I think we're going about this all wrong.
People tend to believe a little of what everyone says on the theory that serious people on teevee wouldn't be allowed to say it if it wasn't true. Thus far, the Right has been making over the top statements about the bad things the Public Option would do, but the response on the left has been largely "uh, no it won't". Otherwise reasonable people are left thinking "I guess it'll be half as bad as Republicans say it will be".
How do we fight back against that? Restating the nature of the health care crisis is clearly not enough. We need to get into the real motives and aspirations of the opposition. What they really want is to repeal Medicare.
You want to talk about pulling the plug on Grandma? Fine. Let's talk about what you say is wrong with the Public Option. Government is involved you say, and that would be the "Worst Thing Evar". The same argument applies to Medicare, so what is the principled difference between opposition to the Public Option and opposition to Medicare itself? There is none. Period.
Conservatives don't just want to stop Health Insurance reform, they don't just want to deny Obama a victory. They flat out want to eliminate Medicare. They want to take Grandma's health insurance away and believe me, if they win this battle, they won't be satisfied. They aren't just cronies for the Health Insurance companies. The real underlying motivation here is radical regressive tax reform. We saw them attack Social Security four years ago, and that was just the beginning.
So next time you're in a discussion about the Public Option see what they have to say to the notion that these are really attacks on Medicare. Either they'll complain it's not true and have to explain the difference (they won't be able to) or they'll agree and admit that yes, they really do want to pull the plug on Grandma.