By GottaLaff
"Free Choice Act" taken off the table. Baucus says it's "not the right thing to do."There's nothing in there to rein in Big Insurance.
"I am for choice: Private, public..."
"After the all-nighter... we're looking through the bill, there are provisions to reward plans that hold prices down, give good quality... At this point, the special interests, the insurance lobbies" [are winning]."
By GottaLaff
Remember that old game, "one of these things is not like the others?" Let's play a quick round. Who doesn't fit in this list of centrist senators, recently annointed the "gang of six?"
Sens. Ben Nelson (D-NE), Mary Landrieu (D-LA) Joe Lieberman (I-CT), Olympia Snowe (R-ME) Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Susan Collins (R-ME).
That's right; it's Wyden, classified by On The Issues as a "hard-core liberal" who sticks out like a sore thumb. But that didn't stop him from signing his name along with the others listed above in a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell asking them to slow down on healthcare reform. [...]So if his version isn't going to be passed, why sign onto the gang of six letter? What is Wyden getting out of this? Is he really willing to "break" Obama and allow the Democratic majority appear to be unable to govern just so he can be that guy who runs on the "I knew what to do about healthcare years before it was cool" platform?
Wyden has been working on this for years; perhaps he's driven by the same legacy focus as Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA), though to different results. But if it is true that Wyden is willing to eschew his progressive bona fides and stand with the Blue Dogs just to get his version of healthcare reform recognized, he's got more of a narrow focus on his own personal vitae than an open mind on how to fix the broken healthcare system.
Much more here.
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