While the proposed takeover of health care continues to flail in the Senate and fall in the polls, Democrats stubbornly forge ahead anyway. For a poll-driven party, this is unusual and seemingly self-destructive behavior. Indeed, as the Examiner’s Byron York put it, “Democrats’ race to pass national health care seems irrational – even suicidal.” The question is, why are they so persistent?

The answer is simple: Elected Democrats and their lackeys in the press alike believe that if their so-called “reform” of the health care system doesn’t pass now, when they control the White House and Congress with large margins in both houses, it will never be done.

As Wall Street Journal columnist James Taranto quipped, “In the Bizarro World that is our nation’s capital, this is an argument for enacting legislation that would drive up government debt, taxes and insurance premiums while reducing the quality of medical care. Hey, we’ll never have another chance to do it! You only live once!”

There are three different perspectives for Democrats. York interviewed a Democrat strategist who laid them out:

In the House, the view of [California Rep. Henry] Waxman and [House Speaker Nancy] Pelosi is that we’ve waited two generations to get health care passed, and the 20 or 40 members of Congress who are going to lose their seats as a result are transitional players at best. This is something the party has wanted since Franklin Roosevelt.

At the White House, the picture is slightly different. Their view is, “We’re all in on this, totally committed, and we don’t have to run for re-election next year. There will never be a better time to do it than now.”

And in the Senate, they look at the most vulnerable Democrats – like [Chris] Dodd and [Majority Leader Harry] Reid – and say those vulnerabilities will probably not change whether health care reform passes or fails. So in that view, if they pass reform, Democrats will lose the same number of seats they were going to lose before.

So, again, why would Democrats hurt their own party to pass this legislation? “Because they think they know what’s best for the public,” the strategist said.

None of these arguments is strong on the merits because the health care bills in Congress are unconstitutional and absolutely terrible besides. But what’s the price of failure?

The Democrat strategist made what might be the perfect analogy: Democrats are like bank robbers and no matter what happens now, they’re guilty of something. “They’re in the bank, they’ve got their guns out,” the strategist said. “They can run outside with no money, or they can stick it out, go through the gunfight, and get away with the money.”

Nancy and Harry, meet Bonnie and Clyde.