Rep. Jim Cooper (D-TN) has called a press conference for 2:45 PM EDT to discuss coming healthcare reform legislation. Word has it that Cooper will call for progress toward a new healthcare regime to be slowed down.

Representative Cooper recently told a gathering in his home Tennessee that he supported a public option, with no trigger, so why is Cooper suddenly obsessed with the need for the opposite of speed?

Cooper has been less than a steadfast supporter of a federal healthcare plan in the past, and played a hand in scuttling the last attempt at reform. Any attempt to delay a bill this time—a time when a majority of Americans have voiced support for a public option—can only be read as an attempt to thwart momentum and allow a deeply flawed “compromise” (read: phony, non-competitive public plans) to replace true reform.

Why does Representative Jim Cooper suddenly need to slow the process? Why does he hate Nashville Metro Hospital?

Maybe I am asking the question the wrong way—maybe I should be asking, why does Jim Cooper love the private insurance industry so much?