UPDATE: Dem Senator Denies Bloomberg Story

UPDATE: Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) denied the Bloomberg story, saying Rahm Emanuel never said President Obama was open to giving up the public option. A spokesman said:

Conrad says Emanuel was speaking in reference to the need to overhaul the health care system as a whole -- to forge compromise and get a bill to the president's desk. It was in no way a comment on the president's willingness to do away with a public option.

* * * * *

According to a report in Bloomberg, President Obama is open to compromising on health care reform by eliminating the public option from his plan.

White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel met last night at the U.S. Capitol with Senate Democrats and told them Obama is "open to alternatives" to a new government insurance program in order to get legislation overhauling the health-care system to his desk, said Senator Kent Conrad of North Dakota.

"His message was, it's critical that you do this," Conrad said.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus of Montana said Emanuel urged the senators to seek Republican support and didn't discourage them from pursuing the use of non-profit cooperatives, an idea Conrad has proposed.

Obama has been vocal in his support for a public option, but has declined to commit to opposing a bill that doesn't include it. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has said that the co-op compromise "doesn't come close to satisfying anyone who wants a public plan." Conrad negotiated with Schumer to bring the compromise closer to a public plan, but later said that it was still not a "pure public option."

On Wednesday, Paul Krugman wrote that Obama "messes up on health care, big time" in his news conference a day earlier by "signaling, right at this crucial moment, that he's willing to give away the public plan."

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Comments

[neesy08]

Isn't Bloomberg a GOP station? I never believed that story. It contradicted what Obama has stated

[Coastalthinker2]

If they posted a blatantly false article, they will have lost credibility with thousands of people. Not exactly a smart move on their part if they want website traffic. People such as myself will now question the "factual" nature of ALL their reporting. Maybe the bigger question is...who is left in the media that actually does on the street, factual reporting (aka Woodward and Bernstein type reporting from the 70's). Who can we trust to tell "we the people" the truth in the media?

[gaja]

good question - not many real journalists left...

[zizyphus]

"Trust no one."

- Patty Hewes, "Damages"

[amdezurik]

the bad news? jon Stewart and Steven Colbert are about the most honest "news" you will find these days. And neither one wanted it...they just wanted to tell jokes while the media around them made jokes of themselves.

[tb92]

Fox news reports blatantly false information all the time. It doesn't seem to hurt them much.

[jazzman]

Nothing like reactions on a site like Huffington Post to get the Democrats to focus their minds and clarify what they meant.

I was one of the angry posters but in the back of my head was a little voice saying, "A quote from Conrad that's reported in Bloomberg. This really is third hand."

Yesterday, Obama gave about as strong of statement as you can supporting the need for a public option so I should have been wary of this report but I'm on a hair trigger over this issue. I don't trust the Democrats to deliver. I hope I'm dead wrong just this once.

[SilviaMaria]

Tomorrow is a National Health Care Day in DC with a rally to support Single Payer System and Howard Dean delivering signatures. Let's all send emails and call to our representatives and the White House to make even more noise. And if you are in DC just join the rally.

[StopSexismNow]

Folks can find info on tomorrow's rally here: http://1payer.net/

[annie1b]

I agree with alot of the comments-- I will NEVER vote for a democrat again if a GOOD puplic option does not go through. I am FED_UP with these cowards and crooks!!! If the country is going to go down, I would rather it was at the hands of republicans.

[jdw1981]

I just won't vote for any of them if this sh*t keeps up. Why bother? Both parties are the same now anyway.

[flowereater]

This is how they do it. They put false information out there. Then the news outlets start focusing on how "people are afraid of the costs" instead of the fact that 73% (and I've heard even 83%) of the American Public are FOR a Public Option. They stop focusing on what the people want and instead they focus on what "the people" are afraid of or what they say the people are afraid of.

They keep whittling down the truth point by point till they have nothing left but fear based sound bites. Those with their hands outstretched and in the coffers of the insurance and pharmaceutical companies SHOULD be afraid because WE the people will vote them right out if they do not support a strong public option.

[Coastalthinker2]

I don't disagree with what you are saying but have to wonder...why aren't the Democrats fighting back point by point with the TRUTH? The only conclusion I can come to would be because they are still uninformed (scary thought) or are unwilling to support the "we the people" and instead are focusing on the wealthy, powerful, and corporate donors.

[Peabodies]

Coastal --Yes, Senator Conrad on the Ed Schultz radio show today was obfuscating like mad : "We don't have the vote" (What vote -- we're still negotiating the thing); "We can't afford it" (huh --repeal the Bush tax cuts, dude, and there'll be money left over). Sheesh.

[flowereater]

Well, like I said, they will be voted out - the spineless and the money grubbers, which are not necessarily mutually exclusive.

