I think the Democratic base was more in favor of universal coverage than Republicans were for private accounts.

Razib, Thanks. ‘As plausible as any’ is a compliment, in this field. Today on Instapundit there is a post which pretty much says the same. I beat him by a day.

Republicans were pretty miffed at Bush from early on in his Presidency (I remember the uproar over his education reforms and medicare prescription program). But they tended to marshall around Bush for better or worse. (Typically for worse) It was only after Katrina and Myers that they really started reaching the level liberals are at already.

I’m not so sure. One reason GW Bush and the Repubs in Congress were so unpopular was that they were unpopular with both liberals AND conservatives. They could never satisfy liberals, but they could have tried to serve those who had voted for them. They didn’t, thus their abysmal poll numbers and ultimate slaughter at election time. Conservatives stayed home at voting time.

The Dems, this time around, have made a few half-assed stabs at passing liberal legislation, but the US is not a majority liberal nation, so they have managed to somewhat please their partisan supporters, but pissed off the middle.

Dems lose big if the move away from the middle, and Repubs if they move towards the middle.