More Talk on Healthcare Reform

What they call Congressional "sausage making" can be a pain in the butt.
Today's talk show circuit, for example, quotes Democratic U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (Illinois) as being open to eliminating the public option if that's what it's going to take to get a fillibuster-proof 60 U.S. senators to agree on a health care plan.
Still another story has former Bush campaign strategist Matthew Dowd as warning Republicans about the price of torpedoing any sort of healthcare reform.
All in another day of back and forth about what the healthcare plan that Congress passes and President Obama signs should (or should not) contain.
Here's part of what the Huffington Post had Durbin quoted as saying:

...while he (Durbin) supported a government-run option for insurance, he was "open" to alternatives.
"Just understand that, after we pass this bill -- and I hope we do -- in the Senate, it will go to conference committee," said Durbin. "We'll have a chance to work out all of our differences."
"So we'll see how this ends, but I don't want the process to be filibustered to failure, which unfortunately, many senators are trying to do," Durbin added. "I want to make sure that we do something positive for the American people."

I didn't see anything about Democrats waving a white flag on the public option, but I do see the "sausage making" process in full spring. Once the House and Senate pass their versions of the legislation, it goes to a conference committee that reconciles differences and produces a final bill to be passed.
While Durbin was expressing openness to compromises that could help the bill pass, Republican consultant Dowd had some shrill warnings to his party:
Here's what the Huffington Post had to say:

Appearing on ABC's "This Week," Dowd cautioned conservatives to not go too far in pushing back against Obama's agenda, lest they be blamed for actually preventing people from getting better health care coverage.
"I think the Republicans soon have to be careful of something," Dowd said. "I know Republicans are all patting themselves on the back and saying, "We've got the Democrats on the run, Obama on the run.' I don't think it's necessarily a good political place to be in by November if you've defeated any health care reform."

I wonder how much effect Dowd's memo is going to have on GOP lawmakers, the loony right-wing talk show hosts, and their insurance company financiers as they try to fight any attempt to reform what is really a broken system in which taxpayers and patients already lose.