Friday 7 August 2009

the stupidity of wasting time talking to the Republicans

To give you an idea of how stupid and futile it is to waste time trying to make a health care deal with the Republicans -- who have refused to contribute to a single "yes" vote on any of the four committee bills on health care -- just look at the guy they're supposed to be building a compromise with.

Charles Grassley is supposed to be the moderate nice-guy Republican, right? Even he is saying the party is pushing him to kill the public option; he has said that Obama is too ignorant to even understand what's going on in Congress; he resisted any deadline for action on reform; and he actually tried to exploit Ted Kennedy's battle with cancer, for political purposes, by claiming Kennedy wouldn't get treatment in Europe. That's not only incorrect, but an incredibly callous way of betraying the cause which has been the centerpiece of his "good friend" Kennedy's career for 30 years.

This guy Grassley is supposed to be the moderate.

Another measure of how stupid this quest for bipartianship is: no one wants to raise taxes on the middle class to pay for health reform, right? Of the five committees working on reform, which is the one which approved a tax on people's benefits? the one Baucus, Grassley and the Gang Of Six are working on. Only the plan that has Republican support is the plan that raises taxes on you and me. Reagan is rolling in his grave.

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