How can the public option pass if Lieberman and Snowe fillibuster it?

[Alhena]

as they have both explicitly said they would? The answer is we can't without a Republican vote that we won't get.

Actually, Snowe will go along with a "trigger" public option so with all 59 Dem Senators (including Sanders as a Dem) plus her the trigger option seems able to beat a fillibuster. So it looks to me like Reid is just playing a game where he can show he tried for the full public option so that after it fails we will have to accept the trigger option as the best we can get.

Bottom line- get ready for the trigger.

[SteppingRazor]

1. I think Joe's kinda all hat no cattle as far as a filibuster.

He needs the Dems just as much as they need him -- without Democratic help, he'll have a hell of a time getting re-elected as an indie in Conn.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

2. Do you believe he actually thinks he can win in CT?

He's as deluded as Blago thinking he could be a senator.

[SteppingRazor]

8. I'm sure he thinks he can, and so do I.

Joe's approval ratings, since July 2008 or so, have split almost right down the middle in every poll taken. If the Dems don't run a candidate, he wins. If they do, he has a much harder time of it.

[Alhena]

3. I thought so before his statement today but he was pretty clear

on his intentions.

[SteppingRazor]

11. Nah. He's just making a power play so that he can have a voice in the final conference bill. n/t

[damntexdem]

5. Two ways:

1) call Joe's bluff and see if he backs down; or
2) reconciliation, followed by a thorough Senate punishment of LIEberman.

[Alhena]

7. Reconciliation is worthless- it has a 5 year sunset requirement ..

plus a bunch of procedural limitations. This is a rare political window of opportunity that likely will not still be open in 5 years.

[Pirate Smile]

4. This is definitely flushing out who exactly is the problem. It's not Reid or Obama. It is the

assholes like Lieberman.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

6. Push it to a fillibuster

Make certain Senators have to show their opposition to what people in their own districts strongly support. Let every loyal member of the Democrat Party give a press conference condemning the opposition. We may not get what we want now, but eventually they'll be voted out. I say it's better to expose the obstructionists to the light of day and to their constituents than give in and have a completely ineffective and harmful healthcare reform bill. If the fillibuster has to continue month-after-month, then let Lieberman have to rise and speak against the public will, month-after-month.

[krawhitham]

12. YEP

We want them to fillibuster, for a while. It will be wall to wall coverage on the news networks that Repugs are blocking health care, and 70% support health care. It will kill the Repugs chances in 2010

[fauxnewsSUCKKKS]

9. make him back down!

[Tom Rinaldo]

10. It's time for the long delayed national rally for health care

It needs to happen now and it should happen in:
Hartford Connecticut

Lieberman represents a North East moderate to liberal state. It is time for him to hear from those who he supposedly represents, and since he is blocking the rest of the nation from getting a Federal program, everyone is invited to attend.

A call for a National Rally thread is here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x6867137