These days I need to actively look for reasons to be grateful that Barack Obama is our President. The things that emanate from the speech orifice of Republican congressional leaders are one continuing source.

Take Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell‘s performance on Meet the Press yesterday. (That’s the same program which was recently revealed to have enhanced its journalistic reputation by assuring Mark Sanford‘s aides during his disappearance phase that “Meet The Press allows you to frame the conversation as you really want to.”)

MR. GREGORY: Well, but wait a minute. You, you say that we have the best healthcare system in the world, you say it as a matter of fact.

SEN. McCONNELL: Mm-hmm.

MR. GREGORY: But it seems to be a matter of debate. You just mentioned access. You’ve got 47 million people who are uninsured.

SEN. McCONNELL: Mm-hmm.

MR. GREGORY: And there are experts, including one expert who is now an Obama adviser, who actually writes about this idea that it’s a myth that it’s the best health care in the world.

SEN. McCONNELL: Mm-hmm.

MR. GREGORY: And this is what he wrote along with another expert last fall, saying: “It’s a myth that America has the best health care in the world. The United States is number one only in one sense, the amount we shell out for health care. We have the most expensive system in the world per capita, but we lag many developed countries on virtually every health statistic you can name”; life expectancy, infant mortality, obesity, death rate from prostate cancer, heart attack recovery. That’s the best system in the world?

SEN. McCONNELL: That’s one expert. If you look at the surveys and ask the American people what they think, they don’t think quality is a problem. They think cost is a problem and access is a problem.

Kind of takes your breath away, doesn’t it? But here’s the part I liked best:

MR. GREGORY: Do you think it’s a moral issue that 47 million Americans go without health insurance?

SEN. McCONNELL: Well, they don’t go without health care.

At this stage of the debate, the leader of the Republican party in the Senate is willing to go on national TV, and say in a high-profile news program that 47 million Americans don’t go without health care because they can always show up in the emergency room and receive the care they need. (He did generously allow that this is “not the most efficient way to provide” health care.)

How bankrupt is this party? How bankrupt is this man?