The Trouble With Appeasement:‘You can have everything you want in bill-they still won’t vote for it”

The Trouble With Appeasement

Paul Krugman on MSNBC discusses his view that “you can’t actually satisfy the crazies by trying to offer substantive concessions”

Very true. And as Steve Benen says John Harwood’s point may be even more fundamental: “I gotta tell you what a White House official told me today: ‘Our problem right now is, if we tell some of the Republican opponents in the Senate, ‘You can have everything you want in the bill,’ they still won’t vote for it.’” In part, as per Benen, I think that’s because “Republican lawmakers don’t support meaningful health care reform.”

But I think there’s a larger dynamic at play. In foreign policy, liberals often believe that disputes with foreign actors can and should be settled through negotiation and compromise. That’s because international relations isn’t a zero-sum affair. Conflict is costly to both parties, good relations bring benefits to both parties, so disagreement is generally amenable to compromise. Ideological disagreement isn’t zero-sum either. Neither conservatives nor progressives are wedded to principles that require defense of wasteful Medicare spending. But partisan politics is zero-sum. A “win” for the Democrats is a “loss” for Republicans. And I the predominant thinking in the Republican Party at the moment is that inflicting legislative defeats on Democrats will lead to electoral defeats for Democrats. That makes the GOP hard to bargain with.

more:
http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/08/the-trouble-with-appeasement.php

He says that they don't like Medicare because it doesn't pay doctors enough, and that is the reason for the doctor shortage in these areas.":crazy:

My own observation, while sitting in the Opthalmology waiting room at the Duke University clinic. was that half the people there were from rural areas. Most were getting cataract surgery---paid for by MEDICARE!

I had cataract surgery for one eye, and the total cost to me was $15,000 out of pocket, JUST FOR ONE EYE!!!:mad:

The reason I had to pay out of pocket was that I am not old enough to get Medicare, and I was turned down by Blue Cross for having a pre-existing condition (migraine Headaches). :mad: Also, if you don't have medical insurance or Medicare, you have no power to bargain for cheaper rates. Most Medicare patients have NO IDEA how much their surgery would really cost, without their "government" insurance.

Wonder if Grassly knows the cost of cataract surgery for one eye!
:nuke:

The Repubs are not going to vote for anything. So why bother?