Democrat Sen. Kent Conrad of North Dakota, the chair of the Senate Budget Committee, was against using reconciliation to pass the government health care takeover before he was for it. Naked Emperor News dug up the tape:

And here’s a partial transcript of Conrad’s April 2001 remarks:

A group of us were approached and asked if we would support the use of reconciliation that short-circuits senator’s rights to debate and amend…and a group of us said “NO!” That would be an abuse of the process…that was not what the Senate was designed for. That was not what the Founding Fathers intended for this body…It is wrong. Dead wrong. It was wrong in 1993 and 1994. It is an absolute abuse of reconciliation to use it for purposes other than deficit reduction. And if we allow it here, we are going to open the floodgates.

“Absolute” is not so “absolute” anymore, is it?

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RCP’s head count of Dems who might go for reconciliation: Here.