I just checked out First Read on the MSNBC website, and today it actually wasn't Chuck Todd that set my hair on fire. It was Mark Murray:
When then-candidate Barack Obama first unveiled his health-care plan, on May 29, 2007, his 3,600-word speech didn't contain the words "public option" in it. There wasn't a single mention of it (although an accompanying fact sheet did refer to a "new public plan" that would be open to individuals without access to other coverage).
So, the fact that the public option was part of Obama's platform is just a parenthetical. The headline here is that it wasn't in the speech.
Hmmm...nice revisionism Mark. I'm glad you got the memo from Rahm.
The post (take a valium before you read it) seeks to bolster the new framing: The public option was never an important part of reform. Liberals are just obsessing over it because they're whiny-ass-titty-babies who are looking for a cross to hang from.
Bull puckey.
It wasn't just us, here on the loony left, that freaked out when Sebelius dropped her bomb last month. Everyone knew that throwing the public option under the bus was a serious shift in policy from the White House. (This video won't embed, but I think John Stewart's reaction mirrored that of everyone who was paying attention to the health care debate.)
During the campaign, from Wapo (emphasis mine):
My plan will ensure that all Americans have health care coverage through their employers, private health plans, the federal government, or the states. My plan builds on and improves our current insurance system, which most Americans continue to rely upon, and creates a new public health plan for those currently without coverage. Under my plan, Americans will be able to choose to maintain their current coverage if they choose to. For those without health insurance I will establish a new public insurance program, and provide subsides to afford care for those who need them.
Yes, it is true that during the primaries the main point of debate on health care was mandates. But that's because the public option was taken as a given -- it was in all 3 major Democratic candidate's plans. The public option was the compromise that we on the Left made with political expediency before this whole fight began.
And now not only are we being told to compromise again, we're being told to shut up and like it.
Up yours, Mark Murray.