Robert Costa has written an interesting piece about the many things that could kill ObamaCare in the U.S. Senate.

It’s true, the patient known as ObamaCare is looking blue and convulsing on the table as Senators Reid and Durbin wonder what to do about these many symptoms (per Costa):

1. Time. Costa does not say it, but Senator Coburn is threatening to have the bill read, front to back, all 2,000 pages, prior to each amendment. Hmmm. Costa’s point is time is on the side of ObamaCare’s death by thousands of pages of text.

2. President Obama. Can you say radioactive and toxic for moderate Dems running for re-election — Costa — didn’t say that, I am taking some liberties.

3. GOP Amendments. Guns and immigration, guns and babies, guns and taxes, guns and spending, guns and Medicare cuts, guns and government control of your health care, guns and health care rationing — did I mention guns? (OK, so Costa did not mention guns.)

4. Abortion. (See entire internet on Stupak.) For extra points, see Senator Nelson (D-NE) and Stupak amendment in the U.S. Senate.

5. The public option. Ah, the liberal’s shimmering holy grail — its right there, but oh, I think I see it — but it is elusive isn’t it — See Google for “Senator Lieberman (I-CT) public option.”

Not mentioned by Costa but in play: health care rationing, immigration, death panels, health care databases (guns), privacy, Medicare cuts, taxes and spending.

It is August and, well, its August, so here are a few quotes from the health care reform chaos, click on the last name of the author (in bold below) to read the whole article.

Atlas

He underwent diagnostic tests using the latest, most advanced imaging technology available in the world. He was treated at some of the most elite medical centers in the country. He received the latest therapies and accessed the most innovative medical care in the world. When he sought out the best doctors, when he needed access to the latest diagnostic tests, the most sophisticated surgical techniques, the most innovative medical therapies, Kennedy enjoyed the best care available anywhere in the world–right here in the U.S.

Gerstein

With the political prognosis for health care reform turning from poor to likely terminal, many of my fellow Democrats are grieving through grievance. They’re lashing out at friends and foes alike, blaming everyone….Everyone, that is, except themselves, the people who controlled Congress, set the agenda, wrote the legislation and developed the strategy for pushing it.

Krauthammer

Obamacare Version 1.0 is dead….You don’t need a Ph.D. to see that the promise to expand coverage and reduce costs is a crude deception, or that cutting $500 billion from Medicare without affecting care is a fiction.

Schaller

Barring a major public groundswell or miraculous reversal in Congress, Barack Obama’s healthcare reform package will not include the provision that matters most to the Democratic base, the so-called public option….Earlier this week, during an interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, Sen. Kent Conrad said flatly that there “was never enough support” in his chamber for the public option.

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Leon Wolf has already taken down the birthers by showing the negative political consequences of pushing the vast, bipartisan* conspiracy theory, and of course point by point takedowns of the theories themselves have been published, but today NRO has a good summary up.

All at once, the Editors (of NRO or National Review, I don’t know which) take down every aspect of the whole birther movement. It’s a good read.

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