Bad Faith Arguments

GOP Sen. Mike Enzi, one of the Republicans in the Senate Finance Committee in charge of "negotiating" health care reform legislation, had his own town hall meeting back in his home state of Wyoming, where he cheerfully admitted to his constituents that his job was to in fact completely derail any and all health care reform.

Mike Enzi, one of three Republicans ostensibly negotiating health care reform as part of the Senate's "Gang of Six," told a Wyoming town hall crowd that he had no plans to compromise with Democrats and was merely trying to extract concessions.

"It's not where I get them to compromise, it's what I get them to leave out," Enzi said Monday, according to the Billings Gazette.

Enzi found himself under attack at the town hall simply for sitting in the same room as the three Finance Committee Democrats. Republicans in the crowd called for him to exit the talks. He assured conservatives that his presence was delaying health care reform.

"If I hadn't been involved in this process as long as I have and to the depth as I have, you would already have national health care," he said.

"Someone has to be at the table asking questions," Enzi said. "If you're not at the table, you're on the menu."

So, one of the three Senators on the Republican side in charge of hammering out legislation is telling his constituents that only his presence has stopped actual health care reform from becoming law.

For months now I have been saying this. Republicans will never allow health care reform to pass if the Democrats can take credit for a good bill. Now, if it's a lousy bill filled with billions for the insurance companies, well the Republicans are more than happy to let the Dems take all the credit in the world.

But the God's honest truth is that the Republicans want to kill this dead. Democrats need to stop pretending otherwise.