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This is just a minor example of the remarkable stupidity and incoherence evident throughout Michael Steele's disastrous NPR interview about health care, but I was struck by this part of his futile attempt to reconcile his competing positions as Medicare opponent and Medicare supporter:
The reality of it is simply this: I’m not saying I like or dislike Medicare. It is what it is. It is a program that has been around for over 40 years, and in those 40 years, it has not been run efficiently or well enough to sustain itself.While I disagree with libertarian arguments that Amtrak should pay for itself, I can at least understand them. But who on earth thinks that a program providing health services to a population that is much sicker than average and for the most part doesn't work can turn a profit? Could even Steele be dumb enough to think that private insurers could turn a profit providing universal coverage to that population? This stuff is pathetic even by Steele's standards.--Scott Lemieux
