Liberal talk-show hosts attack Baucus plan

Liberal media pundits in the media are lambasting the healthcare bill crafted by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.).

Bill Maher, host of HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher,” said on his show this weekend that the Baucus healthcare reform measure “is everything you would want in reform, you know, except for reform.”

Rachel Maddow, the host of MSNBC’s “Rachel Maddow Show,” has mocked Baucus for trying to appease Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) and other Republicans by putting "anti-immigration" language in the bill.

She called on Baucus "to come on the show to talk about it any time, or at least to please return the calls our office keeps placing to your office."

Keith Olbermann, host of MSNBC’s “Countdown with Keith Olbermann, last week called the Baucus bill, “The Max tax.”

He said insurance premiums for middle-class families will be “deducted directly from their paychecks” and that “13 percent off the top right to the insurance companies.

“The Republicans reject it. The Democrats can’t possibly survive by supporting it. The insurance companies? They love it…This is the compromise? This is insane.”

Meanwhile, Ed Schultz, the host of MSNBC’s “The Ed Schultz Show,” warned his viewers not to “get too comfortable with this Baucus plan. This is not the path to healthcare reform. This is the path to losing the middle class.”

Many liberals have attacked Baucus’s bill. Former Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean last week said it “is the worst piece of healthcare legislation I've seen in 30 years.”

Baucus has maintained that his bill is a balanced approach to overhauling the nation’s healthcare system and predicted it will attract bipartisan support.

The Hill has requested comment from Baucus's office to the criticism from the liberal talk-show hosts.

This post was amended at 4:06 p.m.