Vigilance: The Public Option Could Easily Unravel Yet

By GottaLaff

Your Daily Dose of BuzzFlash, via my friend Mark Karlin:

With the likely passage of what Nancy Pelosi has smartly renamed "the consumer option" in the House -- although in what form, "robust" or light, remains to be played out -- it is all and all a triumphant moment for a progressive movement that was struggling to regain its footing.

However, this is no time for anything but momentary celebration. Many, many threats remain to the "consumer option" between here and the President's desk.

The threats fall into two categories: 1) what kind of public option? and 2) will it survive through the negotiations and votes ahead? [...]

So is Reid having his cake and eating it too: letting progressives think that they've won by putting in his bill a government option, but knowing that it doesn't have the votes to pass if he uses the 60 vote threshold for a filibuster? [...]

What does this mean for progressives and the majority of Americans who support a government option because it passes the common sense test and makes healthcare reform less costly?

It means keep up the intensity of activity; it means keep conducting sit ins in insurance offices; it means keep being heard in Congress; it means keep protesting; it means take back the government from profiteering corporations who add nothing to our health care system by siphoning off profits. Health insurance companies deplete America's healthcare system instead of strengthening it.

So don't think anything is over. The sabotage efforts against the government option are in full swing in D.C., you can be sure.

Vigilance and a loud, demanding voice are the best option for those who advocate the consumer option.

I edited this down to the bare bones. Please read the rest here.