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Republicans remember that after liberals in Congress got Social Security and other social safety net programs passed, suddenly an awful lot of people had very strong pro-Democrat feelings for several decades. Republicans are aware, or at least the ones operating at the strategic level are, that universal health care is wildly popular in every developed nation that has it (i.e. almost all of them except us). They are quite afraid that Democrats will pass a wildly popular bill such as universal health care and proceed to reap another several decades of political pre-eminence. And for their own political futures, they can't bear the idea of that happening.
The only tactic they can conceive of to stop a Democratic health care bill from passing is complete withdrawal from the process, doing everything in their power to prevent the bill entirely and block every element of it that they can. They operate in a binary world like that: there has to be a winner and a loser, and if they block a bill the Democrats lose and if not the Democrats win. Yes, everything in their sorry mindset is predicated off of fear of the other guy winning more than what the other guy actually wants to do. The downside they face with that tack is that if and when they do lose, then they've made sure that they'll be remembered for their loud opposition, and definitely cast into that same abyss they're afraid of - but one they'll have made even deeper by their own actions.
It never even occurs to them that they can make sure a Democratic health care bill never passes by a different, more subtle method. Like I said, it's called legislating. If they participate in the creation of the bill (like adults, and like they were at least theoretically elected to do), then they can make a credible case that the bill is theirs, too - but then Democrats don't lose, so as far as Republicans are concerned, that means Republicans don't win. They don't care that even a plurality of their own party wants a bill; they care about denying Democrats what Democrats want.
So that's the situation. Republicans have doubled down against a bill that enjoys widespread popularity even among their own base, have no way to back down from their position, and wouldn't even think of that option anyhow. I think that at this point, things might actually work out better for it. We're starting to see signs of life from the Democratic leadership, having let the Republicans establish that they are not credible participants in the process now making some statements about moving forward with only Democratic input, since Republicans won't vote for it anyhow.
And you know what? That means that precisely because Republicans decided to make it a fight instead of working together, Democrats have a chance for a major win.
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