getting up at midnight

E.J. Dionne takes Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX) to task in today's Washington Post for suggesting that Dems are out of touch with reality for suggesting that cutting Medicaid while flapping your trap about the value of human life might be a touch hypocritical.

Dan Allen, DeLay's spokesman "harrumphed" (Dionne's excellent choice of words), "The fact that they're tying a life issue to the budget process shows just how disconnected Democrats are to reality."

"Forgive me, Mr. Allen," writes Dionne, "I know you're just doing your job, but what's disconnected from reality is refusing to accept the idea that health care is about life issues and money issues (his italics). People who lack access to health care because they can't afford insurance often die earlier than they have to -- with absolutely no national publicity and with no members of Congress rising up at midnight to pass bills on their behalf."

Take that.

(Go, E.J.)