With Max Baucus’ disastrous healthcare bill unveiled last week without even providing a weak public option, I agree with Mitchell Bard’s contention that Democrats need to get a backbone and stop trying to woo Republicans.

But I am not convinced that Baucus himself (and many other, though not all, Democrats) has simply been a part of this attempt to find common ground with Republicans in a wrong-headed attempt to compromise that has backfired.  Baucus never, ever showed signs of anything other than being a friend of corporate healthcare.  His Senate hearings in May didn’t include anyone backing single payer, and as made clear by Peter Dreier, two of his former chiefs of staff are now lobbyists for the healthcare industry, he has consistently been against the public option, and is well entrenched in the pockets of the health insurance industry.

With some individual exceptions, the Democratic party is very much a corporate party. It is not simply the good guy who tries to make peace with these over-the-top Republicans in an effort at bi-partisan law making.

And Baucus sits as one of the parties most strident corporate cheerleaders.    If there is some backbone in the Democrats, it won’t come from Baucus.  I am not feeling particularily hopeful, but let’s hope the Dems take Bard’s excellent advice: “Forget Baucus’s bill. Don’t give the Republicans another victory (one which represents a defeat for the American people). Pass meaningful health care reform, even if not a single Republican votes for it.” 

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