Wingnuts Succeed in Derailing Healthcare Reform Thus Far

So far the wingnuts have succeeded and that's really sad. Irrationality, violence, hatred and lies shouldn't prevail.

Just two days after sharing his fond memories of longtime friend and Senate colleague Ted Kennedy, Republican Orrin Hatch said Sunday that one of the main provisions of a Democratic plan for health care reform – a public policy initiative that Kennedy had referred to as the “cause of my life” – stood little chance of passing in the Senate.

“Is there any chance – despite the passing of your friend – is there any chance that a bill with a public option is going to pass the United States Senate?,” CNN Chief National Correspondent John King asked Hatch Sunday on State of the Union.

“I really don’t think so,” Hatch bluntly replied.

The Utah Republican noted that health care accounts for one-sixth of the U.S. economy and that the country faces projections of mounting budget deficits in the next decade.

“Our senior citizens are scared to death,” Hatch said. CNN

Seniors are scared to death and who's to blame? Wingnuts and the republican party for supporting the wingnuts. Fear works best of all. People also blame Obama for not laying out precisely what health care reform should be, even though he did lay out a set of guiding principles.

I think Obama was counting on people to behave like adults, coming together through debate and hashing out a plan. Who knew wingnuts would bring guns to health care town halls or compare Obama to Hitler? Who knew they'd come out so strong? Our underbelly is thrashing because the nation is changing. Imagine what it must feel like to be a wingnut. The whole world is changing around them.

Democrats can share some blame too. They don't seem to be very confident in their ability to come up with a great bill, to be able to accomplish a bill that abides by the guiding principles. They don't seem confident in the intention of reform.

Liberals thought they could demand the public option and get it. Some even thought nationalized health care was passable. In a way, everyone is to blame and maybe getting health care done piece by piece is a better idea.

Will the course of the health care change over the next month? Will supporters of health care reform show their faces?

Apparently, there was a "TeddyCare" rally yesterday, but there wasn't much said about it in the media.