This is actually from September 9th – you can tell, because they’re hyping the President’s speech as being a game-changer – but it’s instructive nonetheless. In this clip, Axelrod was asked, point-blank, why the administration isn’t trying to change the rules to let insurance companies compete across straight[*] lines, and his refusal to give a straight answer is almost as funny as is watching Wolf Blitzer pushing him to give one.
Mind you, the actual answer – “There isn’t anything in that scheme that benefits a Democratic client group, and interstate competition is part of the Republican plan that we keep lying about not existing, so we won’t support it” – is politically… fraught. Nonetheless, it’s instructive to remember that this administration has no interest in a bipartisan solution to health care reform, and even less interest in getting the Democrats in Congress under control. All the President wants is a bill to sign and the opportunity to declaim that he’s reformed health care. Anything will do at this point.
(Via Below the Beltway, via The Other McCain)
Moe Lane
Crossposted to RedState.
[*As RS commenter NightTwister guessed: this is a Freudian slip, but I’m not going to fix it. On reflection, I like it better this way.- ML]
Wolf does a far better job here than he did in Celebrity Jeopardy. Axelrod’s answer was more painful than funny to watch. Like watching someone dehydrated and with a potassium deficiency play Twister.