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The David Gregory and Andrea Mitchells of the world have decided to declare the public option dead and of course all of those silly liberals who think that the bill would be a giveaway to the insurance industries without it need to just shut up and get in line. Mitchell says "I just don't get the lack of discipline here". Hey Andrea, there are three co-equal branches of government, or have you forgotten that? And it is not going to destroy Obama's Presidency if he actually listens to the majority that elected him and does what they would like.

As my C&L cohort Nicole pointed out, this article does a good job of explaining just what we're watching right now. From Mike Lux at Open Left- The News Big Media Won't Report:

Every morning I still read my old fashioned paper copy of the morning Washington Post on the subway on my way to the office, and then I sit down to review all the information I am getting from field events and town halls around the country, lobbyists' reports from those meeting with Senate and House members and staff, updates from organizations working in the field. I have to say that the two sets of information could not be further apart, and it makes me wonder again what the disconnect is.

[....]

As I've written before, between some combination of their own pre-conceived conventional wisdom talking points and their love of covering a train wreck, traditional media does not want to report the good news about health care reform. I can't remember ever seeing in any traditional media story, for example, the fact that (as Chris Bowers reported) there is now a majority in both the House and the Senate that are on the public record in support of a public option.

The future of health care reform hangs in the balance. We are in the fight of our lives- but if you listen to the traditional media, you would think it is all over.

Lots more there so be sure to check out the whole article, but he's right. The media has decided to tell everyone that the fight is over and so go sit down and shut up if you don't like it. I would hope that is the last thing anyone that wants to see some real reform is doing.

The Evolution of Dad trailer, a film by Dana H Glazer

My book chat this week with Andrea Batista Schlesinger really had me thinking about how to raise my kids to honor their curiosity and love to learn and try new things. And I have to admit that most of those characteristics in me were learned from my dad. My mom was my source of comfort and my role model in nurturing, but my dad was the one who told me to crack heads and take names and never be afraid to ask questions and more importantly, to keep asking them until I was satisfied. I learned from a child development book that your relationship with your mother affects how you feel about yourself; your relationship with your father affects how you relate to others. And now I see it with my own kids, and how they look to cues from their daddy and how their eyes light up when they make him laugh or he praises some little bit of something they've worked out. So I want to wish my dad and my hubby a very happy Father's Day and thank them for their roles in raising inquisitive kids. And happy Father's Day to all you daddies out there as well. It is frequently a thankless job, but possibly the best and most important role a man can have.

This Sunday's shows are simply more of the same. I almost suspect the bookers of these shows to be reading C&L and choosing guests that guarantee a good number of snarky posts. How else can you explain Presidential runner-up John McCain on Face the Nation, Fred Thompson on Meet the Press, Lindsay Graham on This Week and Pete Hoekstra on Fox News Sunday? Seriously, with all the problems we're facing in the world, these guys are the best ones to opine? Maybe it's because all the adults who can actually have real ideas to deal with these problems are too busy working.

ABC's "This Week" - Sens. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.; former Labor Secretary Robert Reich.

CBS' "Face the Nation" - Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.

NBC's "Meet the Press" - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu; former Sens. Sam Nunn, D-Ga., and Fred Thompson, R-Tenn.

NBC's "The Chris Matthews Show" - Panel: Gloria Borger, Bob Woodward, Joe Klein, Tina Brown. Topics: How will this year's health care reform debate be different from 1993? What will be the lasting impact of this past week's protests in Iran? Meter Questions: Will Republicans unite as a bloc to oppose any health care reform bill? YES: 9 NO: 3; Will President Obama's policies be a riper target than his personality for Republican critics? YES: 12 No: 0.

CNN's "State of the Union" - Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, Bob Casey, D-Penn, and Richard Lugar, R-Ind; Zbigniew Brzezinski.

CNN's "Reliable Sources" - Diane Sawyer, Bill Keller.

CNN's "Fareed Zakaria GPS" - An in-depth look at the crisis in Iran. What do we know about the man with the REAL power in Iran - the Ayatollah Khamenei? Plus, how technology has altered the power of the people.

"Fox News Sunday" - Sens. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., and McCain; Reps. Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich., and Paul Ryan, R-Wis.; Karim Sadjadpour, an Iran expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

So what's catching your eye this morning?

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Olympia Snowe joined Andrea yesterday and was actually better than I thought she would be over her support of a good public option.
When Andrea brought up Conrad's proposal of non profit co-opts that appeases the right wingers who are dead set against the public option, she downplayed it's significance and said that we already use that system today and it wouldn't solve anything.

Snowe: ..a fall back plan in the event that the private plans do not work to provide affordable, quality health insurance to Americans is the way to go and I know some on my side view that as a government option as well, but I do think we have an obligation to make sure that every American has access to affordable plans with quality standards as well, not just on choices, but affordability and quality as well.

Mitchell: What do you think about D-Kent Conrad, the budget committee's proposal for cooperatives, non government cooperatives that would provide insurance?

Snowe: ...states today can create co-ops as a matter of fact, but we want to make sure that not just incorporating the status quo. In other words, if these co-ops were to be formed, Americans still could not have access to affordable, quality plans then you really do have to have a contingency plan, with a fall back plan of some kind to make sure that you do have the conditions to ensure that Americans do have access to an affordable plan.

Today for example in the state of Maine, you don't have the purchasing power necessary to leverage competitive prices so it really has kept so many people and so many small businesses out of the market, we want to make sure that's not what we repeat as we try to reform and provide universal access and coverage to all Americans.

Snowe sounds better on health care than many of the Democrats that are out there trying to knock out a public option like Kent Conrad is doing. And she actually uses the word universal and "quality" when speaking of the public option. I know she's been shaky before. And it's alarming that Conrad would throw liberal supporters under the bus just to appease republican obstructionists and destroy a public plan that would be good for America, but bad for the corporate Dems and Republicans that have been paid off by the Health Care Industrial Complex.

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