There isn't a lot that can make us grimace more than a headline that says that Harry Reid is talking about allowing health care reform to spill into 2010. Just typing the words hurt.

Forget about the fact that it is just not good for our collective mental health. ("Our" meaning everybody that is working on health care reform... right, left, up, down, and definitely those poor folks at the CBO ) It's not good politics.

Doesn't anybody out there remember the month of August?

The longer the debate drags on, the more enemies of reform can tear down and attack and confuse. They've already started.

The longer the debate drags on, the closer it gets to the 2010 congressional elections -- and the closer you get to an election, the harder it is to legislate.

The longer the debate drags on, the harder it is for Congress to find time to deal with other complex priorities, including climate legislation and financial reform. 

The longer the debate drags on, the more awful puns my colleagues (who have not forgotten August and the Town Hall Teabaggers and don't look forward to a Yuletide reprise) will come up with...Frosty Snowe-men. Health Care-ollers. Minced Mandates ....We told this was bad for our mental health.

Senator Reid, please pass the bill!