Reply #54: I'll see your chagrin and raise you one. Someone who (apparently) makes

[No Elephants]

her living as a Republican pundit actually said on one of the talking heads shows yesterday that the Constitution requires 60 votes to pass health care reform. That's almost as bad as Palin's saying, during her campaign for VP, that the Constitution says that marriage is between a man and a woman. (I guess shredding the Constitution is easier for Republicans than reading it.)

However, "60 votes for passage" is not totally untrue. Before you can pass something, you have to end a fillibuster and current Senate rules do require 60 votes for that. So, as a practical manner, under current Senate rules, 60 votes are required for passage of health care reform, as a practical matter.

I agree that being specific and clear is far preferable, though. Otherwise you can overlook things like the possiblity of changing the Senate rule, which would require only 50 votes (aka "nuclear option"). As a practical matter, I don't see that happening, though.