BARF Public Option Vote Today

That’s right.  Today the Senate Finance committee is scheduled to debate and vote on adding the Public Option to BARF.  The rabid right is running new ads that are particularly dysfunctional.  Here’s an example, cleverly edited by a pro reform activist.
 
Hat-Tip: Huffington Post
Whatever happened to do no HAARM?
And is the Nevada Leg-Hound, a title earned for his habit of humping the GOP leg instead of leading, is Harry Reid fighting for the American People?

The Senate majority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, has secured a special deal protecting his state against the costs of expanding Medicaid under one of the major health care bills moving through Congress.
Mr. Reid, a Democrat, complained about the impact on Nevada when the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Max Baucus, Democrat of Montana, unveiled his bill on Sept. 16.
Now Mr. Baucus has modified the bill to spare Nevada and three other states, and Mr. Reid, who faces a potentially difficult race for re-election next year, is taking credit for getting a “major increase” in federal money for his state.
The Senate bill, like a companion measure in the House, would expand Medicaid to cover childless adults, parents and other people with incomes less than 133 percent of the poverty level, or $29,327 for a family of four. The federal government would pay most of the new costs — anywhere from 77 percent to 95 percent, with a higher share in poorer states, in the first five years.
Under Mr. Baucus’s [sic] original proposal, the federal government would have paid 87 percent of the new costs in Nevada. Under the modified version, the federal government would pay 100 percent of the new costs for the first five years. Severe financial problems have prompted Nevada and other states to cut spending and furlough workers, and some states have even considered releasing prison inmates to save money… [emphasis added]

inserted from <NY Times>
No, he didn’t lead.  Instead of humping a GOP leg, he humped Max Baucus’ leg and got preferential treatment for Nevada.  I don’t think Baucus would have done this unless Reid sold us out to get the special deal.
Some of the best thinking I’ve heard on this came from Countdown, even in the absence of Keith Olbermann.  For one thing, Blue Dog DINOs are getting pressure from the left to either support the Public Option or face primary challenges to their reelection, a move I support.

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I particularly like Dean’s idea.  If we can’t get the public option, we’re left with a massive welfare package for the insurance industry with no way to contain costs.  In it’s present form, BARF will bankrupt the nation, because these greedy corporate leeches will take advantage of the mandate and raise rates.  It’s better to strip the mandates from the bill and the funding for everything except expanding Medicaid to cover the people up to 133% of the poverty level.  Otherwise, keep only the regulations on big insurance, such as forbidding them to discriminate people with preexisting conditions, to drop the coverage of clients who become ill, and to refuse to pay valid claims.
Republican Senators who vote against the public option should not be threatened with violence.  That’s their way, not ours.  We’re better than that.  However they should be marked for replacement.  I’ll find out who they are and let you know.