Grassley Calls it a Day on Health Reform

Chuck Grassley is listening to his angry mobs who he fed with lies and distortions about health care reform (read the wingnut interpretation of "Obamacare" that's being spread faster than wildfire here). How disingenuous of him. I'd say this is a pretty clear signal that the republicans are done with reform. The question is--are democrats bold enough to come up with a smart and comprehensive bill? If this was a republican cause, I bet they would. But I'm not sure about the democrats:

Sen. Charles E. Grassley, a key Republican negotiator in the quest for bipartisan health-care reform, said Wednesday that the outpouring of anger at town hall meetings this month has fundamentally altered the nature of the debate and convinced him that lawmakers should consider drastically scaling back the scope of the effort.

After being besieged by protesters at meetings across his home state of Iowa, Grassley said he has concluded that the public has rejected the far-reaching proposals Democrats have put on the table, viewing them as overly expensive precursors to "a government takeover of health care."

Grassley said he remains hopeful that he and five other members of the Senate Finance Committee can draft a better, less costly plan capable of winning broad support from Democrats and Republicans. But as the group, known as the Gang of Six, prepared to continue talking via teleconference late Thursday, Grassley said the members may be forced to reassess the breadth of their efforts in light of public concerns. WaPo

Chuck Todd says Grassley is looking to get fired from healthcare talks, but he said Obama won't let him off that easy. Sen. Olympia Snowe agrees with Grassley. She says status quo is best:

"If there's anything we've learned during the course of this August recess," Snowe said in a telephone interview Wednesday, "it's that there are many people who are satisfied with their health insurance. And that's important. And we want to make sure it stays that way."

Dems are considering splitting the bill in two:

The White House and Senate Democratic leaders, seeing little chance of bipartisan support for their health-care overhaul, are considering a strategy shift that would break the legislation into two parts and pass the most expensive provisions solely with Democratic votes.

The idea is the latest effort by Democrats to escape the morass caused by delays in Congress, as well as voter discontent crystallized in angry town-hall meetings. Polls suggest the overhaul plans are losing public support, giving Republicans less incentive to go along.

Democrats hope a split-the-bill plan would speed up a vote and help President Barack Obama meet his goal of getting a final measure by year's end. WSJ