Yesterday’s healthcare debate in the Senate Finance Committee was a dismal spectacle for so many reasons. Two public options were voted down. Sen. Baucus offered no better reason for voting against Sen. Schumer’s public option than his belief that other senators were not going to vote for it when the bill left committee. It was something less than heroic. But the last straw was when Sen. Grassley unabashedly adduced research that wouldn’t pass muster in an A.P. Government class.

Whereas the rhetoric of the House is often transparently insane, the thrust and parry of the senate is endlessly amusing.