I swear, when Republicans are together behind closed doors, they must laugh their asses off at how easy it is to roll the Democrats, especially in the Senate. There are only 40 Republican Senators now, down from 55 just three years ago. But, they still run the show.
A couple weeks ago, Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY), one of that painful "gang of six" (which is really being led by Chuck Grassley, not Max Baucus) already said he'd only accept a deal on health insurance reform if Reid, Pelosi and Obama agreed to his terms. But, it's worse, actually. He doesn't even want a deal. He's just playing everyone.
Via Ryan Grim at Huffington Post:
Mike Enzi, one of three Republicans ostensibly negotiating health care reform as part of the Senate's "Gang of Six," told a Wyoming town hall crowd that he had no plans to compromise with Democrats and was merely trying to extract concessions.I'd say Enzi isn't negotiating in good faith and playing Baucus and Obama for fools. And, he's being upfront about it. I guess that means Enzi is being "bipartisan."
"It's not where I get them to compromise, it's what I get them to leave out," Enzi said Monday, according to the Billings Gazette.
Enzi found himself under attack at the town hall simply for sitting in the same room as the three Finance Committee Democrats. Republicans in the crowd called for him to exit the talks. He assured conservatives that his presence was delaying health care reform.
"If I hadn't been involved in this process as long as I have and to the depth as I have, you would already have national health care," he said.
"Someone has to be at the table asking questions," Enzi said. "If you're not at the table, you're on the menu."
This news from Enzi, which is no surprise, makes Hunter's post, No More Faith: The Senate Topples Into Incompetence, even more compelling. Here's an excerpt, but the whole post is well worth a read:
It is not even about the so-called "public option", at this point. It is not, narrowly, even about the so-called "private mandate" itself. It is about how the Senate can take absolutely any national crisis and turn it into a corporate giveaway. None of these people deserve to be trusted any farther than they can jump to snatch a dollar from your hand; the whole institution seems bent on proving itself irrelevant at best, and devoutly crooked at worst.
