I wonder what Sen. Charles Grassley (Conservative "R", Iowa) did if and when he was bullied in school. Based on this article ("Senator Calls for Narrower Measure: Republican Grassley Cites Town Hall Anger"), something tells me Grassley said something to the effect of, "thank you bully may I have another, and oh would you like some more of my lunch money?" I mean, is this pathetic or what?Sen. Charles E. Grassley, a key Republican negotiator in the quest for bipartisan health-care reform, said Wednesday that the outpouring of anger at town hall meetings this month has fundamentally altered the nature of the debate and convinced him that lawmakers should consider drastically scaling back the scope of the effort.Yes, that's right, let's give in to a bunch of bullies, thugs, "screamers," LaRouchies, people claiming Medicare isn't a government program, people claiming that there are "death panels," people holding up signs of Barack Obama with a Hitler mustache, people carrying assault weapons outside where the president is scheduled to speak, and other assorted lunatics? Yes, that's Chuck Grassley's solution, and believe it or not, this appeaser is who the "centrist," "bipartisan" Democrats in the Senate are determined to "negotiate" with, even though he listens far more to the crazies than to his esteemed Senate colleagues. What a joke.
After being besieged by protesters at meetings across his home state of Iowa, Grassley said he has concluded that the public has rejected the far-reaching proposals Democrats have put on the table, viewing them as overly expensive precursors to "a government takeover of health care."
P.S. Harold Meyerson asks the important question, "Why, then, does Max Baucus, the committee's Democratic chairman, persist in the charade of bipartisan negotiations with Grassley? Does he -- does anybody -- really believe that a Republican Party so deeply invested in defeating President Obama's campaign for health-care reform is open to a scaled-down version that Obama can still claim as a victory?"
