Apparently he is, if you follow the left’s logic.

Shortly after the CBO said Harry Reid’s touted government-run health care bill would cost $848 billion dollars, the GOP said the true cost is actually $2.5 trillion when fully implemented. Talking Points Memo’s “TPMDC” blog fought back against this “GOP Meme:”

Whenever a Democratic agenda item spends some time in the spotlight–be it health care or energy–Republicans do a little hocus pocus and claim that, whatever the CBO might believe, the true costs of reform are sky high. So it’s no surprise that the new GOP line regarding the Senate health care bill is that it’s actually three times more expensive over a 10 year window than the CBO says it will be.

But it’s not spin to insist that the 10 year cost of the bill should really include 10 years of implementation.  The Reid bill gets its low cost because while the taxes and mandates start right away, the benefits don’t start until 2014. But you don’t have to take our word for it, since we must have brainwashed Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) with our “hocus pocus” because he acknowledged the true cost of the bill on the Senate floor this afternoon:     

Yet while the Left might take umbrage at Baucus’ use of GOP “hocus pocus,” the folks back in Montana don’t seem to be under any magic spell when it comes to Baucus’ support for government-run health care.  This morning, three Montana state legislators wrote in Politico:

Montana is one of a growing number of states that are turning away from the failed policies of health “reform” via bigger government, higher taxes and worsening patient care. Baucus didn’t need to look farther than his own backyard to know that Montanans want choice and competition in health care — not the heavy hand of government.

Instead, Baucus produced his own legislation — which passed the Senate Finance Committee in October — rife with burdensome new regulations, massive government expansion and crippling tax hikes. And it’s a bill that thwarts his state’s efforts to ensure access to quality, affordable health coverage.