Slightly OT, but what happened to the AETNA statement of FU to all of us? It was reported yesterday and today nothing. Where are true supporters of "Reform?" That this statement goes unopposed is what is wrong with this whole "debate." There should be hearings with the CEO and he should be called out for his inhumanity.
I'm afraid that won't happen!

Steve, I don't get why you don't get the obvious reason they keep "doubling down"--because the word "public" in the right wing imaginary means "collectivized" and "forced" and "communistic." Every time they say "public" option they know their audience hears "only option" and "government owned option" where the very words public and government are assumed to have a negative, even wholly evil connotation. Grassley et al will continue to insist that the Democratic elites don't want a "public option" for themselves because to republicans the very word "public" has become a curse word. This is why they are free to use the word "gulag" for medicare. We don't share a language in common, at this point.

But seeing this coming the Democrats should have defined the public option as *what the President and Congress already have* and opened that plan to everyone. This would have rhetorically cut the legs out from under the implicit charge that Obama and the dems are constructing a two tiered system in which the elites do well and everyone else is forced into substandard care. Of course that's the system we have right now--we call it for profit employer sponsored health care--but the democrats have done a piss poor job of managing the semantic issues.

aimai

It seems to me that the basic problem arises from Obama's style that ultimately affects various issues in substantive ways. His embrace of the members of the opposing side (including Lieberman) and his constant quest to please them irrespective of their lack of any enthusiasm to come to the party has caused the health care reform to become an unholy mess, apparently completely devoid of anything resembling the solutions to the problems that he intended to solve.

Grassley and Coburn are going to look especially stupid in 2011 when Democrats push legislation to expand the public option so that everyone (including those covered under employer plans who would not have access to the public option) has access to the same public plan covering Congress and the Executive Branch. Brilliant.

So respect is held for enthusiasm , dealing with an entrenched political machine that glorifies posturing , is a quixotic , profane nothing in the reflection of initial resolve ?

Chuck- you overestimate the public's ability to remember things that a politician has done, which in a sane world, would hurt that person's career.

It really isn't a matter of stoopid games... it is a matter of cynicism and the sociopathology of chuck grassley (and his supporters, in their self-destructive resentments). he really despises the american people, as do most of the Repugnants.

"I'm the President of the United States, so I've got a doctor following me every minute. I've got the best health care in the world."

In other words Obamacare for everyone except BHO.

Well... buy golly this has all the options going for it. Yeah... double down!

Let's see if the GOP leadership supports this...

aimai-

I agree with your assessment. Republicans have a way of getting their talking points across in such a way that they are able to manipulate any word to suit their agenda.

They win the words war.

al, i have absolutely no idea what you're trying to say.
do you?

It didn't get as much coverage as "death panels" and such, but part of the right-wing disinformation campaign from the beginning has been that there are provisions in the bill that will require everyone to be enrolled in the public option (and then government bureaucrats will decide whether you can get treatment, etc., blah, blah, blah.) Consequently, they've been constantly demanding that public officials say whether they will personally enroll in it, and if they say they'll have the same choices that everyone else does, then hah! -- they're getting special treatment for themselves and you're getting screwed.

At my congressman's town hall (where he did quite a good job of keeping the crazies under control), this talking point seemed to be the one most commonly echoed by opponents who seemed pretty rational (i.e., not screaming "socialist" and not likely to buy the more blatant lies like death panels.) The ones I talked to had pretty obviously received an email with a purported excerpt from the bill saying that employers would be required to enroll you in the public option, and they stubbornly clung to this view (and how they were uncomfortable trusting the government that far) even when I explained that I had read the whole bill, at the source, and there was nothing like that in it.

Unfortunately, it seems like the lie that the public option isn't optional has been one of their subtler and more effective disinformation campaigns, so I'm not surprised they're doubling down on it now.

The Republicans have this backassward!

We, the people, only wish to have the coverage our elected officials have already! My Q to the Republicans - if your gov't sponsored health insurance is good enough for you, why can't we common Americans have the same coverage?

Forget about creating a new policy, just allow the existing Congressional and Exectuive policies to be open for all Americans - there, attainable health care reform is in our grasp! -Kevo

Whaddayaknow, bipartisanship in the most unlikely of places :) . That's particularly good for Sherrod and Al - it's nice to see two new guys showing a little nimbleness here.

Here's what's going through the Republican mind: Democrats don't really want to reform the health insurance system, they just want to figure out a way to siphon money from it for themselves (see: Dick Cheney, Halliburton and the Iraq War). Therefore, we can put them on the spot by making them say they'll sign up for the public option because of course the whole thing is a scam and they have no intention of actually doing it.

The problem for them is that most Democrats in Congress will be more than happy to throw themselves in that briar patch and agree to sign up for the public option because -- news flash! -- most Democrats in Congress actually do want healthcare reform. If not for the stupid artificial 60-vote requirement in the Senate right now, it would have passed long since.

FRP, are you a lyricist? You seem to have a knack for the rhythm and lyrical flow of your words.

But, also in common with many lyricists, you're so wrapped up in the presentation, that your grammar suffers and your readers cannot (or don't have the time to) decipher your point.

I think the Democrats should go all in after the Republican'ts doubled down.

Add in to the bill that all retired former executives that are now on government pensions be forced to go on single payer too. Imagine the conniption from Cheney and the Illegally Installed Drunken Cokeheaded Deserter (and PapaDoc Bush, too) if they got forced into single payer as a result of Republican't grandstanding.

Not that there will be any Democrats with enough spine to up the ante...

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