morning after."

Contrary to what some are saying, we are not "back to square one," because of last night's stunning victory by Brown. (And it was amazing. Republicans had not won an open Senate seat in Massachusetts since 1966; the entire congressional delegation is Democratic; and Coakley was ahead by 30 points in polls taken just a few weeks ago.)

Obama is still talking tough this morning about persevering on health care "reform." And never for a moment can we underestimate the commitment of the President and the congressional leadership to weaving abortion into the very fabric of the way medical care is delivered in this country. We need to remain on our toes. The best way to keep track of all of the anti-life machinations is by going to http://nrlactioncenter.com/ and http://powellcenterformedicalethics.blogspot.com.

Obama and his apologists are furiously spinning last night's outcome as the product of a flawed candidate (Coakley) and an opponent (Brown) whom Massachusetts' voters didn't "really" know. (Hint, hint: extremist). It was nothing of the sort, any more than were the elections of Bob McDonnell for governor of Virginia and Chris Christie for governor of New Jersey.

To the contrary these were referenda on Obama and his health care "reform" about clear as it is humanly possible to get. The American public, as measured by a raft of opinion polls, had already signaled its rejection of Obamacare.

So, too, have the voters of Virginia, New Jersey, and Massachusetts.

Part Two