Civil rights legislation in the 1960s didn't move forward until the House Rules Committee chair, a segregationist Southern Democrat, saw his power neutered by an expansion of the committee. Process changes often precede policy changes. Sen. Baucus, take note. (Source)
We saw some encouraging developments on the healthcare front yesterday--some actual push back from Dems who are not Blue Dogs. Whooda thunk such a thing might be possible? Today's "Liberals" in congress don't play tough. Everybody knows that. That's what the other guys do, and it's just not nice. We'll see how persistent this beginning effort turns out to be.