annoying bash newline handling

testit() {
    lines=$(cat<<EOF
    line1
    line2
    line3
EOF
    )

    echo "echo only"
    cat <(echo $lines)
    echo

    echo "cat anonymous pipe"
    cat <(echo $lines)
    echo

    echo "hack loop and pipe"
    cat <(for line in $(echo $lines); do echo $line; done)
}

testit




echo only
line1 line2 line3

cat anonymous pipe
line1 line2 line3

hack loop and pipe
line1
line2
line3