Dean: Health Reform is in the Hands of the Democrats

Howard Dean says democrats have the majority now and republicans have dropped off the bill, so it's put up or shut up (I paraphrased). Dean says the public option fight is over. He doesn't know exactly what the public option will look like but he said he's sure it will be part of the bill.

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Some Liberals Appear to be Back in Obama's Corner

Steve Hildebrand, former Obama deputy campaign manager, criticized Obama yesterday and many liberals had turned on Obama. Post speech, Hildebrand seems to be ready to redirect his efforts. Interesting that Obama didn't say much new, but what he sold was the idea that health care reform won't be derailed, lies will be debunked and now is the time to take a giant step forward. And thanks to Joe Wilson, democrats rallied. I'm interested to read what Paul Krugman and Robert Reich, two big advocates for the public option, thought of the speech.

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Some hard core liberals, however, are still wrongly focused on the public option. In this video, Anna is wrong. Obama also said there could be subsidies for people who couldn't afford insurance. Penalizing poor people is the last thing Obama would do. The idea of reform is to bring costs down so that insurance is more affordable for everyone. Some have wrapped their brains around the public option as being The ONLY Way to do that. But that's not true. The problem with health care is that it's so complex that few people actually know what they're talking about.

Rachel Maddow:

Howard Dean on Face the Nation Aug. 23

For me, Howard Dean is the person who's making the most sense on health care reform. He gets the politics and the policy. Bob Schieffer asks if Grassley is right-- is Obama sending mixed signals? Dean says Chuck Grassley is sending mixed signals. I'll say.

Grassley backs off on pulling the plug on grandma. Kent Conrad says public option doesn't have the 60 votes to pass the Senate. Dean has said that the bill may not pass the Senate with the public option but when the House and Senate bills are merged, it will be added back in: