Anybody here remember what hudna means?
So some of us got all excited over the weekend about Sebelius’ and Conrad’s supposed admission that the “public option” was all but dead. Au contraire, mon freres; you shoulda known better than that:
An administration official said tonight that Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius “misspoke” when she told CNN this morning that a government run health insurance option “is not an essential part” of reform. This official asked not to be identified in exchange for providing clarity about the intentions of the President. The official said that the White House did not intend to change its messaging and that Sebelius simply meant to echo the president, who has acknowledged that the public option is a tough sell in the Senate and is, at the same time, a must-pass for House Democrats, and is not, in the president’s view, the most important element of the reform package.
A second official, Linda Douglass, director of health reform communications for the administration, said that President Obama believed that a public option was the best way to reduce costs and promote competition among insurance companies, that he had not backed away from that belief, and that he still wanted to see a public option in the final bill.
“Nothing has changed,” she said. “The President has always said that what is essential that health insurance reform lower costs, ensure that there are affordable options for all Americans and increase choice and competition in the health insurance market. He believes that the public option is the best way to achieve these goals.”
The public option — ie, the Big Takeover — will never go away as long as there’s one Democrat Socialist left in government to pimp for it.
Update! Michelle ain’t buying the hype. Nor should anyone else.
- Entries
The details are irrelevant. If there's no "public option" in the original bill you can bet they'll stick in a back door that allows one to be added later.
As for "bipartisan support" that's a win-win for the Dems. If they pass it over a solid Republican boycott (yeah, right!) and it doesn't contain everything they want, they'll be able to point to those mean old Republicans across the aisle, saying that if not for them, the bill would have had all the candy and goodies that they wanted. OTOH, if (as is almost certain) a number of gutless weathervane Republicans cross the aisle to vote for the bill then they'll be able to say "See? Even those evil, baby-candy-stealing-Rethuglicans liked this bill so it must be great, right?"
And Obama sails on to another 4 years...