The Hill is reporting that John McCain is calling for a new “Gang of Fourteen” to stop the use of “budget reconciliation” to pass ObamaCare.

The story notes “So far, he’s had no takers.”

McCain’s pathetic plea shows two major problems with McCain’s view of politics and reinforces the need for him to get out of politics.

First, does anybody other than John McCain believe that “bipartisanship” means anything other than conservatives (or RINOs pretending to be conservatives) moving towards liberal positions?  When is the last time that bipartisanship resulted in liberals agreeing to an even-slightly conservative position?  Maybe in 1995, when Dick Morris told Bill Clinton that if Clinton didn’t sign welfare reform, the 1996 election might not go too well. But even that might not be a great example, because the 87 votes in the Senate were to pass a much less ambitious (i.e. less “conservative") bill than was passed in the House.

Look at McCain-Feingold campaign finance “reform” and the would-be McCain-Kennedy (amnesty) and McCain-Lieberman (cap-and-trade) bills: Just what in that “bipartisan” approach did anything but move the country (in fact or in attempt) to the left?

Of course there are no takers for McCain’s new “Gang".  Almost all the other Republicans recognize the futility of bipartisanship and its tendency to work against conservative principles.  And the Democrats know that they don’t need bipartisanship when all it could do is move the current health care “reform” proposals to the right.  If McCain thought he’d have any support beyond his spineless pal Lindsey Graham and at the most one or two other Senators, he’s more out of touch than even we, his detractors, have believed.

Second, the last thing a Republican or conservative should be doing is giving the Democrats cover.  Let the nation see the Democrats for who they are, at least those people in the nation who haven’t already figured it out.  If McCain were able to be successful in recruiting this “Gang", it would probably only happen if the Democrats knew they couldn’t pass a bill.  If they can pass a bill, they will – they won’t help McCain when they see their Congressional majorities and the legacy of their Messiah, Barack Obama, on the line.  If they can’t pass a bill, they should be made to suffer through that utter (and wonderful) failure.  Giving them a way to appear rational or moderate is truly stupid politics and can only serve to dampen the nation’s justifiable anger against the left’s attempted takeover of health care.

It’s time for John McCain to go.