Here's Candy Crowley on Sunday:
You know, the problem for the White House isn't that 80 percent of people want reform, it's the kind of reform that they want. If 80 percent of people wanted a public option, well then, by golly they'd have a public option.
Joe "with us on everything but the war" Lieberman on MSNBC, today:
This debate is going in the wrong direction. Are people going to fight for elements of that are not attainable or are they going to try to find common ground.... I mean a government run health insurance plan. The public doesn't support it. They feel that the existing system--private insurance, Medicare, Medicaid--does pretty well.
Obviously, Joe not only doesn't understand the basics of Medicare and Medicaid, but he also gets all of his news from Crowley, who apparently doesn't get her news from CNN:
CNN poll by Opinion Research, 1,010 adults, 8/28-31, +/- 3 pts (pdf):
Now thinking specifically about the health insurance plans available to most Americans, would you favor or oppose creating a public health insurance option administered by the federal government that would compete with plans offered by private health insurance companies?
Favor - 55%
Oppose - 41%
No opinion - 4%
By golly, it must be because only 55 percent of people want the public option that we don't have it. The magical threshold is obviously 80, kind of like the magical threshold for Republican votes on a "bipartisan" bill. So the Research 2000 poll that found 58 percent favoring a public option doesn't count. Nor does SurveyUSA's finding of 77 percent support. The recent AARP, National Journal and Penn, Schoen & Berland poll almost get us there, at 79 percent in favor. But we just can't manage to hit that magical 80 percent.
And thus, "majority" is redefined, as is "the American people." The American people is really just the Village. And Joe Lieberman.