We’ve got sixty! Ob-la-di, ob-bla-da, Dems got cloture, yeah. La la how the Dems go on. Okay, so it doesn’t scan perfectly. But if we get a good public option out of conference, we should be able to get cloture in the Senate on the final bill. O-bla-di, o-bla-da ….
And it’s not just a warm body that Massachusetts will be sending as a temporary replacement for Ted Kennedy. It will probably be Dr. Atul Gawanda, someone with credentials so outstanding that:
On the day he would step foot in the Senate, Dr. Gawande would be the most knowledgeable health policy expert in the chamber, an incredible resource for his fellow Senate colleagues, and a champion for reform.
After the gigantic waste of time and space on healthcare reform by Max Baucus and his gang, we could sure use the likes of Dr. Gawande. It feels that progressives are starving for some good news on the subject, this helps. Especially, after the McCaskill bombshell, stilling reeling from that one. Shouldn’t have been surprised though, judging from the canned responses I have received from her office. She has, at least for the past several months, been talking co-op more than public option. She has declared where she stands on healthcare now, maybe we should deClaire in the next election.
Yes you can but you should hope that it doesn’t happen! The Democrat party will pay a very heavy price in 2010 if a public option goes through. If anything more than a very mild bill that does away with pre-existing conditions passes it will turn control of the Congress over to the Conservatives. It would be a pyhhric victory for the left!