First Claire McCaskill wanted to handcuff the public option; now she wants to trigger it or let states opt out, anything to sideline it. After all, she says, it isn’t the main course when it comes to health care reform, just one of the little vegetables on the side.
Remember when McCaskill told the unruly teapartiers at one of her town hall meetings that she didn’t want to have to use her “mom” voice? Perhaps she needs to call on some more generalized mom skills now and recollect that it is just as important to eat your vegetables as anything else. Otherwise, she could get a lesson in nutrition next election when some of her erstwhile supporters decline to feed the campaign kitty.
Update: If you want to get an idea about the harm done to health care reform by those quibblers and ditherers like McCaskill whose lack of support weakened the public option, you might be interested in this TPM report.