Writing in the New York Times, Albert Hunt really lays it on thick with this idea that the GOP will achieve political nirvana if they manage to block meaningful reform this year:

A defeat would be a killer for Democrats. The trademark of Mr. Obama's first year in office would be failure; the reputations of the president and his celebrated White House staff would be decimated.

Less evident, though equally true, it would almost certainly cost congressional Democrats seats in elections next year, striking especially hard at some of the same centrist Blue Dogs who are resisting a health care bill.

A defeat of health care reform legislation would literally decimate the Democratic Party as we know it, Hunt stresses.

Left unsaid? The fact that a strong majority of Americans want health care reform. Doesn't matter. Inside the Beltway, the GOP is sitting on a political gold mine if they can just defeat legislation that most Americans want to see passed into law.

Disconnect anyone?