The Whole Delivery

Quietly, Tom Harkin joined Jay Rockefeller yesterday is virutally proclaiming the public option as dead. With how neither showed no desire to sign up for Michael Bennet's Letter signing for the PO, it shouldn't have been a surprise that the rational Iowa Senator came out publicly to show no support for a position he was an ardent supporter of for so long. "I hate to say it, but I am not certain we're going to be able to get a public option in this bill," Harkin said with a sigh, in an interview on the eve of President Obama's bipartisan healthcare summit. That phrasing may sound relatively optimistic, but the way Harkin discussed the public option made it clear he didn't see much hope for the plan for now. "That doesn't mean we stop trying... I keep reminding people that this bill is not written in stone, like the Ten Commandments, for ever and ever. This is a law, it's a bill, we change laws all the time around here -- that's what we ...

Tom Harkin, way back in July, promising true meaningful reform for the "Affordable Health choices Act", an oxymoron now as it ever was: Tom Harkin in October, said a public option will be in the final bill: Tom Harkin in November, on Rachel Maddow (start at 4:02 mark), ending we are "rounding third and heading home": All throughout the last six months, Tom Harkin has said every day that meaningful health care reform would happen, leading me to believe that he was going to fight for meaningful health reform and only get meaningful health reform for his vote on the final bill. It appears now that is certainly no longer the case : Tom Harkin, tonight: Asked by a reporter if the Medicare buy-in will be pulled out, Harkin said "looks that way," before praising a Democratic health care bill without the two public option compromises. "There's enough good in this bill that even without those two, we gotta move," he said. "All the insurance ref...

From what the AP is reporting, it appears so : Democratic senators say they have a tentative deal to drop a government-run insurance option from health care legislation. No further details were immediately available. And this quote from Harkin, who guaranteed that a public option was going to be in the bill so many times through the last few months, is concerning to meaningful reform Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa told reporters he didn't like the agreement but would support it to the hilt in an attempt to pass health care legislation. Oh gosh. And the suppose compromise for the watered public option, the Medicaid buy in. Well, it's not looking good . In fact, it made Jay Rockefeller sad. Updated : But then again, it's the Associated Press, know for their hack reporting . Reuters reports that Reid debunks the Associated Press report: Reid said reports the government-run "public option" had been dropped were "not true." Something is being scored by the CBO. It i...

The health insurance lobbyist bill is about to come out from Max Baucus' hands today , and let's just say that there will be plenty of people on the nation's left that won't be satisfied with it. Most importantly though, is whether the main people fighting in the front lines for a public option will still fight for this bill to not be the final one on Obama's desk at the duration of this upmost critical issue. And it appears that they will fight : House Democrats tried Tuesday to reframe the debate over their health overhaul bill as negotiators in the Senate urgently sought elusive bipartisan compromise a day ahead of their planned bill release. House Democratic leaders summoned a panel of friendly witnesses to a public hearing on Capitol Hill where they solicited testimonials aimed at dispelling opposition to their legislation. The House Democrats' bill took a beating during the August recess after passing three committees without a single Republican vote. ...