Under the headline “Health Care Debate -- At Last,” Town Hall columnist Bill Murchison makes the laugh-out-loud claim that health care reform hasn't yet been debated:

To be sure, repeal isn't going to happen this year -- no matter the size of the House majority in favor of it, or such arguments as Republicans bring concerning the unaffordability of the whole enterprise. The exercise of debating and voting on repeal will have wonderful effects notwithstanding.

Last time around, debate hardly took place. Mrs. Pelosi was firmly in charge on the House side. Passage was a done deal. Cost and constitutional aspects got no airing apart from what the spunkier breed of Republican could manage on non-congressional turf.

Has Murchison forgotten about the year-long debate over health care reform? (Or the additional year of argument after reform passed?) Or does he think Town Hall readers have? Does he really expect anyone to believe health care reform didn't receive a full and public debate during a year of negotiations, hearings, town hall meetings, and cable news yelling in 2009 -- but it will in the seven hours the House GOP has scheduled for floor debate on repeal?

I don't know whether Murchison is a delusional fool or a shamelessly transparent liar. Either way, it's hard to imagine a more absurd argument than his claim that health care will get in seven hours the thorough debate he claims it didn't get in all of 2009. He's like a Super Bowl loser touting a pre-season rematch as the definitive contest between the two teams.