Axelrod’s Self-immolation

“So I think you’re misreading the results out of Massachusetts . The president will not walk away from the American people, will not hand them over to the tender mercies of health insurance companies who — who take advantage. He will not walk away from people with pre-existing conditions. He will not walk away from senior citizens in Medicare. He’s just not going to do that.

“And let me tell you, as a political matter, the foolish thing to do would be for anybody else who supported this to walk away from it, because what’s happened is, this thing’s been defined by insurance company — insurance industry propaganda, the propaganda of the opponents, and an admittedly messy process leading up to it.

“But the underlying elements of it are popular and important. And people will never know what’s in that bill until we pass it, the president signs it, and they have a whole range of new protections they never had before.”