catwho the Mundane wrote:
Well, so much for bipartisanship. I think the last straw was when Senator Grassley said that even if the Dems gave him everything he asked for in the final bill, he'd still vote against it just to give a big ol' @#%^ YOU to Obama.
No. In the very article you linked, it clearly stated that he said that he'd oppose any bill that did not have wide Republican support. You kinda can't call a bill "bipartisan" if the majority of either party opposes it. Think about that...
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The White House, upon hearing this from Grassley, said, "Ok, fine. We didn't need you anyway, we were just giving you the chance to play nice. But if you're gonna be like that, you don't get to play at all any more."
Yes. Because they were actually allowing Republicans to influence the language of the bill before this. Can we all agree that the "bipartisan" nature of this bill was in word only? The Democrats refused to remove something which has *nothing* to do with what most people want reformed, but which is a deal-breaker for Republicans. That's the public option.
Most people just want providers to not be able to drop them for pre-existing conditions, and to have their coverage move with them when they move jobs or states. Almost no body wants a public option, yet the Dems have latched onto that like a crazed dog, and are completely unwilling to drop the issue. That's why no bipartisan agreement can be reached. It's not the Republicans unwilling to deal on health care. It's the Democrats.
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They're going to have to use reconciliation at this point, but if anyone can pull it off, Obama can. 60% of the country still approves of him, after all.
There's a reason why the Dems attempted first to do this while appearing to make it bipartisan. They know that "going it alone" will kill them politically. This is their last choice. We'll see if political survival of the Dems in Congress outweighs their long term ideological objectives here. I have a feeling it will, but you never know...
Edited, Aug 19th 2009 1:22pm by gbaji