Final Pre-Summit DemCare Thoughts

Want to see 'bipartisanship' in action?  Want to know the difference between the strategies of the two sides here?

On the Right, I give you House Minority Leader John Boehner:

For all the ink spilled over Thursday's health care summit, it really boils down to one question: Who is listening to the American people?

Americans want Washington to scrap this job-killing government takeover of health care and start over with a step-by-step approach that will lower health care costs.

That's not the "Republican" view. It's the view of the American people. They know the bill that is set to be rammed through Congress will cause their health care premiums to go up and the quality of their health care to go down. They're asking their elected leaders in Washington to stop and start over on reforms that reflect the realities families and small businesses face today.

Republicans have offered a commonsense plan squarely focused on lowering costs. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has confirmed that it will lower premiums for families and small businesses by as much as 10 percent. All the details are available at HealthCare.GOP.gov.

For his part, President Obama comes to the table with the same massive government takeover of health care that the American people have already rejected. In effect, the president's proposal actually takes the 2,733-page bill that the Senate passed on Christmas Eve and manages to make it worse. Even more Medicare cuts. Even more tax hikes. Plenty of special-interest deals still in place. A trillion-dollar price tag.

This latest Democrats-only backroom deal snuffed out any chance that this summit could serve as the starting point for a bipartisan consensus. Democrats are instead hoping that this media event can be the gateway to a final push that involves circumventing the will of the people and jamming a bill through using parliamentary tricks.

This is the same arrogance and overreaching that the American people are so fed up with.

Much, much more at the link; the entire column is outstanding.  I highly encourage you to read the whole thing.

On the Left, I give you Senator Chris Dodd:

Sen. Chris Dodd, D.-Conn., who will be among the lawmakers participating, worked a rally of supporters on the eve of Thursday's meeting, scheduled to start at 10 a.m. EST.

"After that meeting, you can either join us or get out of the way," Dodd said.

Yep, that's 'bipartisanship', all right!

As I've mentioned before, the two sides are clearly drawn here: Obama and the Democrats vs. the American people and the Republicans.

There's my two cents.