When You Make a Deal With the Devil Drug-Makers…

From early on, the White House planned to head off special interest opposition to its health-care overhaul by making deals with key industry players. It's impossible to say how it might have worked out had the administration not used this tactic, but it doesn't look like cutting deals is working out quite as well as they planned:

The first big fight over the Senate Finance Committee's health care legislation erupted Tuesday night: a rollicking brawl over a deal that the Obama administration cut with the pharmaceutical industry to achieve $80 billion in savings on drug costs over 10 years, money that would help pay for the legislation.

Top House Democrats have hated the deal from the get-go. Senate Democrats are now bitterly divided.

Previously, I wrote about how health-care reform empowers lobbyists and makes partners of so-called industry villains.