Research

Obama promised transparency in the health care debate:

We'll have the negotiations televised on C-SPAN, so that people can see who is making arguments on behalf of their constituents, and who are making arguments on behalf of the drug companies or the insurance companies.

Now Harry Reid is saying they’ve fulfilled that pledge:

Throughout this debate, we have kept our promise to make this process as transparent as possible. Just as the committee hearings were open to the public and televised, so has the debate been on the final bill. Debate on the Senate floor has been televised on C-SPAN and also streamed on the Internet.

In truth, the health care debate has taken place almost entirely behind closed doors. Sure, Senators have spent days making speeches on the Senate floor, but all of the real work goes on in Harry Reid’s office, where Rahm Emanuel makes threats and Harry Reid offers goodies to persuade wavering Senators. If there was real transparency, there’d have been a CSPAN webcam in Harry’s office. Then we’d have clips of him cutting deals like the ones listed in our newest Research Briefing, “Let’s Go To The Tape.”

After all, Reid defends the earmarks, so he should have nothing to hide:

“There are 100 senators here and I don’t know that there’s a senator that doesn’t have something in this bill that isn’t important to them,” Reid said. “If they don’t have something in it important to them then it doesn’t speak well of them.”

November can’t come soon enough for those who disapprove of Reid’s buying votes for his health care experiment. Even one of the most frequent visitors to the White House, union boss Andy Stern, isn’t happy with Dems: "Rather than do what they promised we've sort of turned the Senate into the 'Price is Right.'"