Favorite sparring partners Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) appeared on Meet the Press this past Sunday to bicker about the newly passed health care bill with predictable results. Sen. Graham called the back-room finagling "sleazy," complaining that "it was not transparent," and that there were "a bunch of tricks and gimmicks in the bill."Sen. Schumer countered that the positive effects of the bill will become clear in the future: "I would predict to you ...that as people learn about what's actually in the bill, six months from now, by election time, this is going to be a plus."
He went on to reiterate the Democrats challenge that the GOP make repeal of the health care bill a campaign issue during the mid-term elections, a fight which Graham said the Republicans relished. Another Republican, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, argued that the bill strongarms Americans into health care, with a carefully worded metaphor: "I do not believe the United States government has a right, or the authority or power, to force us to purchase health insurance any more than, in the name of homeland security, they could force every American to have to buy a gun."
There has been concern about violence over the health care bill for Democrats, so perhaps not the savviest choice of words, although this is coming from a pol who has made some questionable decisions when it comes to gun violence.
