By BaxterWell, it's about time. We cats PURR in the direction of Michael Tomasky over at The Guardian, for explaining why healthcare reform has been so ugly. Yes, folks, the culprit is the GOP — the party that has been purged of all reason.
"Lyndon Johnson got 83 Republican congressional votes for Medicare [in 1965]," Mr. Tomasky writes. "And he didn't have to lift a finger for most of them. They were moderates... But in 2009? Believe me, I'd be a happy camper if this bill had had the support of even five moderate GOP senators and 12 moderate GOP House members. But they no longer exist."
Forty Republicans marching in lockstep against giving Americans what other Western democracies can take for granted — healthcare as a right, not a privilege — is a problem. It gives the Democratic majority absolutely no wiggle room: They must get 60 votes, and do to so they have to make deals, including some pretty unattractive ones. Why the cable-news talking heads in the U.S. haven't been all over this point, we cats have no idea. But it's one of the main reasons we've been reluctant to jump on the isn't-this-bill-awful bandwagon.
Note to all you alleged journalists out there: The next time you find yourself blathering about the minefield Harry Reid has had to negotiate, try asking yourselves why.
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