Why the effort to cast this bill as the most historic in generations?

It has a few decent provisions, it's incrementally better. But historic, sweeping?

Methinks someone's making a silk purse out of a sow's ear.

What is good in the bill could have been legislated in a series of focused bills. Unfortunately, the bill as it stands acquired a lot of crap on its way down th legislative alimentary canal.

Face it. It's is not structural reform.

the bill actually does--or doesn't--do.

You must be very young.

The zip code legislation was more sweeping. I remember that.

Historic...you bet your sweet booty it's historic, 60 to 40 years in the making. Compared to all the times HCR failed this one is sweeping..

When people think of health care and Congress, often the first name that springs to mind is the late Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts. But while Rep. John Dingell, (D-MI) may not be as well known, he has a legacy on health care that is, if anything, even richer than Kennedy's was.

And when the House takes up its health overhaul bill this weekend that bears Dingell's name as its lead sponsor, it could cap more than a half century of effort on his part to bring health insurance to nearly every American.

Dingell's quest for universal health care actually began in 1932, when his father, John Dingell Sr., was first elected to the House from Michigan. The elder Dingell quickly became one of the architects of the New Deal.

It speaks more to the level of leadership and commitment to the needs of people over insurance companies than it does to history.

...if you're a socially conscious liberal/progressive. Since Nixon, the only major progressive legislation was the Americans with Disabilities Act.