> BTW, on Greenwald's larger point, that the public option campaign was
> something of a scam -- that the Obama Dem leaders were always
> exaggerating their support for the public option, and were always
> perfectly willing to sacrifice it as a bargaining chip, thus in effect
> lying to and just waiting to betray their base -- I agree with that.
> (Yes, SA, you won that bet.) It's just on this technical point about
> reconciliation I disagree.
A public option done through Medicare would be completely immune to parliamentary challenge. This idea was actually being discussed a few months ago. They don't want to do it because they don't want to do it, not because they can't. My hunch is that Obama's secret deals with provider groups included a pledge of no public option with bargaining power or Medicare rates, in exchange for the providers' acquiescence.
SA