The attempt to attract GOP support was the pretext which Democrats used to compromise continuously and water down the bill. But -- given the impossibility of achieving that goal -- isn't it fairly obvious that a desire for GOP support wasn't really the reason the Democrats were constantly watering down their own bill? Given the White House's central role in negotiating a secret deal with the pharmaceutical industry, its betrayal of Obama's clear promise to conduct negotiations out in the open (on C-SPAN no less), Rahm's protection of Blue Dogs and accompanying attacks on progressives, and the complete lack of any pressure exerted on allegedly obstructionists "centrists," it seems rather clear that the bill has been watered down, and the "public option" jettisoned, because that's the bill they want -- this was the plan all along.

Of all the sharp, insightful things that Glenn has ever written, this analysis is one that has struck me most forcibly. This whole bipartisanship smokescreen has been aggravating in the extreme. We have commentators like Arianna Huffington recently telling Obama to "wake up and smell the coffee" and realize that the right is not going to cooperate, when what she should be saying, or asking rather, is why Obama has been making such a show about persuading the right, when it has been abundantly clear from day one, to everyone with half a brain, that this would get him nowhere with them.

Obama wants to appear as the great magnanimous leader who only has the best interests of all the country at heart; and as such, he wants to offer something that is acceptable to the "representatives" of all the people, not just Democrats. What crap. Cynical, self-serving, oligarchical crap. He simply wants an excuse to provide the same corporate giveaways to insurance and Big Pharma et al. that he has to his cronies at Goldman Sachs.

I am looking forward to reading Matt Taibbi's comments in this vein in Rolling Stone.

Colbert showed a clip of Barney Frank asking that loony Obama-is-Hitler woman, "on what planet do you spend most of your time?"

Colbert said it was a bad move, as it left Barney open for a slew of Uranus comments. He then had a conversation with a table, to show it could be done, asking the table why Obama wanted to turn its grandmother into kindling.