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This is LOSE/LOSE. The dims are not that stupid that they'll filibuster it. They will put up a little stink, Frist will cave on anything they want and the Dims will claim credit. The U.S. taxpayer will be left holding a trillion dollar bill for Granny's drugs. Granny doesn't need this bill. We don't need it. This is not Europe. (yet)

Bush is the biggest spending president in recent history. Enough is enough! He's been great on defense and taxes.. Everything else, he's no better than Ted KEnnendy.

Wrong---if the Dems dare filibuster either the Medicare or the energy bill, it will literally end them as a party. They will be viewed as no longer "standing on principle" but will be viewed, even by many lifelong Dems, as the obstructionists they are.

Moreover, for the politically shrewd, there are MANY things to like about this Medicare bill, especially the notion that it will push Medicare over the top sooner rather than later and genuine market reforms will have to be enacted. (Oh, and by that time, the GOP might just have a filibuster-proof majority.)

I think we would be shortsighted to underestimate the Democrats' stupidity. They are working from sheer passion, not pragmatism. The judicial blocks are having an affect on the undecideds in our favor and the liberals know it. I think that as a first-step this is the best way to go. We need to remember that the Johnson Great Society did not start to create great financial pains for a generation. The momentum of the weight of the cost will push us irreversibly to move to a more market-driven system but we won't get it all at once. Gingrich is not stupid on this. The key is that we get a start to the market-driven system. Within 10 years (this is to start in 2010) I believe we will have means-testing and medical savings accounts will be a necessity. The times will drive the laws and I believe that we are taking a right step to turn the ship around.

The demographics are clear - the young people now registering to vote are going republican. The elderly who are most fearful and will pass on in the next 10 - 20 years are mostly democrats. We are in the midst of a big demographic shift here and I think this, as a first step will help us to position correctly.