The Blood of TennCare on Gov. Bredesen

Speaking of Phil Bredesen's possible bid for the Presidency:

"[I]t wouldn't be easy for Bredesen to step onto the national stage with TennCare's blood on his suit." Ron Brownstein, LA Times

More thoughts on Bredesen from Gordon Bonnyman:

''I respect him. He is extraordinarily gifted,'' Bonnyman said. ''I believe he is a decent person. He is not cruel. He is not mean-spirited. But he is pursuing policies that are going to be far more destructive to the people he wants to serve than the policies of any other governor over the 35-year history of this program among 50 states.

... Everybody I've talked to who knows the governor has said, because of his experience in the health-care industry, he doesn't really believe that he needs to defer to anybody else,'' Bonnyman said. ''... There is no tolerance for people who disagree with him ... He's a numbers guy. He doesn't need anybody else telling him what to do about that. In fact, he resents it, I've found. On the other hand, he doesn't see himself as a politician."

In Bonnyman's assessment, there's only one thing that will make the Governor save TennCare:

"It will only be because he thinks it's costing him politically.''

For the latest on the Governor's plan to cut more than 300,000 Tennesseans from TennCare and, thus, remain popular with the "Me-First" Republicans, go here.