Obama on ObamaCare: Can you smell the bipartisan consensus?

If he can convince himself that the Taliban’s no longer an enemy, it figures that he’d think a 34/47 split on ObamaCare in the latest poll (and 42/47 across a spectrum) represents “consensus.” Although, in fairness, this isn’t an assessment based on polls: The chief evidence of Republican support, starting here at around 1:20, comes from the much-despised governor of the fiscal catastrophe known as California, the RINO-turned-independent mayor of New York, 85-year-old Bob Dole, and Bill Frist, whose most recent comment on ObamaCare is that he wouldn’t vote for the Baucus plan. And Frist isn’t the only one whose support for reform is more nuanced than The One’s letting on. Over to you, Tapper:

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But as Republican aides in the Senate point out, the devil — as always — is in the details.

On Fox News Channel’s “Your World With Neil Cavuto” on Oct. 9, Dole said Republicans are “not going to buy on to all the excise taxes that Sen. Baucus put on the bill. It’s going to drive insurance companies out of business. We believe in the private sector.”…

Thompson said in a statement with former House Majority Leader Dick Gephardt, D-Mo., “Failure to reach an agreement on health reform this year is not an acceptable option.”

They added: “Clearly, there are some issues that remain troublesome and unresolved in the Senate Finance Committee’s bill, but there are opportunities to debate these issues further as Congress moves in both Houses toward enactment of health reform this session. Differences in approach among committees in the Senate and House should not obscure the fact that there is also substantial common ground and compatible provisions between the Senate Finance Committee bill, the Senate HELP reform bill and H.R. 3200 in the House of Representatives.”

And Schwarzenegger has said, “The House originally proposed fully funding the expansion with federal dollars, but due to cost concerns, members decided to shift a portion of these expansion costs to states. I will be clear on this particular proposal: If Congress thinks the Medicaid expansion is too expensive for the federal government, it is absolutely unaffordable for states. Proposals in the Senate envision passing on more than $8 billion in new costs to California annually – crowding out other priority or constitutionally required state spending and presenting a false choice for all of us. I cannot and will not support federal health care reform proposals that impose billions of dollars in new costs on California each year.”

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If only there was some way to foster bipartisanship by incorporating conservative ideas into the reform plan. Too bad conservatives don’t have any ideas anymore, huh?

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