September 16, 2009
HE REPRESENTS MONTANA, NOT MICHELLE:
Why Liberals Hate Max Baucus : The Senate Finance chair has health-care reform in his hands, and he’s bargaining it away. Michelle Goldberg on how his addiction to industry cash and GOP sympathies have doomed the bill. (Michelle Goldberg, 9/16/09, Daily Beast)
The Democratic Party is famously disunited, but one would think they could stand together in opposition to Congressman Joe Wilson’s boorish eruption at President Obama’s health care speech. After all, the South Carolina Republican wasn’t just violating long-standing norms of political protocol when he screamed, “You lie” at the president. Wilson was also himself lying, since there was nothing remotely untrue in Obama’s insistence that the Democrats’ health-care plans exclude illegal immigrants.If a Democrat had so insulted a Republican president, he or she would doubtlessly be forced to apologize on the House floor. Instead, Montana Democratic Senator Max Baucus, chair of the Senate Finance Committee, has acted as if Wilson had a point. This week Baucus said that, in order to address Republican concerns, his committee’s bill would tighten restrictions on illegal immigrants’ access to insurance, thus legitimating and even rewarding Wilson’s outburst.
Given the scope of health-care reform, this is a small matter. It’s symbolic, though, of what makes Max Baucus such an obtuse and maddening figure. Though ever ready to marginalize more progressive members of his own party, he is exquisitely sensitive to the demands of Republicans.
Nevermind that even Mr. Baucus's own leader, Harry Reid, was never forced to apologize for calling the president a liar, never mind formally reprimanded by congress for it, nor that the Democrats' sudden decision to exclude 10 or 12 million hard-working illegal aliens from health care makes a mockery of their promise of universality, just consider that Ms Goldberg and company seem to think there are no consequences to nominating conservative Democrats so that they have a realistic shot at contesting naturally Republican seats. Who's obtuse? Posted by Orrin Judd at September 16, 2009 7:12 AM