What could go wrong?

New movie: Eddy Murphy plays Marion Berry directed by Spike Lee.

RealClearPolitics recalls this story:

Last January, retiring Arkansas Democratic Rep. Marion Berry told the Arkansas Democrat Gazette that he worried about overconfidence in the White House regarding their prospects for avoiding a midterm election blowout.
"The president himself, when that was brought up in one group, said, ‘Well, the big difference here and in '94 was you've got me,'" Berry said. "We're going to see how much difference that makes now."

Yes, now we see.

Jason Tolbert cites a Marion Berry quote about Bill Halter: “I can’t wait to be on a program with him,” Berry, who endorsed Lincoln at the event, said of Halter. “I never did like him from the very beginning. I can find a thousand people and not one of them likes him.”

Arkansas Watch: At this point Marion Berry may intend to vote no on health care. At the end of his career, according to this post, he should be thinking about eternity.

In the House vote on health care today, only Marion Berry is an undecided among the Arkansas delegation. What is he waiting on? Tell us.

The ADG reports that Marion Berry, who is retiring after his seventh term, will introduced his own health-reform bill. Why this late, you may ask? It is supposed to be the capstone of his career in Congress. See also here.

He's a registered pharmacist and is concerned about prescription drug costs.

Jason Tolbert: Marion Berry will vote against the health care bill if it does not contain strong anti-abortion language.

Hot Air has a post on the Marion Berry's Obama quote cited earlier. "The big difference here and in 1994 was you've got me."

Instapundit called attention to this link from Politico regarding Marion Berry, who claims that Obama dismissed any comparison between now and the 1994 health-care debacle.

Berry recounted meetings with White House officials, reminiscent of some during the Clinton days, where he and others urged them not to force Blue Dogs “off into that swamp” of supporting bills that would be unpopular with voters back home.

“I’ve been doing that with this White House, and they just don’t seem to give it any credibility at all,” Berry said. “They just kept telling us how good it was going to be. The president himself, when that was brought up in one group, said, ‘Well, the big difference here and in ’94 was you’ve got me.’ We’re going to see how much difference that makes now.” [snip]

“I began to preach last January that we had already seen this movie and we didn’t want to see it again because we know how it comes out,” said Arkansas’ 1st District congressman, who worked in the Clinton administration before being elected to the House in 1996... "I just began to have flashbacks to 1993 and ’94. No one that was here in ’94, or at the day after the election felt like. It certainly wasn’t a good feeling.”

Those quotes are from a Jane Fullerton article in the ADG. 

Marion Berry is retiring today. The news is on the web and in the ADG. Fox News: "There has not been this much turmoil in Arkansas politics in a long time," Berry told Little Rock radio station KUAR. "I would be afraid to predict anything. I think in the next couple months you could see all kinds of stuff coming down the pike."

No one knows what compelled him to this decision. 

Washington Post: Marion Berry will announce his retirement from Congress tomorrow morning. Many blogs have already commented but see Jason Tolbert.

Marion Berry has indicated that he may not run for another term. I'm not sure if that's the final word, but he gave an interesting interview that the ADG reports this morning. As usual a free link is hard to find.

Berry described the current health-care story as a re-run of the Clinton experience. HilliaryCare collapsed in 1993-94. Berry said, "I just began to have flashbacks to 1993 and '94. Republicans went on to pick up 54 House seats and 8 Senate seats. He said he's been warning the White House about forcing Blue Dogs to support bills are are unpopular with voters back home. But they just keep tell saying how good it will be. Berry also criticized the back room deals and secret meetings. 

In an earlier interview, Berry said health care was dead.

Marion Berry, Arkansas' first District Congerssman and a voter for health care reform, has a candid conversaiton with Talk Business Net. He seems to "get it" more than Blanche and Mark, calling Brown's victory over Coakley "shocking," "a wake up call," and "a political tidal wave." Berry said the prospects for passage of the existing bills are "pertty much zero."

Berry also confided that he did not plan to run for re-election, but he seemed to leave the door open.

Jeers, boos and cheers

Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) and Marion Berry (D-AR) ran into jeers and boos and some cheers at Arkansas State University yesterday. The ADG reported little of the crowd's reaction, but stressed that Lincoln favored a health insurance "exchange" that would sell private plans. She opposed a government-run insurance system. But apparently the crowd remained suspicious.

The Jonesboro Sun's report contains more details. Berry acknowledged that 10 million of the uninsured were in this country illegally.