Lefties are experiencing cognitive dissonance this morning as Wal-Mart (bad) offers $4 generic drugs (good). This means the world’s largest retailer is using its market power to force suppliers to lower prices (bad), but those suppliers are the (bad) drug companies. Target has also joined the price war. You can feel the circuits getting overloaded.

Low generic drug prices help the uninsured, which is good, but it does so through the market, which is bad, and means they are getting care without insurance (can it be?) which undermines the whole argument for universal health care (good) and the uniqueness of medicine as an area where markets break down.

So, give your friends on the left a little longer to answer your questions today — they may not be sure what to think for a while. It’s already spun Soledad O’Brien to say nice things about drug companies.