Carol is right that we cannot blame all the Democrats the same way we can blame all the Republicans. But we can blame the Democratic Party as a party for its lack of effective leadership, for its failure to get its ducks in a row, and for its complete mishandling of this issue. The voters gave them a mandate and they blew it.

Now, thanks to the Democratic Party, we risk having a health care bill that's less than zero, one which hands the private insurance companies 40 million new customers to gouge without any competition, without any price controls, and with little or no regulation.

But what about this should surprise anyone? The Democratic and Republican parties are two sides of the same coin. They are both the parties of capitalism, and despite their non-ending dog and pony show, they serve exactly the same class interests. When push came to shove in the fall of 2008, it was a bipartisan lovefest as they voted together to use our money to bail out the very corporations that got us into the mess.

--- Steve