(h/t Heather)
Wow, Bill O'Reilly goes where the Baucus Dogs fail to go. In a place far, far away to explore strange, new worlds, and to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no ConservaDem has gone before."
The Public Option!
Bill O'Reilly backed the public option on the Factor even though he pronounced it dead. His friend Glenn Beck and the rest of FOX News must still have their mouths wide open and drool running down their chins.
Is he truly serious or was it a calculated move to shake up the debate on FOX?
O'REILLY: The public option now is done. We discussed this, it's not going to happen. But you say that this little marketplace that they're going to set up, whereby the federal government would subsidize insurance for some Americans, that is, in your opinion, a public option?
OWCHARENKO: Well, it has massive new federal regulation. So you don't necessarily need a public option if the federal government is going to control and regulate the type of health insurance that Americans can buy.
O'REILLY: But you know, I want that, Ms. Owcharenko. I want that. I want, not for personally for me, but for working Americans, to have a option, that if they don't like their health insurance, if it's too expensive, they can't afford it, if the government can cobble together a cheaper insurance policy that gives the same benefits, I see that as a plus for the folks.
O'Reilly is a socialist now. And backing the public option is going to freak FOX News out. Last week he was on with David Axlerod and was for having the Feds override states' rights.
As Jed says:
Who knows if O'Reilly was endorsing exchanges, or a public option, or even if he had any clue what he was talking about. At the very least, though, it's a recognition from him that he thinks the basic argument for a public option is compelling.
Axelrod: Well first of all we have a system of state regulation, you know that of the insurance industry that makes that difficult. What we want is these individual market places. Some markets have competition, other markets don't.BillO: The Feds can override the states...
Axelrod: Excuse me?
BillO: The Feds can override the states, you know that. You can make it so that all health insurance companies compete nationwide.
Axelrod: This is a historic moment with you calling for the feds overriding the states. I didn't realize you had that...
O'Reilly: Federal jurisdiction, you know federal jurisdiction takes precedence in almost every legislative area...
Axelrod was so shocked that he had to ask BillO to repeat himself.
