Who are the villains in the health care debacle? My list:
Republican Leadership: The party of no.
Mitt Romney: He supported a move towards universal coverage in his home state of Massachusetts. In the national debate, he fell in line with Republican leadership. He could have been a voice for reason on the Republican side, but he wasn’t. As governor, he never pardoned anybody which suggests that he’s a cold bastard.
Max Baucus: He dragged his feet and he larded up the bill with taxes that nobody else wanted. He absolutely loved the idea of taxing health plans. It is one reason the bill ran into friction. I saw something about reducing Medicare which is also a dangerous thing to do. We should have got this bill out of the way before Scott Brown won.
Joseph Lieberman: For expanding Medicare before he was against it.
Barack Obama: He never threw out his own proposal. Early on, he promised revenue neutral which gave Baucus the green light to add taxes to his plan. I agree that we need taxes, but if you tax anything within the health care system, you increase the cost of health care. It is better to simply raise income taxes.
Harry Reid: Oh My God, they might filibuster. I better hide under a rock. I won’t even bother submitting the bill for a vote.