Murphy, Owens bestride Congress like a colossus

At least that's what the Times Union says: "House Democrats today abandoned their plan to use a controversial procedural gambit to pass the final piece of the administration-backed health care overhaul without an up-or-down vote on that measure. Two upstate New York lawmakers — Democrats Scott Murphy and Bill Owens — took the lead in pushing against the widely criticized strategy. ... At issue was Democrats’ potential plan to pass a rule for floor debate that would 'deem' the bill passed — without a specific vote on that measure itself."

The only trouble with that heroic scenario is that a couple of days ago, both Murphy and Owens were in the majority on a 222-203 vote which defeated a resolution that, according to The Washington Post, "would have prevented Democrats from using a 'deem and pass' strategy to approve the Senate measure."

So on Thursday the two upstate freshmen go along with party leaders in moving forward 'deem and pass,' and on Saturday, when said leaders decide to abandon the tactic, the two pipsqueak freshmen take credit for the reversal. Sure, that's the way it went down.