I found this discussion between Senators Grassley (R-IA) and Schumer (D-NY) on CBS's Face the Nation truly bizarre.
Most of the segment was spent discussing health care in the usual superficial, made-for-tv way with a handful of talking points and the obligatory promise of "bipartisanship". I felt dumber after watching the thing than before.
That said, what I found truly strange was the insistence by fill-in host, John Dickerson, of bringing up health care "cooperatives" as a substitute for a public option -- not once but twice.
He did so entirely on his own, entirely unrelated to what the Senators were saying. In fact, the 2nd time he did it, it was just after Schumer had said that 70% of the American public supported the public option.
But screw what 70% of the American public support. Apparently there's no story there. Dickerson wanted to know what Schumer thought about cooperatives!
I guess on the bright side, we now know there must be a lobby for cooperatives somewhere on planet earth since apparently they've got a spokesman in the form of fill-in host, John Dickerson.
Not surprisingly, CBS's description of its own show is the last place to go to figure out what truly went on:
Both senators see the option of an alternative patient-owned cooperative system as a possible point of agreement between committee members.
UPDATE: Ugh, The Hill provides background:
Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and six other committee members, including Grassley, have been meeting behind closed doors to draft a bipartisan bill. At the urging of Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), the senators are leaning toward setting aside a true public option in favor of establishing not-for-profit, member-owned health insurance cooperatives to compete with traditional insurance companies. Though the notion appeals to Republicans and some centrist Democrats, supporters of the public option do not view it as an acceptable compromise.
