A mirror for the nation

A little more good news for a change.

The Republican victory in Massachusetts is significant and ironic.

It is significant, as everyone knows, because it means that the Republicans may now be able to block passage of the Obama health bill in the Senate. Hopefully they will not break ranks. They need every Republican senator on board. The Democrats want this so badly who knows what they will offer to any would-be defector. We will find out.

It is ironic because it is Ted Kennedy's seat in the senate and he was a lifetime proponent of this type of health-care legislation. The vote indicates more than dissatisfaction with the Democratic candidate. It indicates dissatisfaction with the recent health-care legislation in Massachusetts, which resembles in many ways, at the state level, the bill currently in Congress. Voter interviews revealed dissatisfaction with the mandate to buy health-insurance and escalating costs and taxes associated with the new setup. And this is the most liberal state in the country. In many ways it is a mirror for the nation.