Sarkozy blunt on U.S. healthcare reform

French President Nicolas Sarkozy seemed to break diplomatic protocol during a talk at Columbia University yesterday evening. Claiming he was going to "speak from the heart,"  Sarkozy toed a very fine line between personal commentary and interference in another country’s domestic affairs:

Welcome to the club of states who don’t turn their back on the sick and the poor.

Yikes. He went on:

If you come to France and something happens to you, you won’t be asked for your credit card before you’re rushed to the hospital.

While Sarkozy’s speech may have stepped on a few toes, it is hard to argue with his point. It’s astonishing to see a number of Americans whipped into an irrational frenzy over provisions that don’t exist and never did exist in the reforms. The cries of socialism were absurd enough, but the sudden surge in threats of violence against Democrats has no place in a democratic society.