Ds call Rs' bluff on joining Public Option - video

Sometimes Capitol Hill Theater can be tres amusing!

Since senators and representatives have been on the public dole with their Cadillac health care all along, the ploy on Thursday (Dec 3) by Senators Coburn and Vitter to further gum up passage of health reform makes a lot of sense: all senators and reps must enroll in the public option program, "no other possibilities, no other choices," said Vitter to The Hill.

But the Rs weren't attempting to make sense, they were proposing an amendment that they assumed the Ds would oppose thus making Dem efforts for a public option seem hypocritical. (Memo to GOP: precious few of you in Congress need help with hypocrisy - you're past and present masters.)

As Senator Coburn said about the Rs' tricky amendment, "It's called leadership. If it's good enough for everybody else, we ought to be leading by example."

Hurrah! Now that would be a novelty on Capitol Hill - leading, and by example, too! Next thing you know, Congress will be retrieving its oversight duties and stepping up to our constitutional plate.

One-upsmanship: by unanimous consent vote, Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Al FRanken (D-MN), and other Ds have been added as co-sponsors of the Republican amendment. Now what do you think are the chances for reform passage with the public option for government reps attached? Nil? Or none?

Hey, wait a minute. If this amendment stands as the bill is ultimately voted up or down, will it be merely one of the reasons that health insurance reform crashes altogether? Hope not. But I think my total lack of trust in my 'elected' officials' good faith on our behalf is showing. Again.