Noted in passing

I'm sure you're aware that a few days ago, Congress overrode Bush's veto of legislation that would have imposed a 10.6% cut in reimbursements paid to physicians who treat Medicare patients. Revealingly, Bush said he opposed the bill because of the way it's financed,

which would be largely by reducing spending on private health plans serving the elderly and disabled.

"I support the primary objective of this legislation, to forestall reductions in physician payments," Bush said in a statement. "Yet taking choices away from seniors to pay physicians is wrong."

In other words, he wanted to protect the private plans at the expense of the public one.

The bill had been stalled in the Senate until Ted Kennedy came back to the Senate a couple of weeks early in order to be the 60th vote in favor of cloture, enabling the bill to come to a final vote. When it did, nine GOPpers who had voted against cloture switched sides and voted for the bill.

Which means one of two things: Either those nine were, in accordance with party orders, voting to kill a bill they actually supported, or, once it was clear it would pass, they voted in favor of a bill they opposed in order to cover their asses at election time. Either way, it's a demonstration of the slimy nature of the way politics is practiced.