"If the leadership is serious"

Right. By now it ought to be obvious we simply do not have leaders in Obama or Reid.

This reminds me of Einstein's definition of insanity: "doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result."

Baucus either needs to be dragged away in a straightjacket or summarily booted out of the Democratic caucus for doing the bidding of the insurance companies rather than the American people.

I just called my Senators *again*, expressed frustration about Sen. Finance, and urged them to make chairmanship an elective position. Since I'm in IL, one of my Senators is the majority whip. But I would really urge all of us to do this. They need to get a clear sense that we're paying attention to the procedure and that we're frustrated by the delay. Politely expressed frustration, of course.

How can the emphasis be on affordability if they're going to cut subsidies (which are driving the bulk of the cost)? It's gotta stop. Reid needs to see how many he's got and just try to force a floor vote on the HELP bill. Pelosi needs to do the same thing.

This "getting it right" mentality really is code for "getting it to cost less." Maybe these folks should have thought about costs before we invaded Iraq, Afghanistan and places like that.

"""Our discussion included an increased emphasis on affordability and reducing costs"""

Um, what the hell have they been doing the last month and a half?! Tinkertoys?

harry reid is a moosh nobody takes that weakling serious.

As God is my witness, I cannot for the life of me imagine what the hell it is that Conrad and Baucus they think they're doing. Whether I assume good faith or bad faith on their part, nothing they do makes sense. The best model I can form involves something like Stockholm Syndrome.

To borrow a chess metaphor, at this point I think Conrad and Baucus know they've screwed the pooch, but figure that losing by having the clock run out is somehow less embarrassing than being beaten over the board.

The HELP version of the bill will be the only Senate input into the reconciliation process.

The implication is pretty clear: the group is dismissing the threat that they'll be rolled by leadership--at least in public.

Mr. Reid...I'd say they surely don't take you at your word! I guess they are like alot of us, we just don't see you as an effective leader of sixty democrats!

gang: a group of individuals, juvenile and or adult, who associate on a continuous basis, form an allegiance for a common purpose, and are involved in delinquent or criminal activity.

As usual, the facts of the story don't match the hyperventilated "analysis" you have offered.

Of course they don't care about Reid's threats or what Obama wants. Why should they? Obama will only try to appease them all the more and Reid will back off when push comes to shove. They must be having trouble keeping themselves from laughing when asked about it.

Obama is as weak willed of a president as Reid is of a majority leader. They both reflect the wimpy, spineless leadership of the Democratic party. Don't forget, Reid was CHOSEN by the senate Democrats as their leader.

The Democrats have been handed, thanks not to their political skills but rather to the GOP's disasterous performance, control of the congress and presidency. Obama's combination of political naivete and weakness combined with Reids inherent weakness makes for a situation their being politically bullied and stymied by a discredited, voter-rejected GOP minorty.

Unbelievable.

Snowe was quoted locally this week:

"While the bill is still a work in progress, she said it's highly unlikely to contain a public option, even though that has been a cornerstone of President Barack Obama's reform measure.

"It's not in our plan or currently on the table," she said. "Government has a tendency to be extremely costly and bureaucratic in administering any program. I don't think we need more of that.""

http://www.seacoastonline.com/articles/20090819-NEWS-908190327

So, it sounds like the range of discussion in the group is from right-right-center to right-right-wingnut. No wonder the "compromise" is pretty much everything the right wing and the insurance/pharma/medical industries want. Further, the so-called "moderate" Republican view is that private healthcare and health insurance are far more cost-efficient than that provided by government, all facts to the contrary.

My kinda Democrat!

Michael Steele Offers Advice To Obama: ‘You’ve Got The Votes, Mr. President. Pass The Bill!’

From WaPo:
"In a conference call, the three Democratic and three Republican members of the Senate Finance Committee agreed to redouble their efforts to craft a less costly alternative to the trillion-dollar initiatives so far put forward in Congress."

For those of us who like to live here in reality land, there are six, (6), Democrats on the finance committee and this "error" is typical of our Villager media and indicative of how mindless they have become. Honestly, I'll bet they could save money just by using parrots instead of people.
That being said, if this bill languishes much longer in the finance committee, some blame for the failure has to be placed on Harry Reid's weak shoulders.

This bit of reporting reflects bias either from the reporter or Baucus (who has been actually facing protests FOR health care reform and single payer):

The senators also shared tales from their home states, where some lawmakers have been besieged by protesters angry about a potential government takeover of the nation's health-care system.

Max Baucus, deaf in his left ear.

A familiar pattern has re-emerged. The Republicans in Congress are ruthless, and the Congressional Democrats are gutless.

Our system of creating legislation is a double-edged sword. All too often, in order to accommodate enough people to support a bill, it becomes bloated with amendments and neutered by the need to compromise.

This can also impact the leaders of the cause -- the danger in trying to be all things to all people is that, more often than not, you end up being nothing to no one.

With respect to the GOP's position on reform legislation, it's not about the living will provision, or co-ops, or even about the public option. It never was.

It's about finding ways to stir up fear and hatred for everything and anything with Obama's stamp on it. If the Congress removes or separates these items from the current health care reform proposals (out of sheer cowardice), the health insurance lobbyists and the GOP will simply find some other passage in the reform legislation to distort and exploit.

The Democrats in Congress need to grow a spine and stop trying to kiss the GOP's butts. All that they will attain from their endeavors will be a case of bad breath.

No public option? No single-payer proposal? Big mistake.

Since single-payer appears to be off the table, with respect to calling this health care REFORM, without the public option there's no there there.