Imagine my surprise when I read this article, entitled "Medicare drug plan helps poorest most," featured on the Minneapolis Star-Tribune's web site:

The poorest and the sickest older Americans will benefit most from the Medicare legislation passed Tuesday by the Senate and sent to President Bush for his anticipated signature. ... "This bill, we know it is not good enough," said Michele Kimball, Minnesota director of AARP, which supported the legislation. "The perfect plan would have cost $1 trillion. This is the best we could do. But, bottom line, it will help millions who have no help."

There has been a lot of heat and smoke about this proposition, and not just from Democrats, either. Plenty of Republican conservatives are scratching their heads wondering what happened to the party of fiscal responsibility when it just expanded an entitlement program widely believed to be marching towards bankruptcy. But what good is any medical plan that doesn't offer some sort of prescription drug benefit? And for deficit hawks, this bill introduces means testing for the first time in Medicare. Eventually, that could stave off its predicted collapse if means testing is expanded into other areas of Medicare.

But the headline and lead are what stuns me -- the Strib acknowledging that Republicans help the poor and sick. Next thing you know, they'll finally acknowledge that Arabs are capable of handling democracy, and that the UN can't deliver it.

Nah ... now I'm just getting greedy.

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