The Rational Case For 'Kill The Bill'

Jason Linkins @ The Huffington Post - Over the past week, the media has trained its myopic eye on those in the progressive community who, having seen that the health care reform plan emerging from the legislative process will fall well short of providing all Americans with affordable health care, are urging that the bill be killed. The dominant attitude of the mainstream media seems to be that this response is irrational. John Harwood, to offer just one example, has likened these advocates to drug addicts. (By contrast, the people who continue to hallucinate up "death panels," are, I guess, simply people who have an interesting and serious point of view on the matter!)

It's important though, to note, that the Howard Deans and Jane Hamshers of the world neither want LITERALLY want to destroy President Barack Obama's domestic agenda in a fit of ideological pique, nor do they want to consign millions of uninsured Americans to their deaths. In fact, they desire the opposite: more Americans safely insured, and more electoral success for Democrats -- the kind that comes when Democrats actually keep their promises. You want to talk about people who are, in fact, high on drugs? Let's talk about the Democratic strategists and their journalistic enablers who believe letting down the base is a good thing.

Columbia University Professor Lincoln Mitchell has a post up on these pages on the dynamics of the debate. Let me grab one part of a larger piece that is eminently clarifying: Read more.