David Frum Thinks HCR Reform Bill is a Republican Waterloo.

I just can’t resist posting this piece of art by David Frum, who believes Republicans screwed themselves in their all-or-nothing stance on health care reform.  To wit:

It’s hard to exaggerate the magnitude of the disaster. Conservatives may cheer themselves that they’ll compensate for today’s expected vote with a big win in the November 2010 elections. But:

(1) It’s a good bet that conservatives are over-optimistic about November – by then the economy will have improved and the immediate goodies in the healthcare bill will be reaching key voting blocs.

(2) So what? Legislative majorities come and go. This healthcare bill is forever. A win in November is very poor compensation for this debacle now.

He also wrote:

At the beginning of this process we made a strategic decision: unlike, say, Democrats in 2001 when President Bush proposed his first tax cut, we would make no deal with the administration. No negotiations, no compromise, nothing. We were going for all the marbles. This would be Obama’s Waterloo – just as healthcare was Clinton’s in 1994.

Only, the hardliners overlooked a few key facts: Obama was elected with 53% of the vote, not Clinton’s 42%. The liberal block within the Democratic congressional caucus is bigger and stronger than it was in 1993-94. And of course the Democrats also remember their history, and also remember the consequences of their 1994 failure.

This time, when we went for all the marbles, we ended with none.

And that’s the lesson here that Republicans need to learn, if they are ever to become more than just the crazy Aunt at Thanksgiving dinner.  As the details of this bill are consumed and digested, Republicans are going to discover very quickly that there is much in this legislation for Americans to cheer.  No more insurer rescission.  Who in their right mind would be against that?  No more denial of coverage due to pre-existing conditions.  A final solution to the Medicare Part D donut hole.  One thing we learned from Seniors during this entire debate is not to fuck with their Medicare.  Any Republican attempting a repeal or running a campaign on the idea that the bill was a disaster will not be taken seriously by most Independents, and it is the Indies who make or break every election.

Republicans forgot this fact during the last two national elections.  Are they smart enough to re-learn it in time, or will they revert back to form; insulting and threatening anyone who does not agree with them?

I include this last quote from Frum’s article just because Limbaugh deserves it:

When Rush Limbaugh said that he wanted President Obama to fail, he was intelligently explaining his own interests. What he omitted to say – but what is equally true – is that he also wants Republicans to fail. If Republicans succeed – if they govern successfully in office and negotiate attractive compromises out of office – Rush’s listeners get less angry. And if they are less angry, they listen to the radio less, and hear fewer ads for Sleepnumber beds.