Listen up, rethugs! DON'T USE KENNEDY AS AN EXCUSE FOR FAILURE

[babylonsister]

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_08/019654.php

DON'T USE KENNEDY AS AN EXCUSE FOR FAILURE.... It started in earnest several days ago, before we knew the state of Ted Kennedy's condition. Conservative senators like Orrin Hatch and John McCain said Kennedy's absence from the Senate this year made bipartisan health care reform less likely. As the argument goes, Kennedy didn't mind reaching out to the GOP and compromising on his principles, unlike these other Democrats. Kennedy, they say, could have gotten a deal done.

It's a weak, and borderline offensive, argument. For one thing, characterizing Kennedy as the kind of leader who sold out liberal ideals for the sake of routine compromise is just wrong. For another, Senate Dems have reached out to Republicans, and the party has made it clear it opposes reform. For conservatives to suggest Kennedy could have persuaded them to embrace the opposite position is a cheap and cowardly cop-out.

Indeed, Edward Kennedy was in the Senate for nearly five decades, and passing health care reform was the cause of his life. If senators like Hatch and McCain were seriously open to the idea of passing reform, and Kennedy really had the ability to persuade conservative lawmakers to embrace a progressive policy, it would have produced a bipartisan reform plan a long time ago. That never happened.

snip//

For the record, Kennedy supported the public option. Indeed, there's no great mystery here -- he helped write the bill that was approved by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. If anyone wants to throw their backing to what Kennedy supported, there's his bill. It currently enjoys exactly zero GOP supporters in either chamber.

Would he have traded away the public option to garner broader support? I have no idea. But let's not ignore what we've seen -- a member of the Senate Republican leadership has said, publicly and on the record, that Democrats could produce a deficit-neutral reform bill with no public option and the GOP would still oppose it. Kennedy would have made "the right concessions"? The White House has already signaled a willingness to give away the store, and Republicans slapped the president's hand away anyway.

Republicans oppose health care reform. That's their right. They shouldn't blame Ted Kennedy's absence and death for their obstinacy.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

1. Exactly

They're NOT going to vote for ANY version of HCR other than their "plan" and will latch on to whatever excuses they can to avoid explicitly acknowledging the painful reality that they simply don't care.

[ErinBerin84]

2. k & r

And I'm sick of asshole pundits like Howard Fineman repeating this talking point as well.