Quote of the day

As the Democratic Party prepares to put an exclamation point on years on complete uselessness by taking a 60 vote majority and handing health care reform over to three right-leaning Democrats, one "centrist" Republican, and two fruitcake Republicans on the Finance Committee, we get Arizona's other Senator stating for us what seems to be the prevailing wisdom for health care in Washington:

“The health insurance industry is one of the most regulated industries in America,” said Sen. Jon Kyl (R., Ariz.) on the Senate floor Monday. “They don’t need to be ‘kept honest’ by the government.”

I guess this is why the Finance Committee, with the implied thubms up of the Democratic Senate leadership, is doing their best to pass an "any bill is a good bill" bill that doesn't include even basic things like a public option or employer mandates or really do anything at all worth doing. Because all the health care industry really needs is a few minor tweaks and a heaping dose of "reform", not anything that would actually make things cheaper or help cover more people. I'm just glad everyone seems to agree with Kyl and we've finally taken steps to shelter the insurance companies from the three-headed dragon known as "competition", "covering people", and "the basic interests of the American people".