Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., chairman of the Senate Budget Committee and the author of the meaningless "co opt" plan appeared on ABC's THIS WEEK and said that even with a 60 vote majority in the Senate a health care bill can't get passed without Republicans.

It's just not possible to have a Democrat-only bill?" I asked Sen. Conrad.

"No, it is not possible," he told me, "and perhaps not desirable either. We're probably going to get a better product if we go through the tough business of debate, consideration, and analysis of what we're proposing."

Conrad would not commit to Obama's August recess deadline for health reform legislation.

"Look the critical think is that we do get this right. This is going to affect every American. Very few legislative initiatives affect every single American. And it's one-sixth of the national economy, so it's critically important we get it right. But that shouldn't be used as a pretext to kill it," Conrad told me on "This Week."

Conrad added, "Jim, I think has been very clear, he wants to kill it. And I think that would be a tragedy because we've got a crisis here for the country."

The follow up question should have been "why can't Democrats pass health care legislature with a 60 vote majority?" That would be asking a little too much. The conservative Dems are destroying any real chance we have at reform. Here's a memo to these bipartisan trolls. Republicans want to kill the bill and destroy President Obama's presidency. Wingnutter Jim DeMint from SC already said it so why does Conrad feel that he can work with them? Orrin Hatch dropped out of the negotiations for a reason. I'll be calling Conrad's office on Monday and ask him to work through the August recess if they try to stall the bill.