The Republicans are in a bad spot. They have agreed to attend this health care summit farce tomorrow where they will be used for the “photo op” and subsequently cast aside. The libs already have 2 bills and Obama’s outline and they have stated repeatedly that they will not scrap their plans, they just want to convince Republicans to come to their side. This is a show and the Republicans have foolishly let themselves be painted into this corner.
From The Plum Line:
At a private meeting today, top Democrats settled on a strategy for tomorrow’s summit: They will strive to project a strong sense that they’re in listening mode, even as they make it clear that under no circumstances will they scrap their plans and start again, sources say.
Top Dems also agreed to make a concerted effort to highlight Republican ideas that are already in Obama’s bill, in order to disarm GOP charges that Dems aren’t serious about compromise, the sources add.
Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and the other Congressional Dems attending the meeting gathered today behind closed doors to chart their plan for tomorrow. Attendees agreed on the need to strike a balance between projecting openness to GOP ideas, while leaving no doubt that if Republicans don’t compromise, Dems will move forward.
“The consensus that was arrived at is that we have to be in listening mode,” one senior Dem aide familiar with the meeting tells me. “We will say, `We are listening to your ideas, we have been and we’ll continue to do so. But at some point, if you are not gonna be willing to vote for this, we have to move forward.’”
Dems at the meeting agreed that a good way to strike this balance is to aggressively highlight Republican ideas already in Obama’s proposal. Among them: Personal responsibility incentives, medical liability reform through grants to States, and measures to combat waste, fraud, and abuse.
“We’re going to stress that there’s already agreement here,” the aide says.
Also: Dems at the meeting agreed that they must strike a “calm” but “firm” tone when pushing back on GOP demands that they scrap the bill and when rebutting GOP charges that the Dem plan is a government takeover.
So the plan is to listen to the Republicans, get that on film and then when there is no agreement, run the film of the “reasonable” libs listening to Republicans and just say “hey, we listened to every idea the Republicans had and they still don’t want to work with us.” That is exactly where this farce is going to lead. Starting Friday, the Libs will start the reconciliation process in the Senate.
For the Republicans to come out on top in this mess is going to be difficult. Essentially, they need to co-opt the meeting and clearly outline free market solutions to the health care problems and how those solutions will effect all Americans. That’s a tall order considering that this is not their meeting to run.
It’s going to be interesting to watch.
