WILL COMMON SENSE PREVAIL? - AT 3:17 P.M. ET:  Looks like some Dems are starting to get the message.  From Fox:

Momentum behind a new government-run health care plan appeared to slow considerably Sunday, as a lead Democratic negotiator called the option a "wasted effort" and President Obama's health secretary suggested the White House is ready to accept a health care reform package without it.

Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., one of six negotiators trying to hammer out a bipartisan compromise measure on the Senate Finance Committee, told "FOX News Sunday" that the so-called public option simply does not have the votes to pass.

"The fact of the matter is there are not the votes in the United States Senate for the public option. There never have been," he said. "So to continue to chase that rabbit I think is just a wasted effort."

Conrad and other negotiators on the finance committee are instead pushing a system of nonprofit insurance cooperatives, as an alternative to the public plan.

COMMENT:  At least they're thinking, and starting to listen to the "mobs" out there. 

Look, there are things wrong with the system, including vast administrative costs.  They can be fixed, or at least eased, by a series of fixes.  You don't have to "overhaul" everything.  If you have a flat tire, you don't replace the engine. 

But now the Republicans should fight for malpractice reform to be included.  That is absolutely vital to any true reform measure.  If Democrats fight malpractice reform, they will be exposed before the public as cynics and hypocrites.  Let the exposure begin.

August 16, 2009