Finally, Evidence of a Death Panel

Props to the NYT for this still image capturing yesterday’s Senate Finance Committee death of the public option.

…And props too for the blunt visual not just offering a counterpoint, but sticking a fork in yesterday’s cable version of Sen. Schumer playing pollyanna by spinning the defeat as some kind of strategic victory.

So yeah, bring on the frustration, if not real anguish over majority spinelessness. And yes, show us how the empty and overstuffed power chairs cut off the heads of still animate staff people (except the two sliced by Shumer’s own arm and shoulder). And yeah, let’s see the documents, and whatever else is “really on the table,” in a telling blur. And certainly, show us deliberative hands (a gold bracelet tossed in for good measure?) devoid of bodily connection and recognizable ownership.

Yes, thanks. Thanks for the view (if only manifest for a slice of a second) of yesterday’s bad news, and of the whole badly compromised dance around true health care reform, without the finesse.

(image:Luke Sharrett/The New York Times. September 29, 2009)