[Selbourne]

We spend far more per capita on health care than any other country and this cost has been rising rapidly. All agree that if not changed the system will drive the country bankrupt. Yet we have lower average life expectancy and higher infant mortality rates than any other developed country. We are even worse off than Cuba in both respects. The current system is an inefficient failure.
The per capita calculation above includes the uninsured. So to cover them without drastically overhauling the current system would raise our per capita costs even higher and drive us bankrupt evern faster. That is why the public option is an absolute neccessity. It will force the private sector to reform itself or go out of business.
This is the same process that has been forced on the auto industry. Why should the healthcare prima donnas be exempt? Could it be because Senators expect large campaign contributions for defending them. We need to make it clear to these senators that no amount of advertising is going to paper over the betrayal of the voters and we will rember.

[KIMBER]

Anyone who tried to call the White House today to comment on this knows how long you stayed on hold to make a comment.

We were heard...

We never said that, no, not us, no siree!

[Peabodies]

When I tried to call the White House, early afternoon, I got the ominous "all circuits are busy now" which told me that Rahm's pronouncements had ... backfired, or sumthin.

[Diana]

"Conrad says Emanuel was speaking in reference to the need to overhaul the health care system as a whole -- to forge compromise and get a bill to the president's desk."

Question: why would you feel the need to 'compromise' on an issue of morality, on an issue that over 70% of citizens are demanding. Answer: when you think more about corporations than people.

All republicans and ALMOST ALL democrats, including the leader of the party, are--face it--simply working for corporate America. Health care is the most OBVIOUS issue, but Obama has shown which side he's really on in many other ways, from annointing the Goldman Sachs crowd to oversee the economy to continuing many of the cheney/bush policies in relation to rights of privacy, disclosure, and the never-ending wars in the Middle East.

[SCG]

“It makes no difference who you vote for - the two parties are really one party representing four percent of the people”

- Gore Vidal

[paulalex]

Maybe when he wrote that, yes, but were finally moving away from those days (aren't we?)

[TJCole]

No now it's the top 1% only..

[SCG]

I thought so, I was sucked back in. I even tried to rationalize early on, all the old Clinton era appointments. Somewhere between Geithner plan and his remark on torture, (vengeful, move on) I realized he wasn't the person I thought he was.

[TotalRecall9]

There will be a MASSIVE uproar if the public option is not included in the healthcare bill.

[gaja]

That's what I'm hoping for. We need to wake up those in Congress (both on the left and the right) that people are not only "watching" the Iran Elections, they are also watching our own representatives as well. Now is the time to make them see that a public option HAS to be included or it's curtains for their political careers.

Bush & Cheney did the public one huge favor and that was by making them SO UTTERLY SICK of being lied to and manipulated that we might actually see some action from ordinary people wanting to see a change in the status quo... I really hope we have the courage to make that happen this time...

[edwcorey]

If they commit to a reasonable public option, they'd better not bail out these insurance companies when they come tumbling down.

[BurtonOerney]

Insurance companies are already eligible for bailouts. If an insurance company were bailed out it would be because not bailing out would be the costlier option for the country. Do you really think george bush would have allowed paulson to bail out banks if there were another option? Did the bailouts play well to republican voters? If, as many people believe, obama is in the pocket of wall street, whatever that means practically, why would wall street want him to lose his elected position? If he's only concerned about reelection all the time, why would he allow geithner to continue paulson's very unpopular program? Isn't the more reasonable supposition that both administrations considered the cost/benefit of bailouts from the standpoint of what's good for the country to avoid the catastrophe of 1929-'32? Which, by the way, we did.

[Libfemdem]

He probably got his a$$ handed to him after all the e-mails and phone calls from people yesterday.

[Coastalthinker2]

Senator Conrad was on Ed Schultz and said the poll numbers by the people don't matter, only the number of votes in Congress matter. Well...he does have a point. So, it will be up to us in all upcoming elections to show them HOW WE WOULD HAVE VOTED by voting to replace all incumbents except those who supported us fully. He also said that each Senator must represent his local constituency. My question - are all of the Republicans who are voting no actually representing their constituencies? Have they polled their constituencies on this matter? Have they provided accurate information to the people in these areas?

[gaja]

Why wait that long? We can still contact our representatives right now. Cowards like the Conserva-Dems will fold with enough public pressure. They are supposed to be working for US, the public, anyway --we should be making them do that with every vote.

[Peabodies]

Phone calls to members of congress work (they keep tallies of FOR/AGAINST on issues), and so do emails and, best of all, letters, especially articulate ones, written by hand.

[scjk67]

Bloomberg has never gotten anything right. after i saw it earlier i checked and re-checked on other papers or MSM sites, they were not mention. HP needs to watch out for false reporting, i love to blog on this site, but its got to stop being like the Drudge.

[SCG]

When they start out with a compromised position during the campaign, then plan on negotiating with the various "special interests" you can be sure it will only deteriorate from there.