Was just talking to a Senate GOP aide who was chortling over Reid’s disaster today. Here’s his take: The doc fix is usually very popular, but the vote showed that, in the current environment, debt trumps docs. Too many moderate Democrats had already been asked to vote for too much spending, so they balked at this. Reid lost 13 votes in the final act of a slow-rolling debacle that began last week when he confidently predicted Democrats would take up and pass the measure as soon as Monday. Despite his years as a whip, Reid apparently neglected to count the votes on this one. Now he says he’ll bring it up after Obamacare passes. But Republicans will likely offer an amendment to include it in the health-care legislation when it gets to the floor, putting Reid and his party in the awkward position of having to turn around and vote against the fix (they can’t have it on Obamacare because it would make it even more unaffordable). Also, many journalists will now notice that when Democrats brag about Obamacare being paid for that they really have this $250 billion unfunded expenditure hanging out there. Not a good day for Reid.