Good, that's a low bar

Senator Chuck Grassley has decided to come out and say what it would take for him to vote for health care reform. It's a simple condition that I feel will be easily attainable in this, or really any political climate. His condition? Only legislative perfection.

“Now is the time to do this right or not do it.” … “We need to slow down and do a little less,” Mr. Grassley told another town-hall gathering in Pocahontas, Iowa, Monday afternoon. “We need to fix what’s broken and leave alone what’s working well.” In an interview, he vowed not to vote for an “imperfect bill” that includes a public option or gives the government too much control over end-of-life issues.

I wonder if he means the Platonic concept of perfection, the Christian concept of divine perfection, moral perfection, ontological perfection, artistic perfection, a more Calvinist theory relating to God's grace, the Enlightenment view of perfection as living in harmony with nature's law, if it involves Buddhist concepts on the perfection on wisdom, or if he's just talking utter shit.

This does signal a change in Grassley's view in support of the bill. After all he earlier stated that he wouldn't even support a bill he supported, so demanding some theoretical form of perfection before he deigns to support the bill is a signal that's he's making some important concessions. This is why Baucus and Obama are so ebullient in their praise. Because the man is willing to change from being completely intractable to only being mildly completely intractable as the situation dictates. I have a good feeling about all this.