I tend to agree with Brown.

this is the opposite of what a buddy of mine calls the briefcase game. It goes like this:

Buddy: So, let me ask you. Would you blow a dog for $10,000?
Patsy: Your question is ridiculous, of course not.
Buddy: I understand. But we are friends, this isn't a panel show, and I'm trying to gauge whether you would engage in what any one would reasonably consider to be embarrassing behavior for a certain amount of money. And if I came to you with a briefcase containing $10,000, would you blow a dog? I'd have the dog, you could go into a room, and blow it, and that would be that.
Patsy: I told you, no way.
Buddy: Now, I want you to think about this. I'm talking $10,000. $10,000 in cash. have you ever seen $10,000 in cash?
Patsy: No.
Buddy: It's impressive. i mean, I want you to really picture it. Picture the briefcase, and inside is a bunch of $100 bills. Stacks of them. Now, are you seriously telling me that if I had that, not as a hypothetical, but if I really had $10,000 with me, you wouldn't consider it?
Patsy: Okay, well, maybe I'd consider it.
Buddy: $10,00 in cash. you really need to picture it.
Patsy: (Pause) Okay, yeah, I might do it.
Buddy: Now, you say you might, but what if it were $20,000. That's a lot of money, right? I mean, tax free. I just hand it to you. You would blow a dog then, right? I mean, if you would consider blowing a dog for $10,000, you'd probably do it for $20,000, right?
Patsy: (Long pause) Yeah, I probably would.
Buddy: (Takes a drink of his beer) Dude. (Laughs) You'd blow a dog for $20,000. (Laughs) You sick f*ck!

The point is, these Senators are all, 'Yeah, no way I'm voting for the public option." But there is going to be a moment when they actually have to either vote to filibuster, or vote to pass sweeping health care reform on the floor, and they are going to face reality, not a hypothetical vote. A real vote. on the floor. On TV. With everybody watching.

I think Sherrod Brown is right. Just like the guy who would, under real temptation (or pressure), blow a dog, these guys are going to face a very real choice between being the one who votes to kill this, or being the one who goes along and votes.

There is going to be a public option.

The logic is this simple: The bill right now has a mandate that says the public must buy insurance.

There is no way in hell that people are going to support a bill that forces people to have to buy from private companies (who control the pricing) over priced health insurance.

Think about that for a minute. Congress poses to put a gun to the head of every American and force them to give money to insurance executives. People will simply disregard the law en mass.

You simply cannot have a law that forces the public to buy insurance and not provide a public option.

So either there will be a health reform bill or there will not be a health reform bill - but there will not be a health reform bill that doesn't have a public option.

That means, this is all kabuki theater.

You're making a false comparison. What the president's Cheif of Staff carries a lot more weight with a much larger part of the population than what the Left blogosphere says. (Actually I don't believe everyone on the left has been saying the PO was DOA.)

There is plenty of reason to pound him for his statement, his job as Cheif of Staff is to twist arms with an eye toward getting the President's agenda passed, so with this statement he is admitting that he can't do his job, unless the Public Option isn't part of the President's agenda. That couldn't be, could it?