Democrats: "We need health care reform" Republicans: "Liberal fascists! Give us a majority and we'll do it better" Democrats: "Done, you have majority of both houses" 12 years later, health care is irrefutably worse in every respect for every single person in the United States Democrats: "We need health care reform" Republicans: "Liberal fascists! Americans are tired of partisan politics!" Democrats: "OK, let's compromise" Republicans: "OK, get rid of half your ideas" Democrats: "Done" Republicans: "Too liberal, get rid of half your ideas" Democrats: "Done" Republicans: "Too liberal, get rid of half your ideas" Democrats: "Done" Republicans: "Too liberal, get rid of half your ideas" Democrats: "Done" Republicans: "Too liberal, get rid of half your ideas" Democrats: "Done. Time to end debate" Republicans: "Too liberal, we need more debate, we will filibuster to prevent you from voting" Democrats: "OK, we'll vote--sorry guys, debate is ended. It's time to vote on the bill" Republicans: "Too liberal, we vote no" Democrats: "OK, it passed anyway--sorry guys." One month later Republicans: "Wait--wait, OK, we have less of a minority now so we can filibuster forever." Democrats: "Sorry, the bill already passed, we need it to pass the House now" Republicans: "But we have enough to filibuster" Democrats: "Sorry, the bill already passed, we need it to pass the House now" Republicans: "Liberal fascists! You haven't listened to our ideas! You've shut us out of this whole process!" Democrats: "Sorry, show us your proposal" Republicans: "Smaller government" Democrats: "That's not very specific" Republicans: "OK, here's our detailed proposal--It's our common-sense ideas we spent 12 years not enacting" Democrats: "OK, we'll add a bunch more of your ideas" Republicans: "Liberal fascists! You included all these back-room deals" Democrats: "OK, we'll get rid of the back-room deals" Republicans: "Liberal fascists! You're using obscure procedural tricks to eliminate the back-room deals!" Democrats: "No, we're using reconciliation, which both parties have used dozens of times for much larger bills" Republicans: "Liberal fascists! You're pressuring Congressmen to vote for your bill! Scandal!" Democrats: "It's called 'whipping', it's been done since 1789" Republicans: "Liberal fascists! Can't you see the American people don't want this?" Democrats: "This bill is mildly unpopular (40-50%), doing nothing (your proposal) is extraordinarily unpopular (4-6%)" Republicans: "We need to start over! We need to start over!" Democrats: "We should really consider voting--" Republicans: "Liberal fascists! Start over! Clean slate! Common-sense! America!" http://crooksandliars.com/node/35805