before the health care vote, ready to deal in terms of something on energy and climate change. that s the big golden prize out there before the mid-term elections. the president still thinks he can do something big in terms of a comprehensive election. susan collins is important for that. they want to remind voters this was a middle of the road centrist position on health care. to repackage this in terms of taking on republican ideas, it s stale part of a sales pitch he has to do. there was something interesting about the sales pitch we noted earlier. republicans are crazy because the doomsday scenarios have not materialized yet. but people who think there should have been good things by now are also crazy. did he note that beforehand? is it a distinction without a difference or what?
concerns of so many social conservatives to whom they look to for financial support. at a time you when republicans are complaining about spending in washington by democrats, look, if you can t run a party, you certainly can t run a country. they ran a nice party in louisiana. a party in new orleans entitled, party in ponchetrain. one participant will not be on hand to help. sarah palin asking the rnc to take her name off the fund-raiser invite. he also will not speak. the fund-raising mailer sent out in january, the one that looks like a census form, has an even bigger surprise contained within. when one recipient called the number listed on the form to complain, the kaurm was offered
stay quiet or something. that s not something they can campaign against anymore. it s really the first time in months that republicans are unable to come up with a coherent message of what they re going to do if voters trust them. how they re going to stop barack obama. they re moving their way through a forest they don t understand. we re used to these people being on message. do the tea partiers see the at all yet how they have been played here? they got whipped into a fearful frenzy for one purpose, which was to protect insurance companies? the tea parties are expecting repeal. this is why republicans are in such a bind. you can t go back to a town hall or campaign if you deny you re going to repeal this p john mccain promised they re going to repeal the bill. he knows this can t happen. they ll be in this strip of
that s what tea party activists will tell you. they gave up on republicans because they couldn t enact their promises the last time they were in congress. isn t that the other perhaps the one we re ignoring, the unanswered question? health care reform was sold as the apocalypse. the end of america, pulling of the plug for granny, death panels. and yet there hasn t been any republican who proposed repealing those things. the burr version is essentially tweaks. they have been. you can t really promise to repeal something that s not going to exist. that s the problem. one of the white house s fairy tales that got borne out. now that the bill passed, republicans are focusing on things like companies that say they re going to suffer when this goes through. that s not as scary as tying down grandmother and making her
senators from maine, susan collins and olympia snow. the president went out of way talking about olympia snow as his friend. susan collins important because she s one of a handful of republicans who is willing to talk about energy and climate change. these two votes are still in the president s mind. if not in the president s mind, he wants to look like he is reasonable and has his own independent streak. in other words what he s doing now is not so much about health care or the next important vote. how does this factor in with the maine senators and chuck grassley of iowa. you re right to mention chuck grassley. they held out for chuck grassley and it was a stalling tactic. it didn t work. you can talk you about whether it was disingenuous or not. it was a red herring. but susan collins, when it comes to energy and climate change is one of a half dozen republicans who were in the cabinet room