Regardless of whether you agree or disagree with his politics, you gotta give the guy credit for timing. Quoting the New York Times:
Senator Edward M. Kennedy returned to the Senate on Wednesday for the first time since being sidelined with cancer and was greeted by a bipartisan barrage of whoops, cheers and applause before savoring a legislative triumph.[…]
“I return to the Senate today to keep a promise to our senior citizens,” Mr. Kennedy said in a statement released by his office, “and that’s to protect Medicare. Win, lose or draw, I wasn’t going to take the chance that my vote could make the difference.”
The bill would block a 10 percent cut in Medicare payments to doctors because of a statutory formula that reduces payments to doctors when spending would otherwise exceed certain goals.
Admittedly he returned to help pass a bill that aggravates Medicare’s dire financial condition…but still, dropping in after some chemo to help ensure your doctor gets paid is a rather dramatic statement.
(In fairness, I should point out that the bill’s failure also wouldn’t have addressed Medicare’s problems, thus supporting my belief that Congress doesn’t really care about doing the right thing; they just want to look good for their constituents.)
