Coburn: Destroy to Save

In a 1968 report by AP correspondent Peter Arnett concerning the fate of Ben Tre, a provincial capital of Viet Nam, an unnamed major observed that "to save the town it became necessary to destroy it."

This sort of logic happens in war. Senator Coburn of Oklahoma, in concert with Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, has brought the concept to Medicare.

Last month the two senators joined in an effort to reduce medicare benefits in an effort to "save" the program. Once they get through "saving" it, though, it will not be possible to see the existing program through the rubble.

I remember last summer during a series of town meetings, one Republican critic of health care reform shouted: "keep the government's hands off my Medicare." I join in that sentiment.