The Master Sausage Maker Back in the Kitchen

UPDATE Below

For all the claims that President Obama and Senate Democrats have finally accepted reality and stopped thinking any republican will vote for any health care reform bill, no matter how castrated and worthless, both the White House and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid are letting repug Sen. Charles Grassley continue torturing reform to death in the Finance Committee.

Robert Reich writes:

I really don't get it. We have a Democratic president in the White House. Democrats control 60 votes in the Senate, enough to overcome a filibuster. It is possible to pass healthcare legislation through the Senate with 51 votes (that's what George W. Bush did with his tax-cut plan). Democrats control the House. The Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, is a tough lady. She has said there will be no healthcare reform bill without a public option.

So why does the fate of healthcare rest in Grassley's hands?

It's not even as if the gang represents America. The three Dems in the gang are from Montana, New Mexico and North Dakota – states that together account for just over 1 percent of Americans. The three Republicans are from Maine, Wyoming and Iowa, which together account for 1.6 percent of the American population.

So, I repeat: Why has it come down to these six? Who anointed them? Apparently, the White House. At least that's what I'm repeatedly being told by sources both on the Hill and in the administration. "The Finance Committee is where the action is. They'll tee up the final bill," says someone who should know.

Maybe Obama and Reid haven't slapped Grassley and his gang down because they know they've got an ace in the House: Master Sausage-Maker Henry Waxman, 20-term Democrat of California.

At FiredogLake, emptywheel writes that Waxman has just begun to fight.

In a jello-wrestling match between Rahm Emanuel and Henry Waxman, I think I'd bet on the latter. While Rahm has been frantically and loudly pursuing two opposing strategies--the Messina-Baucus welfare program for the insurance industry hidden under the guise of the public option kabuki, Waxman has been quietly preparing for battle in September. And it sounds like the insurance industry is getting increasingly worried that Waxman will be better prepared than Rahm and his little kabuki dance.

House Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman raised eyebrows this week when he launched a financial probe into the nation's largest insurance companies, which are at the center of the health reform battle.

Now POLITICO has learned that Waxman's recent investigation began almost a month earlier than previously thought - with letters to the insurance industry's powerful trade group and its consultant regarding grassroots tactics.

SNIP

I'm getting a feeling that the untold--and developing--story of this health care debate is that when Waxman was forced to push through an imperfect bill with the Blue Dogs on his committee, when he got stuck in negotiations with Rahm just before the break, he realized he was getting screwed. And, lucky for us, he was in a position to do something about it, to prepare for the fight that will come in September.

Read the whole thing.

This is not going to be over until the final bill emerges, covered in the blood of Blue Dogs, from the conference committee.

So keep up the pressure:

Here's a quick way to get to the contact information for your elected officials. (Scroll down to box on the right labelled "My Elected Officials" and enter your zip code.)

Alternatively, Max at Firedoglake explains how to put recalcitrant congress critters up against the wall - the Facebook wall.

UPDATE, 6:45 a.m. On a conference call with Sen. Max Baucus, Montana county Democratic Party chairs force the Senate Finance Committee Chairman to declare his support for a public option.