what exactly was max baucus doing for the past few months? i mean, supposedly he was negotiating his fantabulous health care compromise plan with the republicans.
the idea of negotiations is that you start at point X and make concessions in exchange for votes. that's the point, getting votes, not making concessions. you find things you're willing to give on in return for securing support of the overall bill. you justify the concessions because you had to do that to get the votes you need and you decide that having a bill with the conceded ground is better than having no bill at all.
but apparently that's not what baucus was doing. he wasn't negotiating, he was simply conceding. without a quid pro quo, there's no reason for anyone on the pro-reform side to accept the concessions. this is simply the health insurance industry's bill under the guise of some grand bipartisan compromise. but the ruse can't work unless he gets at least one GOPer for cover. if we had a rational political culture the entire baucus effort would be universally viewed as a joke. unfortunately, that's not our political culture.
