"If Karl and a lot of Republicans want to call the elections already, they ought to break out that 'Mission Accomplished' banner." -- David Plouffe, appearing on ABC's This Week, with Karl Rove.

I'm sorry, Congressman Blackburn, that the freedom for insurance companies to run amok dies a little bit today.

I'm sorry, Congressman Blackburn, that the freedom for students from dependency upon government dies a little bit today because we have enabled more of them to go to college by eliminating an unnecessary layer of banker bureaucracy between them and money available.

I'm sorry, Congressman Blackburn and Senator Alexander, that your jobs, your functions on the GOP team right now are to posture for the cameras and tell my granny sweet little equivocations to piss her off. I'm sorry you've made this as hard as possible so it will accomplish as little as possible and we're going to have to keep tinkering with it until we finally make credible progress or it truly crashes.

It's sad to watch people sell their souls like that when there is important work being done.