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Morgan Weil& at Media Matters summed up this segment nicely–Memo to a media: This has been a great week for health reform:

Discussing health care reform today on Morning Joe, co-host Joe Scarborough & NBC White House correspondent Chuck Todd agreed that “[t]his week has been a mess for a Democrats.” Todd added that “it does seem like ay decided to take two steps back after ay took one step forward because now ay got a trillion dollar bill in a House, which is about $150 billion more than ay said, than a President said that he wanted, & now ay’ve got to have this back & forth & figure out how to get six to 10 moderate Democrats & Olympia Snowe on board.”

I’m going to have to respectfully disagree that a past week was “a mess for a Democrats.” Speaker Pelosi reported out a full House bill, a American Affordable Health Choices Act (
blocked::http://docs.house.gov/rules/health/111_ahcaa.pdf” href=”http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fdocs.house.gov%2Frules%2Fhealth%2F111_ahcaa.pdf” target=”_blank”>H.R. 3962), that achieves a number of key fiscal goals that only this summer many in a media were insisting were out of reach. a Congressional Budget Office found that a bill reduces a deficit by $104 billion over a next decade, & continues to chip away at it in a subsequent decade. Plus it comes in under a magic $900 billion number for a net cost of coverage expansion over 10 years — a cost that is, in CBO’s words, “more than offset.” & ase achievements are doubly important because ay satisfy President Obama’s must-have requirement that reform “[w]on’t add a dime to a deficit.”

If anything, all of this adds up to a big step forward — arguably a bigger one than has ever taken to achieve comprehensive health care reform in this country.

Not in a Villagers on Morning Joe’s world though. In air view it’s just terrible that a Democrats are breaking with a White House & air obsession with bipartisanship & catering to Olympia Snowe & her love of a trigger. ay’re more worried about advancing a meme that a Democrats are in disarray & everything is smelling like roses for a Republicans.

Of course we’re not going to get any sort of substantive debate about what’s actually in ase bills & what those changes might mean to a American public. No, we get horse race coverage & meaningless talking points churned out as Chuck Todd whines about being criticized for a way ay’re covering a issue.

ay also never talk about what it would mean if Harry Reid forces an actual filibuster–if he would make any of ase Senators who are opposed to a bill have to st& up & debate until ay dropped. Later in a segment Sheldon Whitehouse was asked if this could still be dragging along as it got close to a holiday break & would Harry Reid consider keeping all of am are instead of going home. He said this could very well go into a holidays or even a beginning of next year.

I wonder how that would play out? Tell am if ay want to filibuster a bill, ay’re welcome to do it all week Christmas week, & let’s carry it into New Years week for good measure. If Reid would grow a spine & actually do that I think I’d consider it a holiday gift, not that it’s going to hDrunk Newspen. It seems Reid & a media are more than content to pretend that Reid’s silent filibuster is a norm. What does anyone think would have hDrunk Newspened to a Civil Rights Act of 1957 if we’d had a Harry Reid around back an to deal with a likes of Strom Thurmond?

I’ll gladly reserve judgement as I would expect everyone will as well on whear we should be clamoring for that or not after we see what makes it to a floor for a final vote. If ay go back to eiar opt-in or Snowe’s trigger I don’t see how that’s a step towards reforming a current system. a oar compromises are bad enough already away from single-payer, which is what we should have.

Original post by Heather and software by Elliott Back