TPM is really becoming unreadable. Too much hyperventilating reporting from the writers.

"If that's the case, that will devastate the large segment of the reform community that regards the public option as one of the most crucial elements of legislation." So says Brian.

Why not wait till after the address on Wed to ascertain whether reformers will be "devastated"?

we need to step a minute, take a breath and think this through. regardless of what the crazies are yelling and the machiavellian gop is manipulating; we are the majority!

we need to let those like the two nelsons - ben and bill and mary landrieu and conrad know, vote for cloture then, if you feel you are truly representing the majority of your constituency, vote against health care reform with a strong public option.

however, those like the nelsons and landrieu and conrad need to stop listening to the choir and instead listen to the needs of the majority of your constituents.

the rest of us needs to stand up and speak out and let all know, we learned how to organize, canvas, talk to people, make telephone calls and donate; and we will do it again for anyone who obstructs president obama and his agenda he was voted into office with an overwhelming majority of american voters to enact!

no amount of yelling and screaming and campaign donations can overcome the will of a majority of voters!

The public option was never an option. It was given away months ago when Obama first met with the insurance and drug companies. It was given away for the promise of not having them spend all their money attacking the health care reform.

Everything to date since then is just a roadshow. If there was even one small bit of a chance that public option was really on the table, the White House would be fighting for it tooth and nail.

You can easily tell how unenergetic Obama is when he talks about the public option. You can also tell how surprised they are that the left support this so much. They are really shocked at the support and anger. But they have no choice in this.

Every single one of his top advisors, Axelrod, Rham, Sebelius, and even Gibbs talk about the public option using words like, “something like the public option”. They never say, we want the public option.

We are being played, plain and simple.

Reformers to Obama: You Don't Win By Disappointing Your Supporters

The headline speaks for its self.

We don't want competing bad options. We want some good options in there. All existing insurance companies - even the few Blue Cross entities that haven't gone for-profit - have been playing the same dirty games so long that they're tainted. As a small businessperson with an non-profit Blue Cross policy, I've seen them play repeated tricks to try to drop my coverage - and they're far ahead in the premiums-to-payouts ratio on my policy. This just won't due. Americans largely hate our insurance companies, for substantial cause. Any "reform" that doesn't provide a clear alternative isn't worth doing. It's like living next to a closely-supervised serial rapist on probation. You'd really rather not, even if he's now promised to stop doing evil. The current insurance companies are, to the last one, beyond prospect of meaningful reform.

Several years ago the smartest political analyst I know said "what evidence is there that the Democrats want to win"?

yadda, yadda, yadda.