Spot on:

So here's how this game works: Republican and centrist Dems attack the stimulus and force changes that make it less effective. Then, a few months later, these same parties turn around and attack the stimulus as being ineffective, even though their own requested cuts and critiques made it less effective.

But hey, that’s what the opposition party does. It's what any rational party leader has to expect.

So the lesson for health care is that the attacks will come regardless of whatever accommodations Baucus makes. At the end of the day, it’s better to bite the bullet and get the policy right. Political cover isn’t coming under any circumstances. And more to the point, the pursuit of political cover is itself a dangerous game because it leads people to adopt bad policy for bad reasons.