It Is Time To Go To DEFCON 1. Bob Bennett Is About to Screw America

Senator Bob Bennett of Utah is up for re-election next year, so let's keep this employee of ours in our sights. He has a history of capitulating with the Democrats, and needs to be watched on his health care vote.

From RedState:

It Is Time To Go To DEFCON 1. Bob Bennett Is About to Screw America
by Erick Erickson, September 16, 2009

Meet Bob Bennett. He is a Republican United States Senator. He is up for re-election next year.

Bob Bennett is about to screw America.

Bob Bennett is a fiscally irresponsible Senator who prides himself on being a Senator’s Senator. He was the only Republican who stood up and clapped when Barack Obama attacked Sarah Palin in his Joint Session of Congress speech last week.

And Bob Bennett wants to cut a deal on healthcare. Why? Because that’s what Senators do. They compromise. And if you are a Republican Senator, you capitulate.

Bob Bennett is working with Ron Wyden of Oregon on a healthcare alternative. They’ve proposed this plan for a while. The plan is terrible. As the Heritage Foundation correctly notes:

despite many attractive tax reform aspects, a troubling feature of the bill is that it would replace the current health system with one that is heavily regulated by the federal government: Individuals would have access only to plans permitted by the government and would be required to purchase such a plan.

Likewise, the Wyden-Bennett plan supports abortion funding, imposes federal mandates on citizens to have insurance, increases federal regulation, and cripples the several states.

From the Heritage Foundation (PDF):

The proposal’s major problems are rooted in its sweeping and heavy-handed federal control over the insurance markets and its replace- ment of one tax inequity with another. Beyond these shortcomings are other unpleasant policy surprises such as the establishment of Medicare pricing over prescription drugs, permitting prescription drug reimportation, and even mandating that health insurers must cover abortion services.

This is Bob Bennett’s pet snake. He wants to wrap it around the American public and constrict us while championing his having done something.

And today, Barack Obama called Bob Bennett and Ron Wyden to the White House to chat. One guess what that’s about.

Bob Bennett is going to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory just so he can feel good about his legislative record.

Did I mention he’s up for re-election next year?