Negotiating In Good Faith

Senate "Gang of Six" member Chuck Grassley had his own town hall meeting today, in which he displayed his keen negotiating skills and informed his Iowa constituents on how he is helping America towards finding a serious, bipartisan solution to our health care crisis.

...Just kidding, he spent most of his time scaring the crap out of people with threats of Obama coming to kill your Grandmother.

Appearing at a town hall in his home state of Iowa, Sen. Chuck Grassley told a crowd of more than 300 that they were correct to fear that the government would "pull the plug on grandma."

"There is some fear because in the House bill, there is counseling for end-of-life," Grassley said. "And from that standpoint, you have every right to fear. You shouldn't have counseling at the end of life. You ought to have counseling 20 years before you're going to die. You ought to plan these things out. And I don't have any problem with things like living wills. But they ought to be done within the family. We should not have a government program that determines if you're going to pull the plug on grandma."

Which it's not. But there's zero penalty and only upside if Grassley continues to tell these lies. Why shouldn't he?

Remember, Grassley is basically the GOP's point man and lead negotiator in the Senate on health care reform. This shows you just how "serious" the Republicans are about negotiating in good faith, when the lead Senator is spending his time during the recess telling his constituents that the government has no business in people's family planning matters. (Well, that is unless you're looking for an abortion. In that particular life or death matter, I'm sure Grassley would agree the government has every right if not every duty to get between you and your doctor.)

On the other hand, as I said, what's the penalty for Grassley to continue to lie? Republicans have no desire to reform health care. Ever.