Jamelle Bouie takes E.D. Kain to task:
[T]he idea that there are Republican votes for a conservative health care bill (it’s already pretty moderate) is a complete fiction. The truth is that Republicans have made a conscious choice to categorically oppose each and every one of President Obama’s priorities, under the theory that obstruction is the surest way back to political success. Judging from their success so far, I think it’s fair to say that isn’t going to change anytime soon. To pretend otherwise, as E.D. does, is to be willfully ignorant of political reality.
Yglesias has a similar thought:
[T]he Republican strategy of holding out for total surrender is working just fine. They had an interesting theory that if you refuse to cooperate with efforts to make the country better, things won’t get better and the out-of-power party will benefit. The theory appears to be true.
That's why I keep using the term nihilism. For the GOP it's simply about power and status; they don't actually have any solutions to the problems we face. But they can stop any real solutions from being implemented. It's pure Rove. But I think it will fail – because, in the end, the public knows that we need to address these problems. If Obama can rally the ranks at the SOTU, frame the issue as doing something versus doing nothing, this could be a pivotal moment when the GOP's bluff is called. In prime time.
Call it. And that's the transformational moment, for those of us who supported Obama to get out of this cycle of polarizing nothingness. Maybe this process is necessary. Because it is educational. Because the bankruptcy of the right, the cynicism of the right, and the narcissism of the right is exposed.
In other words, don't let the Rovians get into your heads. Stick with the problems; propose solutions; demand constructive alternatives from the GOP. And wrap up health reform with budget balancing in the SOTU.
Know hope.
The Dish 