I’ll spare you a summary, as no actual semantic content was exchanged in this clip: Wolf Blitzer kept pointing out that nobody over 55 has no reason to worry about the Ryan plan, and Debbie Wasserman Schultz kept falling back into classic Zombie Mode. Honestly, it lacked only the hands-outstretched and a moan of “Rrrrrrrryyyyyyyaaaannnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn” to make it classic Romero on Debbie’s part.
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.
