"Baucus Compromise" Falling Apart; Cuts Medicare; Key Dem Opposes

Oh, dear reader, where do we begin? A few days ago, I reported that one of Maine's GOP Senators, Olympia Snowe, had advised the president that there would be "no way" a healthcare overhaul that included any form of government run healthcare would pass the Senate. I continue to doubt her loyalty to the party, which I believe to be demonstrably shaky at best, but it seems she's just not all that willing to risk her career to serve her White House masters. Yesterday she announcecd she would not support the bill coming out of the Finance Committee, otherwise known as the "Baucus Compromise". That means not a single Republican is supporting the so-called "compromise" which leaves one wondering what sort of compomise garners support from precisely zero from within the opposition's ranks. Trust, if even Olympia Snowe won't fall for it, it must be a whopper of a bill. And the Democrats panic proves, as Ed Morrissey notes, that the Democrats must not have the other 59 votes they need to pass the bill. That's because some Democrat senators do not like it, either.

This means that the Democrats will have to try reconciliation to get the bill through the Senate. Snowe’s rejection, however, hides another unpleasant fact that would have been apparent, which is that Democrats don’t have all of the other 59 votes needed, either. Other Democrats have already expressed unhappiness with individual mandates, IRS involvement, and the costs.

One of those Democrats is John D. Rockefeller (D-WV), who also announced yesterday he, too, will oppose the bill. Echoing the sentiments of Senator Snowe, Rockefeller said, "The way it is now, there's no way I can vote for the Senate package," and promised to have "many, many, many amendments" to add to the bill.

With Obamacare facing it's highest opposition ever, and only seven days after the messiah delivered his word to the masses on the Hill, perhaps the president could start changing his tune, starting with telling the truth. It turns out Joe Wilson, while admitting he acted inappropriately, was correct in calling the president a liar. His vindication coming when the Senate decided the fix the loophole in HR3200 that would have allowed illegal aliens to use universal health coverage. It also turns out the Baucus bill most certainly does cut Medicare, even after the president assured us in his Sermon on the Hill (get it?) that such claims were a myth.

But what does a raving racist lunatic like me know?