"John R. Carroll" wrote in message
...
Wes wrote:
"John R. Carroll" wrote:

You might be right George but, for myself, I don't think the ground
has shifted even a little bit.
One of the hallmarks of Obama's first year in office has been that
he has largely shared the reins of power with the senior party
professionals.

Of one party.


Yeah but not by his choice Wes.
Ten, or even as few as five, Republicans in the Senate could have changed
the landscape of health-care reform in ways that would have produced a
good
solid piece of legislation. They could have written their own ticket wihin
broad limits. Just look at what a single Democrat - Ben Nelson - got for
his
vote if you doubt that. It wouldn't have been possible had his vote been
less important and Democrats didn't create that situation. They couldn't
have.

The real question in my mind is just whose side are the Republican's on
anyway?
It's murder if you can pull someone to safety and don't act.
Boehner and McConnell are really missing the boat politically speaking
right
now.
They could easily steal 100 percent of the health-care thunder for
Republican's if they were really concerned about what was best for America
as opposed to what was best for the moneyed interests that have bought and
paid for them. That they won't is a genuine failure of leadership on their
part and a further demonstration of the cowardice gripping our country.

Believe me, if the current attempt to reform health-care goes up in smoke
the fire will burn both sides equally.

The only ones who benefit from killing health care reform are Big Pharma,
the health care insurance companies, and medical equipment manufacturers.

That's why it's insane to just oppose it outright. The current bill is a
political loser but the Republicans have offered nothing substantial as an
alternative. Even their own analyses show that tort reform, for example,
would only cut costs by 5%. The OMB says 2% - 3%, and those figures were
revised upward by a huge amount in 2009 from what they had been in 2008.

It is completely nuts. It's a political game, with the Dems screwing it up
badly, and the Republicans screwing the rest of us.

--
Ed Huntress