Senator Chuck Grassley has bumped up his criticism of health reform today in the Wall Street Journal:

Sen. Charles Grassley signaled growing skepticism about the likelihood of Democrat-led health-care legislation passing this year, telling a town-hall meeting here Monday, "Now is the time to do this right or not do it."

…

"Government is not a competitor, it's a predator," he said of the public option that has been embraced by key congressional Democrats. "We'd have 120 million people opt out [of private insurance], then pretty soon everyone is in health care under the government and there's no competitor."

…

"We need to slow down and do a little less," Mr. Grassley told another town-hall gathering in Pocahontas, Iowa, Monday afternoon. "We need to fix what's broken and leave alone what's working well."

In an interview, he vowed not to vote for an "imperfect bill" that includes a public option or gives the government too much control over end-of-life issues.

Grassley has also been responsible for peddling the despicable "death panels" smear, proven false time and time again.

This is Grassley's worldview. Government is the enemy. Government wants to kill you. People without health insurance should make do. People getting screwed over by the current system should keep getting screwed. No big changes, that would be too much.

As has become crystal clear, Chuck Grassley is carrying his party's water on health reform, and he won't vote for anything but a Republican bill. In fact, he just moved into full obstructionist mode, saying, "I don't think it's going to be possible to work it out with the administration [on health reform]."

That's his definition of bipartisanship, to flat out say he can't work with the administration in power.

This one's for reporters: Next time you talk to Chuck Grassley, ask him what kind of "bipartisan" solution he's looking for. Ask him which 20 Senators he thinks won't vote for the health care reform bill he wants to pass with 80 votes. If I was a betting man, I'd say he wants to pass a bill that all of his Republican colleagues can vote for, losing 20 Democrats.

We, the American public that overwhelmingly supports health reform with a public health insurance option, deserve these answers.

Because this is Grassley's bipartisanship. His party was defeated roundly in November, and yet according to him, we should pass Republican health care reform.

Why are we negotiating with him again?