In mid-September I wrote about the possibility that Democrats would use a legislative process known as reconciliation to pass health care reform. For those unfamiliar with the term in this context, it is a deceptively benign sounding word that means ramming hugely unpopular change down the throats of the American people. Since the Democratic caucus did not emerge from their command appearance at the White House today with 60 votes in hand, it's time again to remember that employing the reconciliation process to pass Obamacare would be, as Senator Judd Gregg (R-New Hampshire) said last fall, a "bastardization of the legislative process." (source)

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Both sides of the ideological spectrum in this country have their fringe elements; their crackpots, their racists, those who invite ridicule. On the right we have people like the "birthers" - those who, despite plenty of evidence to the contrary, cling to the false belief that Barack Obama was not born in the United States. We right-leaning folks who do not wear tin foil hats can, along with everyone else, comfortably dismiss these loons. They are conspiracy theorist wackos who do not represent mainstream conservative America. But pity the poor liberals whose fringe crackpot racists are actual members of the administration; people chosen specifically by the man they elected President of the United States.

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First Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius makes the rounds of the Sunday morning talk shows claiming that a government run health insurance option "is not an essential part" of reform. Then an administration official (who asked not to be identified in exchange for providing clarity) said that Secretary Sebelius "misspoke", that the White House did not intend to change its messaging and that the public option is not, in the president's view, the most important element of the reform package. (source) You've got to love this administration's idea of clarity.

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