Simply put, Insurance Company Stooge Benedict Joe Lieberhoser appears to have single handedly killed both the public option and the Medicare buy in. But what remains for the bill?
- Is the Office of Personel Management options still in there? If so, who would qualify to buy those plans?
- What happened to Olympia Snowe? Is she still a potential replacement vote for Loserman?
- Is it time to forget about 60 and go for reconciliation?
- How do Blanche Lincoln, Baucus, Snowe, and Nelson compare with Liebertoast on the evil scale?
- etc! etc!
The pace of rapid disemboweling of this bill is mind blowing. Every morning I wake up only to be bewildered by the latest news I hear on NPR. Anyone care to explain where the bill is now?
I can't believe the Democrats are about to piss away their majority! A history lesson is needed. The failure for Dems to rally around the Clinton health care reform bill was THE single issue that killed the Dems in the 1994 mid term elections. I can't believe they're about to let this happen again! We don't need another 12 years of republicans in the hen house.
UPDATE Thanks for the link cotterperson, but even TPM isn't doing it concisely. Makes me think that I'm going to set up a site with a single summary page dedicated to tracking the bill since no news outlet seems to be doing that all that well.
UPDATE 2 Awful, but desperate idea that might just work. From an article on TPM:
"""
"So what do I do? Do I take my football, and run home and sulk, and complain, or hold out for $100 million for something in West Virgina? No, I look at the entire bill and see what is in the general interest of the people in my state, and the people of America," Rockefeller said.
That last part appears to be a not-so-subtle jab at Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA), whose state got $100 million in federal Medicaid aid in exchange for her support for the bill.
"""
OK, Harry! Who else can be bribed to back the public option? Probably not Lieberman. But Snowe? What does Maine want? Free candy? Give it to them!