It’s Christmas in the Senate Finance Committee! Max Baucus has crafted his latest proposal for bipartisan health care reform by doing what responsible centrists always do: lopping off a random $100 billion from the price tag and declaring, “this is bipartisan, now.” It features all sorts of lovely concessions on significant planks of the earlier bills: it lowers the expansion of Medicaid, caps the employer health care tax exemption, drops the public option (and its slave, the Trigger), and LITERALLY WILL NOT ALLOW ANY ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT TO BE ALIVE. In return for these concessions Max Baucus received such kind words from Mike Enzi and Chuck Grassley as, “Fuck you Max,” “Fuck your stupid bill Max,” and “Die, Max Baucus.” MORE »

• FOR THOSE MOURNING THE DEATH OF THE PUBLIC OPTION: Here, read this thing by our old flame Nate Silver, who basically argues that the fate of a public competitor to private insurance was always pretty precarious. At any rate the poor old public option is probably not worth saving at this point, lest we throw out the proverbial baby with “half a loaf” of bath water. Nate Silver has turned into a pragmatist sellout just like his old man (Barack Obama). [FiveThirtyEight]

Here’s a picture from our Wonkette “Saturday” operative. It is the worst car in the world, and America should be ashamed of it. It’s “rallying” around the DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee at some Marriott in northwest Washington D.C., along with various comical Hilltards and tragically counter-protesting Obamatards. Somehow the only result of the meeting will be the War in Iran. But are they making any progress? Perchance! MORE »