Incidentally, I really hate sports metaphors in politics. But that headline is the best description possible for the following statement from John Boehner about the healthcare summit. Reacting to the White House statement, Boehner writes:
“This leaves a lot of unanswered questions. Are they excluding governors, state legislators, CBO, and rank-and-file congressional Democrats who have opposed Obamacare and are the reason the president hasn’t had a bill to sign? Are Congressional Democrats still working behind closed doors with White House support on a ‘pre-negotiated package’ that can be rammed through Congress after the summit via legislative tricks? Or are they willing to start over with a blank sheet of paper? We need answers before we know if the White House is more interested in partisan theater than in facilitating a productive dialogue about solutions.”
You know what this is? This is the Republicans saying: We will continue to attack the president for failing to listen to Republicans. Essentially, before the meeting even happens, the Republicans are laying the groundwork to call the whole thing a failure. Yet another reason why they can't -- and must not -- be bargained with.