Cross-posted at Daily Kos, Docudharma, and MyDD
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In the Wall Street Journal on September 13, the two Repubs and one former Democrat wholeheartedly endorsed sending more of our troops to eat $#!t sandwiches in Afghanistan.
We are confident that not only is it winnable, but that we have no choice. We must prevail in Afghanistan.
snip
However, we need more than the right team and the right strategy. This team must also have the resources it needs to succeed-including a significant increase in U.S. forces.
About an hour ago, the NY Times published this piece indicating mostly unnamed Senate Democrats are now strongly considering using reconciliation to pass a bill containing a public option:
WASHINGTON - Senate Democrats said Sunday that they were fleshing out plans to pass health legislation, particularly the option of a new government-run insurance program, with a simple majority, instead of the 60 votes that would ordinarily be needed to overcome a filibuster.
After consulting experts in Senate rules and procedure, the Democrats said they were increasingly confident that they could legislate creation of a public plan in a way that would withstand challenges expected from Republicans.
The article goes on to recap Charles Schumer's surprisingly strong pro-public option comments this morning on MTP.
Adding onto that, TomP at DailyKos reports (h/t fladem in quick hits) that Max Baucus has come out in support of a public option.
Meanwhile, CNN reports (among others) on Sen Lieberman's remarks against using reconciliation. No need to quote him, he's very serious and very concerned.
It's hard not to see these things as being connected. Schumer's support was nice to see, then Baucus' sudden break in favour of the PO, and now (most significant, I think), Lieberman's sudden vocal opposition to reconciliation indicates there is something more to this than a trial balloon through the NY Times. In addition to hailing from an insurance heavy state, Lieberman was well positioned to make demands for his support on cloture for the bill if the 60 vote rules are kept. At 51, his ability to do so is much weaker.
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