I'm taking time out from the deadline avalanche to watch a little of the Health Care debating and voting. Naturally, I'm pleased with the (at the moment) probable outcome but no, I don't find a lot of glee in watching the bill's opponents rant and scream and cry. I think it's very sad that in this country, disagreements at policy have ramped up to the point where they're never about what they're about. The other side, no matter what they're out to do, is always Hitler and/or the Anti-Christ and whatever they're proposing will doom mankind. That's bad for Democracy because, well, Democracy works best when there's a little realism about what we're debating. It's also much worse for whichever side loses a battle because they've psyched themselves up to believe that every loss is a victory for Satan and the Apocalypse.
One thing I do enjoy: I'm flipping between news channels and there's a nice unintentional commentary over on MSNBC. Their live coverage is displacing their usual Sunday lineup, which is a lot of documentaries about prisons and crime and mass murder, and the titles of those preempted shows keep popping up on my screen to tell me what show my TiVo thinks I'm watching. So there's Mitch McConnell explaining how this bill will make abortion mandatory (or whatever he's saying…I'm not even sure he knows) and on my screen, it says I'm watching Conviction: I Put Fear in Your Life. And then there's David Shuster talking with some Democratic Congressman and my screen tells me I'm watching Witness to Jonestown. And then there's John Boehner talking and the info bar says I'm watching The Mind of Manson. The final vote may come during a time slot that's supposed to be showing something called The Squeeze.