Totally aside from any merits of the ethics charges against Massa, recall that Norm Dicks, Jack Murtha, Jim Moran and Roland Burris all had their ethics charges dismissed in December. And then quelle suprise! Roland Burris, who had been threatening to withhold his cloture vote over the Senate bill without a public option, instantly became a convert. The rest were all safely in the “yes” column in the House. You could pretty much eat live babies on TV and get your ethics complaint dismissed if you were ready to play ball and vote for PhRMAcare.

Tom Harkin said that negotiators had reached a deal on health care shortly before Scott Brown threw a wrench into it by winning that Senate election in Massachusetts. This is further than anyone has been willing to go before; we knew that a deal was reached between labor and the White House on the excise tax on high-end insurance plans, but we did not know that all elements of the deal was settled as well.