In an almost party-line vote, the Senate Finance Committee decided not to post the language of their health-care reform bill online.

It’s not just that this move is an anathema to the open-government pledges that every politician claims to strive for when they’re up for re-election, it’s the absolute lameness of the excuse of why they can’t won’t do it.

Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., himself admitted that “This probably sounds a little crazy to some people that we are voting on something before we have seen legislative language.” Indeed.

Baucus’ excuse - that it would take his committee staff two weeks to post the bill online – sounds a little crazy too. Finance Committee members are the only ones who vote based on the “plain English” version of a bill, not the legally-binding language.

So, we’re left with two options: Either the Senate staff is so technically inept that they really can’t get the bill online. Or, they’re so worried that what’s in it will be so overwhelmingly unpopular that they don’t want anyone reading it.

In either case, should we really be trusting these people with a takeover of the health-care industry?