I was browsing through the various news webs when I came across this just now on Talking Points Memo:
During a tele-townhall with constituents today, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he supports a public option...but then he added an extremely important caveat. Reid said he doesn't think the public option ought to be a government run program like Medicare, but instead favors a "private entity that has direction from the federal government so people that don't fall within the parameters of being able to get insurance from their employers, they would have a place to go. "
UPDATE I: OK, well first time on the rec list and I have to add the obligatory thanks – though I am dismayed by a thread in the comments that declares I am "helping us lose" by reporting on a report about Reid while expressing my deep frustration with his leadership. Strange that...
Well, isn't that just great! So much for all the optimism coming out of the diary currently on the rec list: Harry Reid comes out in strong support of public option
I can't believe that Harry Reid is the Senate Majority Leader. He is, IMHO, a total joke. We really need someone strong in there, someone who knows how to play hardball politics and is willing to do it. Reid seems lost on both counts. How does he manage to hang onto power among his colleagues?
The reporter, Brian Beutler, points out:
That sounds suspiciously like Reid would prefer a so-called co-op system, which almost all reformers regard with suspicion, and many regard as a non-starter. Reid is ultimately more than just one vote, too. If the Senate passes a health care bill through the regular legislative process, he'll be the one marrying two different pieces of legislation: one which creates a public option, and one which creates co-ops. Likewise, if the Senate passes health care reforms on a partisan basis through the so-called reconciliation process, his office would take the lead in determining whether to try an include a public option in the reconciliation bill.
It's so sickening it makes my skin crawl.
It seems pretty clear that the Dems have lost (surrendered is more like it) the broader narrative or debate over health care reform. They have been out gunned by the crazies right-wing astroturfers who now dominate the headlines. The Dems, reverting to their old, spineless ways, have retreated into their "please don't hurt me mode" and full throated progressives are pinning their hopes on the fine print or reading in-between the lines of what Reid says or doesn't say. Puhhleaze!! It's disgusting and beneath us (and really beneath this country).
Dems of all stripes -- elected officials, talking heads, the bloggers -- should fight fire with fire. Dems should be willing to demagogue the issue the same way that Republicans are. I just can't believe the crazy ass anti-American stuff that the Republicans and right wingers are getting always with more or less scott free!!
I also would like to see Obama use the bully pulpit in a more hard nosed and full throated way. It's clear that the Repblicans are willing to say and do anything to defeat real health care reform and it seems at times like Obama and other Dems are playing nice and honest with fundamentally mean and dishonest politicians.
What I like about people like Michael Moore is his willingness to go toe-to-toe with the conservative world view and find graphic ways of exposing it for what it is: Hypocritical, corporitist bullshit. Moore's approach is not necessarily smart or enlightening but he gets to the heart of the matter and frames the debate on terms that reach people on an emotional level.
Why hasn't, for instance, Obama paraded at evey news conference he gives and every speech he makes a trio of people who have absolutley horrible and horrific experiences with their private health insurance? Why doesn't he then ask how Chuck Grassley's or Max Baucus' tepid reform proposals would address these problems. You can bet your ass that Michael Moore would find the perfect way to exploit such stories to maximum effect.
Anyway, really I am just passing along some breaking news and ranting a little. I still have hope that our health care reform will be meaningful and have a robust public option in it. But if it doesn't....
UPDATE II: BREAKING: Harry Reid Ditches Public Option
(a diary that came in after this one but with the information to contact Reid's offices and register your dissapproval.
UPDATE III: Hold your horses on Reid
Here is an earlier diary on the same topic by MeMeMeMeMe that I didn't see. (I am really close on this one).
UPDATE IV: From comments below by slinkerwink ~ Update from Reid Spokesman
Late update: Reid spokesman Jim Manley emails in that Reid's preference is for a "public option," but would not confirm that Reid means "public option" as commonly understood: an insurance program run by the Department of Health and Human Services or another government body.
Late late update: Manley adds, "The govt could contract w a private company to administer the public option. [Sen. Reid] is willing to consider a co-op if he is shown it works to make insurers honest."
slinkerwink adds: "Uh, I don't want a private insurer to administer the public option!" and I would have to second that heartily!!