Will Republicans Finally be Dealt Out of Health Care Reform?

After I called Democrats "rudderless" and "scatterbrained" on healthcare reform earlier today, news is leaking out that efforts to pass reform are getting a little more focused -- and by "focused," I mean partisan.

A couple posts by Steve Benen give reformers hope that this bipartisan idiocy is dying. First off, champion of bipartisanship and Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus is defending his work, while making claims of progress that are obviously false. In a statement, Baucus said "The Finance Committee is on track to reach a bipartisan agreement on comprehensive health care reform that can pass the Senate" and that he's "confident" his bipartisan "Gang of Six" coalition "will continue our steady progress."

But Benen wonders how this "steady progress" is at all possible.

The members of the Gang of Six haven't met at all over the August recess. There were plans for the senators to get together, but Chuck Grassley scrapped them, citing a busy schedule. Grassley, of course, is the same conservative Republican who acknowledged this week that he's likely to vote against his own compromise bill. It came the same time another member of the Gang of Six suggested breaking up the reform bill into pieces, and another member talking about keeping the talks going indefinitely, regardless of deadlines.

The Finance Committee is "on track"? Members are making "steady progress?" Huh?

And another post shows that Democrats are coming to understand that the Finace Committee is the problem, not the solution.

...White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel told the NYT yesterday, "The Republican leadership has made a strategic decision that defeating President Obama's health care proposal is more important for their political goals than solving the health insurance problems that Americans face every day." Gibbs was asked this afternoon about the quote.

Specifically, Fox News' White House correspondent asked whether the president agrees with Emanuel. "Let's just say I haven't seen anything that would persuade me otherwise," Gibbs replied.

Benen also cites TPM's Brian Beutler; "The implication -- that President Obama believes the Republican party isn't serious about bipartisan health care reform -- is significant for obvious reasons. When Congress returns to session at the end of August recess, four of five House and Senate committees will have passed party line health care bills. One -- the Senate Finance Committee -- will still be mired in rocky bipartisan health care negotiations over legislation that, according to Republican party leaders, won't win over many Republicans at all... Finance Committee chairman Max Baucus better prepare to change course or pull off some kind of miracle or else be rolled."

Baucus is becoming increasingly irrelevant and, Harry Reid to the contrary, there's just no compelling reason to work toward a bipartisan agreement. Republicans aren't going to vote for it, it'd be loaded down with suck, and it's not making any headway anyway. Work on getting more dems on board and screw the Republicans.