Reply #19: Yeah, but what we could get, as outlined in #6, is tremendously weaker than ...

[frazzled]

even the current bills without the public option. Why do you think even Krugman has been trying to play down the public option lately?

Really, people like to pretend this is all easy, but it is a legislative a nightmare.

I still hope the best option is that we can cut a deal with errant Democratic senators to oppose a filibuster (i.e., vote for cloture) and let them vote against the final bill. But somehow nobody thinks this is really possible. I dunno.

Something will get passed, however. It may just be so weak as to not matter. And by weak I don't mean a bill without a public option. I mean a bill that puts no regulation on the current insurance industry.