Citizen Jake

The healthcare bill is not being passed by reconciliation. The House is going to pass the Senate bill and then the bill will have been passed by both chambers of Congress and the President can sign it into law. Reconciliation is being used to pass some fixes to the bill that the House wants in exchange for passing the Senate bill. Its a little complicated but not overly so. You would think a, say political reporter, would be able to follow this but its apparently too complicated for the Politico’s Mike Allen. Jon Chait calls him out:

What sentient being who’s following this closely could not understand it by now? I give you Politico’s Mike Allen, writing Saturday:

When Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) made this confusing argument last week on “Face the Nation,” we weren’t sure he was being deliberately disingenuous. It was, in fact, spin. Now, he’s made the same case in a similarly obtuse WashPost op-ed, “Reconciliation is not an option for health-care reform.” Don’t misread it: It’s an Alice-in-Wonderland argument FOR the use of reconciliation as part of the recipe for getting comprehensive health reform to the president’s desk

Confusing? Obtuse? Does Conrad need to stop by Politico’s offices with a picture book and some finger puppets? I understand perfectly well how intelligent people who don’t follow this debate closely might not catch on to the distinction. But this is what Mike Allen does all day — and, as I understand it, much of the night and the wee hours of the morning as well. How can anybody still not understand this? I’m at a loss here. Look, there’s an endless list of topics I don’t understand at all. I went through an entire semester of pre-Calculus in high school and was never able to understand what a function is. I still don’t. It’s a complicated subject and I was a lazy student. But this reconciliation distinction is easy, and Mike Allen is (legendarily) not lazy. So, what the hell is going on here?

I see four possibilities for what the hell is going on here:

1) Mike Allen is lazy when it comes to substance/policy. Not lazy when it comes to writing about high school level gossip.

2) Mike Allen can be easily spun and he’s swallowed Republican talking points whole (not the first time that’s happened).

3) Mike Allen is a moron.

4) All of the above.

Take your pick.