The Time for GOP Shenanigans on Health Care Is Over, Now It's Up to the Dems -- Will They Deliver a Public Option?

Republicans have been whining recently about being shut out of the drafting of health care reform legislation.

President Obama has cut off communication with Republican leaders, going more than four months without hosting the bipartisan congressional leadership at the White House to discuss his health care proposal, the No. 2 Republican in the House said Wednesday.

Maybe that has something to with the fact that Republicans have made clear that as many concessions as Obama was willing to make, Republicans didn't have a single one of their own. Not one. There was nothing Democrats could do to get GOP support. They simply wouldn't vote for anything remotely infringing on the insurance companies' ability to screw patients over.

Satisfying every Republican demand short of scrapping the entire project, said Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), would still not capture GOP support.

"Senator Kyl and some of the others have talked about some of the things that are happening in committee," McConnell told reporters, referring to Senate Finance Committee Republican Jon Kyl of Arizona.

"But the core point is this: At the end of the day, if the government plan is either in the bill or out of the bill, whether they will be able to argue successfully or not whether tax funds are gonna be provided for abortion, whether or not they will be able to argue at the end that dollars for health care for illegals is in or out, what we do know is what the core of the bill is going to look like. We know that for sure," he said.

So they're not willing to make concessions, they're not willing to vote for anything, make up outrageous lies about killing grandmothers, and then they whine about being cut out of the process? The only frustration has been Democrats' insistence on making something work. Cantor may not be getting any phone calls from the White House, but Olympia Snowe is now co-president, and don't get me started on Max Baucus.