McCaskill gives being a moderate a bad name.

The only reason she's a Senator is Progessives' votes. Now she's turning her back on Progessives. I'll have a very tough time voting for her again.

She also supported "hand cuffing" the stimulus package and Cash for Clunkers. Never heard a word about "handcuffing" the wall street bail out.

For a while I thought CMcC was going to be the next serious woman candidate for the nomination. Now I think she's a Lieberman waiting to bloom. And kind of an idiot.

Obama did not say 'handcuff' or 'hand cuff' in the speech, he did say "And one of these options needs to be a public option that will give people a broader range of choices and inject competition into the health care market so that force waste out of the system and keep the insurance companies honest."

This is what the President actually said:

I've insisted that like any private insurance company, the public insurance option would have to be self-sufficient and rely on the premiums it collects. But by avoiding some of the overhead that gets eaten up at private companies by profits and excessive administrative costs and executive salaries, it could provide a good deal for consumers, and would also keep pressure on private insurers to keep their policies affordable and treat their customers better, the same way public colleges and universities provide additional choice and competition to students without in any way inhibiting a vibrant system of private colleges and universities.

I don't see "handcuff" in there anywhere.

I understand where McCaskill is coming from. She's worried about what the large percentage of rural voters in her state think. And she's trying to put the most conservative face on the PO that she can to find a path to vote for it.

That's fine.

But, a non-profit government controlled health insurance option, regardless of funding source and limits on availability, is still a non-profit government controlled health insurance option.

And can be morphed into anything we want it to be later.

The private health insurance industry knows this. Which is why they are against its creation, in any form, on any level. And are lobbying to kill it with all their considerable might.

As long as we keep fighting to get the PO in the final Bill, and it gets in, our foot is in the door. And in short order, incrementalism will dictate Medicare for all.