Bob Dole Was Right

Years ago, Senator Dole said: "You can make the American people swallow anything, but you can't make them keep it down."

In the case of the health care bill, the people of Massachusetts didn't even try the appetizers. They took one look at the menu and high-tailed it out of the restaurant.

I'm going to draw two conclusions from this:

One:
All the earnest bloviating that we heard right after the election about how the United States had taken a profound leftward step is now revealed to be pure horseshit.

The American people are addle-headed when it comes to long-term sacrifice but they are smart enough to know the difference between campaign rhetoric and governing. Governing is for real.

If a popular (albeit leftist) president can't convince the citizens of Massachussets (who elected him by a 27-point majority. Or something like it) to support his agenda, there are serious problems with that agenda.

Two:
The citizens of Massachusetts didn't elect Scott Brown because they hate sick people or kick puppies in their spare time. They had a slew of valid reasons -- Coakley was a bush-league candidate, a rotten campaigner and made a host of questionable decisions during her stint as Attorney General. Brown was emphatically not Coakely and ran a great campaign.

Lets also not forget that the folks in Mass. have tried a state-wide health care system and are not happy with it. Cost overruns. Crowded waiting rooms. Fewer businesses starting up, etc.


OOOH!!!! BONUS EXTRA CONCLUSION
The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away. Same goes for the electorate. The GOP is cackling and rubbing its hands, now but lets not forget how quickly this happened, and how quickly it can be reversed.