Now think about this - if any GOPers had announced their support of the bill, they might well have given "bipartisan" cover for Dems to vote against the bill.

Instead they spent the last 6 months doing a victory dance and declaring that Obama was one term president. If they had kept the debate alive and welcomed wavering Dems, they could have defeated the proposal and made themselves look reasonable. But they made themselves look stubborn and crazy.

Suppose a dozen Republican representatives had just pretended to be on the fence? Wouldn't Pelosi and Reid have been much less effective at lining up votes? And then the GOPers could have voted no, and the proposal would have lost by a dozen or more votes. The endless Lucy-yanking-the-football-away routine would have worked one more time if the GOP had just made an effort to sell it to Dems and the voters. Instead, they alternated between doing their little endzone celebration and whining that the Dems were not given them a chance to participate.