We must say that the change in format during the roundtable portion of the program, mixing journalists and politicians, does two positive things. One, it stands as an instant check on politicians partisan rhetoric. As evidenced today, House Republican Whip Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) initially spoke in Republican talking points such as, 'We should start over... The American people don't like this bill...,' etc. But when Ron Brownstein points out that the Democratic plan insures 33 million people versus the Republican plan that insures only an additional 3 million people, he has to answer for that. Also,
Secondly, it keeps the journalists' statements more concise and focused. Too many times when you're watching an all journalist round table, the opinions become verbose, condescending, pointless, and ultimately unproductive.
And today's roundtable just about made the two preceding interviews a mute point. And the first was an exclusive with Senator John McCain (R-AZ), who in actuality covered all the standard Republican talking points. "Do we want to start over or do we want a partisan bill?" Mr. McCain began with. Mr. McCain's reaction to the, we'll call 'testy,' exchange he had with the President at the healthcare summit was to focus on the 'unsavory' deals, to use his words, that occurred to get the bill to this point. He did give examples and we agree with the Senator that deals that occurred, the Senator Ben Nelson/Nebraska deal for example which is now out of the bill, should be stripped from the bill. However, the basic concepts of the Democratic bill do the essentials as to what is needed: regulates the insurance companies, doesn't add to the deficit, covers a vast majority of those who are now uninsured, and gives Americans choice; plus a host of other things. The Republicans simply can't speak to these points, but today Mr. Kantor gave us some great insight. More on that in a moment.
Back to Mr. McCain, who is out of his comfort zone whenever the conversation switches to anything but foreign policy. He's simply out of his depth when it comes to matters such as healthcare or finance. He said that they should start with T.O.R.T. reform for Christ's sake. He even said he didn't know if it would be better for Republicans if there was a healthcare bill or not. Frankly, Mr. McCain really hasn't said a constructive thing for the public good since the election. Die a hero, or live long enough to become the villian, as the saying goes.
With regard to 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell,' Mr. McCain clearly contradicted his previous statements that if the commanders in the armed forced though it was correct to repeal the policy and let people openly serve. However, this column's feeling was that his initial statement a few years ago deflected the burden of the decision away from him and to the generals, which at the time he probably felt he would never hear from the generals what he's hearing today.
And lastly, he was pleased with the Newsweek cover that has the headline, "Victory at Last" with reference to Iraq. But Mr. McCain remained wisely cautious about being too pleased. A few columns ago, we posed this very proposition that Iraq would be a healthy democracy and the Bush legacy would be seen very differently. However, with that cover putting the idea into focus, our question remains... At what cost to the United States? It's bankrupted us.
The interview with White House Health Reform Director Nancy-Ann DeParle (the healthcare czar) was a bust. Ms. Deparle is a policy wonk (we mean that in a good way) so when Mr. Gregory asks he if 'they' have the votes, what is she supposed to say, yes of course. However, in spite of that, her message was clear. The insurance companies make all the rules and that is what the President is trying to change.
This is who the Republicans are trying to protect. Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz stated it correctly when she said that when the Republicans say 'start over' that is code for doing nothing. When Mr. Kantor challenged that notion, he said the Republican plan was incremental. So delay and implement incrementally is what the Republicans offer. However, it is a fact that a plan put in place incrementally, small aspect after small aspect will end up costing much more and will not have the desired effects.
It really is up to the Democrats to get healthcare passed and reconciliation will have to be used. They didn't make that decision, the Republicans made that one for them.
No comments:
Post a Comment