Persuasion: Harry Reid Abandons August Vote 18 Hours After Obama Press Conference

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2:30 PM, Jul 23, 2009 • By MARY KATHARINE HAM

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Yet another partisan ideologue pushes for delay on the health care bill on- well, looky there-the same grounds conservatives have. Harry Reid:

"It's better to have a product based on quality and thoughtfulness rather than try to jam something through."

The Senate Finance Committee will likely have a bill before the recess, and Reid will work on a compromise between it and the HELP Committee's bill, promising input for Republicans:

Reid said the decision to delay a vote was made Wednesday night in the hopes of getting a final bill that can win at least 60 votes in the Senate.

Reid said he had listened to the requests from senior Republicans working with Baucus to allow more time for a compromise to emerge.

"The decision was made to give them more time and I don't think it's unreasonable," he said.

It's a good thing Obama's no longer interested in blaming Republicans for the health care bill's delay, because that's getting harder and harder.