7/28: Baucus Sells Out?

Liberal bloggers who have been closely following the health care reform debate were not surprised to learn that the bill being written by Sen. Max Baucus's (D-MT) Finance Committee doesn't include a public option or an employer mandate. But that doesn't mean that they're okay with it. On the contrary, the netroots are furious that health care reform is being watered down by a handful of centrists from sparsely-populated states when their party enjoys a 60-seat Senate majority. A quick scan of the Daily Kos "Recommended Diaries" list reveals that Kossacks are ready to revolt. Joan McCarter fumes: "What happens when you put Max Baucus in charge of healthcare reform? You get jack shit." McCarter goes on to argue that it would be "worse to pass this half-ass, chicken-shit slap on the wrist to the insurance industry so that you can call healthcare reform done and leave it for another four decades, than to do nothing at all." Along those same lines, the Firedoglake bloggers continue to wage an aggressive lobbying campaign to pressure progressive Dems to vote against a bill that doesn't include a public option. So while Baucus and his gang of six may believe that this compromise bill is the only one that could conceivably pass Congress, the left would rather pass nothing at all.

What else is happening in the blogosphere?

• Conservative bloggers (Malkin, Morrissey, Wolf) are buzzing about an ex-Countrywide Financial employee's claim that Sens. Chris Dodd (D-CT) and Kent Conrad (D-ND) knew that they were getting VIP mortgage discounts from the company (Dodd and Conrad deny the employee's allegation).
• Liberal bloggers (Drum, Marshall, Lewison, Benen, Aravosis) blasted Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK) for telling Politico that the birthers "have a point" and that he doesn't "discourage" them from raising doubts about Pres. Obama's citizenship. Lefty bloggers (Benen, Lewison) didn't buy Inhofe's subsequent attempt to clarify his statement. Meanwhile, bloggers (Morrill, Cole, Lewison) are buzzing about a Firedoglake video depicting various GOP congressmen refusing to say whether or not Obama is a U.S. citizen.
• Now that Sen. Jim Bunning (R-KY) has announced that he won't run for reelection in '10, Markos Moulitsas is urging him to "get back at [Senate Min. Leader Mitch] McConnell and the rest of his tormentors" by resigning his seat early and letting KY's Dem governor appoint his replacement. Meanwhile, at least one liberal blogger is hoping that KY Dems nominate AG Jack Conway instead of LG Daniel Mongiardo.

HEALTH CARE REFORM: An Epic Sell-Out

Liberal bloggers are blasting Baucus after the AP reported that the Finance Committee's health care plan doesn't include an employer mandate or a public option:

• Daily Kos' mocjoan: "What happens when you put Max Baucus in charge of healthcare reform? You get jack shit. Well, first you get a lot of secretive 'bipartisan' meetings in which key players in the Democratic caucus are shut out. Then you get a bill that sucks. [...] If this is what the Senate Finance Committee really ends up with, and Finance takes the lead on the whole package, then it's not worth doing at all. Worse to pass this half-ass, chicken-shit slap on the wrist to the insurance industry so that you can call healthcare reform done and leave it for another four decades, than to do nothing at all. Progressive Democrats in the Senate need to do what those in the House have done; follow [VT Sen.] Bernie Sanders' lead and say hell no to this crap."
• Firedoglake's Attaturk: "Well, it appears that after months and months of negotiating health care reform away from the prying eyes of, well, everyone, Max Baucus is on the verge of presenting a bucket of warm spit and calling it bipartisan. If you listen closely you can hear him counting that health care lobby money. So thanks Max, thanks ever so much, for absolutely nothing."
• Crooks and Liars' John Amato: "It looks like the mighty Emperor Max Baucus and his royal lords are finally releasing details of their health care plan and to nobody's surprise they decided to screw America. [...] Max and his gang are only worried about one thing. Making sure the health insurance industry makes out like thieves."
• The Washington Monthly's Steve Benen: "Baucus...has prioritized Republican support for a bill over the quality of the bill, and has given up on some of the key priorities Democrats, including the president, have prioritized from the outset."
• AMERICAblog's John Aravosis: "Remember what 'bipartisan' means to Democrats. It means we sell out our principles and adopt theirs. Then the GOP votes against the deal anyway. (Think $300bn in tax cuts in the stimulus package.) This really doesn't sound good."

