Why the Tea-Party Movement Matters: ObamaCare Edition

by Paul A. Rahe

There is on YouTube an hilarious video, drawn from C-SPAN2, of Max Baucus on the Senate floor denouncing his Republican colleagues and even more emphatically the Republican leadership for squelching attempts at what he piously describes as bipartisan healthcare reform.

The senior Senator from Montana has obviously had a snootful; he is having considerable difficulty in managing the English language; and he is evidently as mad as a wet hen.

I do not blame Baucus – neither for the excessive imbibing nor for being angry. He is now in a pickle. He was the point man for the Democrats’ healthcare initiative in the Senate, and for perfectly predicable reasons his constituents out in Montana are none too happy with him.

In the meantime, Baucus has been caught in the limelight trying to install his live-in girlfriend Melodee Hanes as a federal district attorney, and evidence has come to light that – some months before his wife of twenty-five years became aware that a divorce was even contemplated – he was meeting with a divorce lawyer, and the lady he now lives with (then a member of his Senate staff and married herself) was in attendance as well.

It is, of course, perfectly possible that this last tidbit is indicative of nothing and that there was no hanky-panky going on. But Baucus’s constituents may have trouble imagining why Melodee Hanes should have been there unless she was – how shall I say? – an interested party.

These are the times that try a Senator’s soul.

I do not blame Baucus for being upset. Back in January, it looked as if everything was coming up roses. The pharmaceutical industry had been beaten into submission; the insurance industry was on board. The American Medical Association had been bought off, and he knew that it would not be hard to mollify the American Association of Retired Persons.

Moreover, Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) seemed to be prepared to give the Democrats a measure of bipartisan cover, and he had every reason to hope that he would emerge as a hero to near-universal applause.

Senator Baucus is wrong, however, in singling out Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) and the others in the Republican leadership for obloquy. I do not doubt that McConnell let Grassley and Snowe know that, if they played ball with Baucus, they could expect little, if any help down the road from him.

But, let’s face it, in January, McConnell had little in the way of leverage. The Democrats had just won a smashing victory in the elections for the Senate and the House. He was in an unenviable position, and he could hardly suppose that he could impose any discipline on his caucus.

It was the Tea-Party explosion in the Spring and the even larger explosion that took place in the town halls in August that made the difference. The Democrats had bought off the special interests, but they had neglected to consider the American people – and thanks to the looting embedded in the so-called “stimulus” bill and what the latter promised to do to the federal deficit, those who paid attention to what was going on were hopping mad, and their fury soon spread to retirees and those able to foresee retirement when the members of these two groups realized that the Democrats were intent on gutting Medicare and rationing healthcare for seniors.

Charles Grassley is living proof of the vital importance of the Tea-Party Movement. At the beginning of August, he was ready to deal. By the time that he had toured Iowa during the recess, however, he knew that his career was on the line, and he made a 180 degree turn. It took Olympia Snowe a bit longer to wake up to the new reality, but she, too, soon fell in line.

And that left poor Max, who had always masqueraded as a moderate, twisting, twisting in the wind.

In all of this, there is a moral. For the defense of their interests, the American people have to look to themselves. They cannot look to the Democratic Party, and, over the next few years, they must make sure that Republicans like Grassley and Snowe know what is good for them. If they do, they can turn what tends to be a party of patronage, only marginally less corrupt than the alternative, into a genuine party of principle committed to rolling back the administrative state.

If I may borrow a line from Don Corleone, the Tea-Party Movement must make the Republicans an offer the latter cannot refuse.

As for Max Baucus, the Tea-Partyers in Montana should send him a case of his favorite tipple. He is going to need it.


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Posted Dec 28th 2009 at 6:01 am in Congress, Featured Story, Healthcare, Politics, Tea Party | 130 Comments