This isn’t really news to political junkies like me but it is a page A3 above the fold story in today’s Wall Street Journal:
A top White House adviser said Tuesday he doubts two Senate Republicans at the center of health-care talks are negotiating seriously, as Democrats adopted a new, more confrontational tone accusing key Republicans of blocking change.
Senior adviser David Axelrod, responding to recent broadsides against Democratic health plans by Republican Sens. Mike Enzi of Wyoming and Chuck Grassley of Iowa, said Democrats would reach out to other Republicans to finish a deal this year. He added that President Barack Obama is considering laying out a more detailed vision of what he wants in a health-overhaul plan.
Democrats are shaping a strategy in response to the public pounding they took over the summer from some voters angry about proposed health-care changes. They are also responding to the troubles of the Senate Finance Committee, the only panel in Congress seeking a bipartisan bill.
Lets not bullshit each other Democrats aren’t interested in a bipartisan bill… if they were they would have incorporated at least a few ideas from any of the three (3) alternative health care reform proposals offered by Republicans into the bills current before Congress. The simple truth is Democrats are trying blame Republicans to cover their own leadership failures. Democrats have filibuster proof 60 majority in the Senate and 256 to 178 seat Majority in the House of Representatives… They have the vote to pass health care reform without a single Republican vote. The fact that they can’t get it done has more to do with the unwillingness of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to work with moderates within their own caucus than Republican objections.
Bottom line, regardless of what David Axelrod claims, Republican don’t have the votes to stop health care reform, it’s the failure of Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid to rally their own troops that is derailing the presidents agenda.