by Patrick Appel
James Joyner makes a prediction:
My guess is that far left Democrats will vent a little while longer and ultimately support whatever compromise deal they can get.
That's my guess too. A reader writes:
As an old school lefty I'm not sure which disgusts me more: the Democrats' failure to get a decent health care bill passed or this internecine bickering that's going on between moderates in the party and the Net Roots progressives. Making things even worse is that there's an approach that could satisfy both sides if they weren't too blinded by their own ideologies and egos to see it. That is, pass the health care bill without the public option or the medicare buy-in. Then, after Congress returns in January, pass the medicare buy-in via reconciliation. Sure, extending medicare to those aged 55 - 64 will eventually come up for renewal, possibly when the Republicans control the Senate again. But will Republicans really want to strip medicare away from millions of their constituents in five or ten years? Not likely.
Ezra Klein said this repeatedly over the last few days:
[If] you think we can get these pieces in reconciliation, why not pass the bill and then go back and get these pieces in reconciliation? If reconciliation is a good strategy, it's a good "and" strategy, not a good "or" strategy.
You can't propose this "compromise" openly because those who don't want the public option or Medicare buy-in would probably filibuster the unobjectionable parts of your bill in protest. But this is why I don't understand the reaction of the net roots given their priorities.