Not very creative, those Republicans. From Roll Call [sub req.]:
Acknowledging they can’t stop the Senate from bringing up a health care reform bill, Republicans have mapped out a strategy to draw out the debate, attack the measure’s core components and force difficult votes on vulnerable Democrats.
Republicans have no illusions of substantively altering the Senate bill. But they plan to use targeted amendments to attack the legislation issue by issue, offering detailed GOP alternatives in a concerted bid to turn the public against the measure and to try to set the table for electoral gains in 2010....
Republican Senate aides and operatives familiar with the leadership’s floor strategy say leadership will put different Senators in charge of various themes. Their responsibilities will include messaging and spearheading Republican amendments.
Finance ranking member Chuck Grassley (Iowa) will probably handle all things tax-related; Sen. Susan Collins (Maine), a former state insurance regulator, will likely deal with health care premiums; Budget ranking member Judd Gregg (N.H.) will tackle the bill’s deficit implications; Cornyn will focus on malpractice reform.
Good thing Baucus spent so much time negotiating with Grassley, huh? As if we needed more evidence that those negotiations were not done in good faith on the Republican side. And what about Susan Collins, that great moderate that Olympia Snowe was supposed to be able to bring around. The article also points out that Nebraska Republican Mike Johanns will be conducting town meetings in Nebraska during the floor debate, undoubtedly an effort to try to put Ben Nelson in a bind, an effort that's unlikely to do much to sway Nelson, or whip up much angry froth against him back home. Nebraskans don't really seem to work that way. But Johanns may as well knock himself out.
While Republicans might be able to actually delay the process, they're highly unlikely to see any dividends from it. If the craziness of August didn't turn Americans away from supporting the Democrats' healthcare reform efforts and, particularly, the public option the only thing that their obstructionism will result in is further tanking of support for Republicans.
But what this really does is demonstrate that bipartisanship with this crop of Republicans is a myth. It was nice back in the old days when a handful of responsible Republicans existed, when there was actual back-and-forth between the parties in crafting policy, when Republicans gave a shit about the direction of the country and weren't just in it to win at all costs. That Republican party is long dead.