Running Away From Responsibility

Like whining children throwing a tantrum, House Republicans want 100% of their demands met on health care reform, the President to scrap both health care bills in Congress, and to pass the GOP House health care bill before they will even negotiate.

Leading House Republicans raised the prospect Monday night that they might refuse to participate in President Obama's proposed health care summit if the White House chooses not to scrap the existing reform bills and start over.

In a letter to White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (Ohio) and Minority Whip Eric Cantor (Va.) expressed frustration at reports that Obama intends to put the Democratic bills on the table for discussion at the Feb. 25 summit.

"If the starting point for this meeting is the job-killing bills the American people have already soundly rejected, Republicans would rightly be reluctant to participate," Boehner and Cantor wrote.

In other words, House Republicans want the starting point of negotiations to be the House GOP bill.  They want all the negotiations and all the legislation crafted over the last year scrapped.  The minority party wants the starting point to be a complete victory for the Republicans.

And then, only then, will they come to the table to tell the Democrats what they will allow the American people to have in a health care plan.  After all, didn't you hear the GOP controls Congress?

I'm with Nate Silver.  Show the empty chairs at the health care summit.  Then pass the damn bill.  The GOP will never, never negotiate.  It's time to stop trying.

[UPDATE 7:32 AM] Ezra Klein sums it up:

The Republicans might want to act like they're the majority, but they remain the minority. That's why they're afraid of this summit: They know that the majority can still pass a bill, and it's in the majority's interests to pass a bill, and they want to keep that from happening. But they can't. Only the Democrats can.

Pass the damn bill.

[UPDATE 9:24 AM] John Cole too sees an opportunity.

I know you all won’t do it, but this really is a gimme. Set up the room with a side for the Democrats, including nameplates, one for the Republicans, including nameplates, and hold the summit no matter what. If they come, you can have the summit. If they don’t, then you can have the summit without them, and can use the time (as the camera pans over their empty seats) to promote the positive aspects of the current bill all while discussing the only GOP plan out there- the Paul Ryan bill. I’d suggest panning the room a good bit.

And if the Republicans don’t take a hit in the polls for refusing to show up, and if the media does not rip the Republicans apart, then you all can take out a shovel, beat bipartisanship in the back of the damned head until dead, and bury it in the WH yard, and start acting like you have large majorities.

Amen, Brother Cole. If they bail on this, annihilate them.  It's well past time America saw the Republicans for what they are:  the Party Of We'll Let America Go To Hell In Order To Get Power Back.