What's A Gang With No Members?

Sens. Grassley And Enzi At Your Service!

Anger bear Sen. Mike Enzi of Wyoming, the second ranking Republican involved in bipartisan health care negotiations, wants to reform health care in much the same way that his superior Sen. Charles Grassley does: by promptly massacring any health care reform bill that comes his way.

This is not good for the Gang of Six, people! It's so bad in fact that even resident White House blabbermouth Robert Gibbs admitted the once-powerful Gang of Six might be the wimpy Gang of Five, now that Enzi has decided to throw his massive body in the way of health care progress of any kind.

"In Senator Enzi's case, he doesn't believe there's a pathway to get bipartisan support and the President thinks that's wrong," Gibbs said. "I think Senator Enzi's clearly turned over his cards on bipartisanship and decided that it's time to walk away from the table."

But what about those "good-faith" negotiations that lead Republican Twitter Bug Sen. Charles "Chuck" Grassley has been working so hard to fit into his 140-character limit?

As ranking member of the Finance Committee and the Republican go-to guy on health care negotiations, surely Grassley cares about developing a solid, workable, bipartisan compromise on health-care reform more than his own 2010 re-election chances, right?

Without a doubt. You can see just how passionate his commitment to helping solve the country's pressing health care crisis is by reading one of his recent fundraising letters, dated August 10:

I had to rush you this Air-Gram today to set the record straight on my firm and unwavering opposition to government-run health care.

And ask your immediate support in helping me defeat "Obama-care."

I’m sure you’ve been following this issue closely. If the legislation sponsored by Speaker Nancy Pelosi in the House of Representatives and Chairman Ted Kennedy in the Senate is passed it would be a pathway to a government takeover of the health care svstem. lt would turn over control of your health care decisions to a federal bureaucrat … and take it away from you and your personal physician.

It would mean government rationing in the name of cost controls.

The simple truth is that I am and always have been opposed to the Obama administration’s plan to nationalize health care.

Thank goodness he was able to squeeze in those underlines before the Air-Gram patrol came for pick-up! Otherwise, how would we ever know which parts were important enough to read?

But doesn't it at least make you feel good to know how hard he's trying?