The hope we and this nation had for change we could believe in, and which we still hope will not die, has been diminished by the reality of petty politics, with the "Party of No" and its raucous Teabagger mutation blocking social change for America's improvement

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Well, it appears that health care "reform" is taking a few last gasps, and what emerges from Congress will be a watered down bill that meets with Sen. Lieberman's requirements while achieving essentially nothing.

And I say... Good!!

What was being proposed, in all it's public-options and medicare-buy-in glory, was also meaningless.

Let me explain.

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I'm not going to go into great detail about what a fan I am of the vagina, nor about how important I think the vagina should be in the context of medical coverage (very). Instead, I'm going to share a couple of quotes from Susie Madrak over at Crooks and Liars in her post from this morning, then I'm going to ask some angry questions. Everyone buckled up?

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We are already well into September, the President is back in the White House, and Congress is in session. As we are re-engaging in the heated public discourse, it's important to know where public opinion stands today, and how it's shifted, if at all, in the past few months. Below is a rundown of important findings on health care reform and from a pioneering survey of immigrants in the US, which were released during the summer.  The focus is primarily on data, which can inform advocates' communications, and strategy.

Overwhelming support for covering all children: new survey by Lake Research Partners for First Focus

Vast majority of Americans support ensuring that all children are covered as part of health care reform, even if it increases their taxes. By a margin of 87%-11%, nearly 8-to-1, Americans favor ensuring all children have health care coverage, including by a 68%-28% margin even if it increases their taxes. By more than a 3-to-1 ratio (78%-21%), voters believe that it is extremely/very important that “all children in America are provided health care coverage as part of health reform.”

A 3-to-1 majority (62%-21%) of Americans would oppose the elimination of CHIP if they learned that the Health Insurance Exchange “may be more costly for families and provide fewer benefits for children.” By a 54-14% margin or almost 4-to-1, Americans would be less likely to vote for a candidate who supported a health care reform plan that reduced the level of health care coverage for children in such a manner.

National telephone survey (n=1000) conducted by Lake Research Partners for First Focus; Released on 8.13.09

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Good for Rocky:

I have sat besides Max Baucus for 22 years on the Finance Committee. ... I'm probably one of his best friend among Democrats. But I cannot agree with him on this bill. ... There is no way in present form I will vote for it. Therefore, I will not vote for it unless it changes during the amendment process by vast amounts.

And George Stephanopoulos has a quote from a Democratic aide - that's probably the best summation of what Baucus produced:

As one top Democrat told me, the fundamental problem is that Democrats "are being asked to support a bipartisan bill that doesn't have bipartisan support." The compromise without the cover.

How long do we have to keep up this "it's important to be bipartisan" fiction before we just focus on good policy?

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