FiveThirtyEight's Nate Silver thinks the Finance Committee's bill is badly flawed:

"Does this look familiar to anyone?

-- No employer mandate
-- No public option
-- But yes, an individual mandate

It should -- because this particular permutation on health care reform looks an awful lot like the incomplete draft of the HELP Committee's bill that the CBO scored last month, which also lacked an employer mandate and a public option but contained an individual mandate. That bill, the CBO estimated, would cost about $1.0 trillion -- but would only cover a net of about 16 million people. In contrast, the revised version of the HELP Committee's bill, which did include both a public option and an employer mandate, would cost about the same amount but cover a net of 37 million people. [...] The good news is that the math on this bill is so bad that I doubt it will survive intact. Personally, I think the public option is probably a goner, but that the employer mandate will probably be restored -- especially if Baucus dares to put his bill before the CBO and see what they think of it."

Meanwhile, liberal bloggers (Yglesias, Hamsher, Lewison, publius) are decrying the fact that Baucus and his gang of six wield so much power in the health care debate. Others (Klein, Krugman) are more hopeful that the bill that ultimately emerges from the Senate won't resemble Baucus's bill.

HEALTH CARE REFORM II: Surprise, Surprise

Conservative bloggers were surprised and pleased to learn that the Finance Committee's bill doesn't include an employer mandate or a public option:

• Dan Riehl: "Buh Bye Liberal Health Care Plan? It's far too early for me to take much comfort in believing we're going to be spared a liberal debacle when it comes to health care reform. But, there's always hope! And this Politico item offers just that."
• Hot Air's Allahpundit: "Wow: Senate group ready to strip public plan, employer mandate out of ObamaCare? [...] This is kind of like stripping the amnesty provisions out of comprehensive immigration reform. Once the venom's been drained from the fangs, how much damage can it do? No wonder the Kossacks are ready to revolt..."

Ace of Spades isn't so happy: "Obama, as has been noted widely, is willing to sign anything called 'Health Care Reform,' just as long as his ego gets its big win. Which is sort of a problem. Because I really can't see these idiots doing anything helpful. Quite the opposite. So I'd rather Obama stood firm and vetoed anything that didn't contain his 'transformative' system-destruction provisions. The Democrats seem to be watering this down enough that it might end up getting passed. In all likelihood it will still be all kinds of bad. Just not all kinds of bad enough to prevent passage."

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: The Real Issue

Reason's Radley Balko (h/t John Cole):

"The arrest of Harvard African-American Studies Professor Henry Louis Gates has certainly got everyone talking. Unfortunately, everyone's talking about the wrong issue. [...] The conversation we ought to be having in response to the July 16 incident and its heated aftermath isn't about race, it's about police arrest powers, and the right to criticize armed agents of the government.

By any account of what happened -- Gates', [Sgt. James] Crowleys', or some version in between -- Gates should never have been arrested. 'Contempt of cop', as it's sometimes called, isn't a crime. Or at least it shouldn't be. It may be impolite, but mouthing off to police is protected speech, all the more so if your anger and insults are related to a perceived violation of your rights. The 'disorderly conduct' charge for which Gates was arrested was intended to prevent riots, not to prevent cops from enduring insults. Crowley is owed an apology for being portrayed as a racist, but he ought to be disciplined for making a wrongful arrest.

He won't be, of course. And that's ultimately the scandal that will endure long after the political furor dies down. The power to forcibly detain a citizen is an extraordinary one. It's taken far too lightly, and is too often abused. And that abuse certainly occurs against black people, but not only against black people. American cops seem to have increasingly little tolerance for people who talk back, even merely to inquire about their rights."

LEST WE FORGET: Rewarding Incompetence

From Overheard in the Office:

Secretary: She asked me to file these but I'm not quite sure how she wants them.
Lazy old receptionist: Just do it wrong and she'll quit asking you to do stuff. That's what I do.