Just Say No to Reconciliation

The Hill is reporting that the President is laying plans to use reconciliation in the Senate to bypass normal rules of procedure and push health care reform without needing to overcome a filibuster-proof majority of 60 votes. I'll post more on this later - but it is a bad, bad, bad, idea. Reform this important and substantial must be viewed as legitimate by the public. Just research the sorry tale of the Medicare Catastrophic Coverage Act of 1988. Parliamentary gimics will only undermine public confidence - and Democrats would pay a steep price in 2010. I keep saying this, but look to the lessons learned in Australia... partisan health reforms caused chaos for decades.