The ‘cat’ is in the bag

Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) offered some high praise for Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus (D-Mont.) regarding his effort on healthcare reform.

In his comments, Kerry used terminology only a Senate insider could love.

He tweeted:

My boss – my Chair on the Finance Ctte – Max Baucus talking health care rform. Done a grt job herding cats on this huge issue. Lots of cats

“Herding cats” is a saying used in the Senate to describe the difficult task of organizing a coalition to support a piece of legislation. Former Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) used the expression in the title of his 2006 memoir. Kerry’s praise comes as some Republican senators are calling for the entire bill to be nixed.

If you still can’t envision how difficult “herding cats” is, here is a short glimpse: