Screw 'em.

If I'm Barack Obama, I'm hatching a plan to screw the Republicans. Royally. On health care insurance reform. After all, I've worked with the GOP. To try to concoct a bipartisan plan. With give and take. But the Republicans appear to want to sabotage any plan. Purely for partisan gain. And in a mean-spirited manner. So, I'd say, let's in the end stick it to the Republicans. Let's give 'em a taste of their own medicine. Let's start to act like the late Lyndon B. Johnson. When he worked to pass civil rights legislation. Even over the protests of Dixiecrats in his own party. He twisted arms. Offered political favors. Anything to get their votes. Maybe even legally quetionable bribes. Well, I'd do what it takes to get a public health care alternative. I could justify my actions because 57 percent of the American people seem to favor a public option. It's the profit-minded insurance and phamaceutical companies and Republicans that oppose what most Americans really want. So, Obama, find the votes you need. In your own party. Offer ambassadorships. Or posts in your own cabinet. Or cushy jobs. Anything. Yes, to do the right thing. Do the common good. Give Americans what they deserve. And better yet -- Republicans exactly what they deserve. The shaft. Screw 'em. --Jim Broede