We're all relieved to know that Bubba's going to be okay but I couldn't help notice that the guy's only 63. That's still two years till Medicare kicks in. Imagine if he didn't have health insurance.
It's the easiest thing in the world to come up with a plan when you're completely indifferent to the final results. That's always been the GOPers' advantage when it comes to HCR: basically they can recommend anything they want since universal health care is not part of their agenda, it's part of ours.
So when one of the GOPers in Baltimore whined (in so many words) 'you're ignoring us -- we have a plan too!', it was great to hear Obama respond:
Rep. John Yarmuth (D-KY), who has said he favors breaking the bill into chunks and passing them individually, emerged from a meeting with House leadership confident they'd have a deal by the end of the week. [emphasis added]
Let's face it, compared to the alternatives, the Senate bill they're about to approve is pretty conservative. That's why complaining about it not being 'bipartisan' is almost adding insult to injury.
Was the Public Option really as dead as the mainstream media (and even most recently by Josh Marshall) have been making out?
Or was this yet another example of 'He-said-She-said' journamalism where the reality on the ground -- Dems got the votes, Dems got the votes -- was conveniently ignored so that we could hear yet more of Chuck Grassley and Olympia Snowe?
Encouraging words from Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) on the likelihood of Senate Blue Dogs killing the Senate bill because it contains a public option:
"No Democrat wants to be on the wrong side of history and vote on a procedural vote to kill the most important domestic vote of their careers," Brown said.
