Thank God he can still speak out. I always loved the guy, endorsed him in 1996, admire his midwestern Toryism, and his Gen-X sense of humor. He's right about this:
"This is one of the most important measures members of Congress will vote on in their lifetimes," the former Republican Senate majority leader and presidential candidate told an audience in Kansas City today. "If we don't do it this year I don't know when we're gonna do it."
Once you put this together with the CBO report arguing that the Baucus model will actually save money and cut the deficit (and with a fair public option could cut it some more), I think Obama is winning this argument, as the polls increasingly show. And if the reform proves popular, then the GOP will for ever be tarred as the party that refused to help more people get health insurance or to tackle healthcare costs.
Or as the Dish has sometimes said: beep beep.