A Bridge Too Far

Ben Nelson now is going for the brass ring, demanding to roll back the health care bill back beyond the Baucus Bill into GOP plan territory:

Nelson's key points:

1. Asked if he would vote for cloture even if his initiative to restrict abortion were adopted, Nelson flatly said "no."

2. Nelson not only said a vote before Christmas was not feasible, he joked about it taking until next Christmas.

3. Nelson said unless the bill's Medicaid expansion provisions were made optional he would oppose cloture.

4. Nelson said the bill's revenue provisions were unacceptable because the economy was bad.

5. Nelson said because the subsidies which provide the bill's coverage expansion couldn't be paid for without additional revenue, they needed to be "scaled-back"

6. Nelson also that unless cost control were addressed first, coverage couldn't be expanded.

In sum: unless Ben Nelson is bluffing, the only way he will vote for cloture is if abortion is restricted, the subsidies are whacked, the revenue provisions are nuked, and its Medicaid expansion is gutted. Oh, and he doesn't think there's any chance of it happening by Christmas.

As Bob Cesca puts it:

Enough is enough. It's time to slam the door in Ben Nelson's bulbous Flintstone face, lock down Olympia Snowe and pass this son of a bitch.

Bob, he speaks the truth.  Especially with this bit of news from Susie Madrak:

 I was pleasantly surprised to hear that they would be submitting an HHS bill in the near future – they’d “just this week” gotten funding to address any safety concerns, but more importantly, to start putting an infrastructure in place to import drugs.

Pass the bill.  Improve it.  You're going to have to.  But make it law, then fix the damn thing.  Either way, it's time to call Nelson's bluff and go for Snowe.  Otherwise we'll be right back here again in February.

Or April.

Or July.