Why?
And lets not focus on why Republicans are against the bill. If you want, lets focus on why DEMOCRATS are against the bill..or maybe on my point of why rational people are wary and possibly against current versions...so we can actually discuss something.
Most Democrats are in favor of a strong public option. Seniority and chairmanship rules in the Senate give a lot of power to those who, in this case, have more "conservative" views. In particular, those making up the Senate Finance Committee are not representative of the body as a whole. As Nate Silver of 538 pointed out, it's easier to find 50 on the floor than 12 in the Committee - http://www.fivethirt...-option-have.html. (I'm not as pessimistic as him, myself.)
Why focus on the noisy outliers? Should we be talking about Sen. Sanders or Rep. Kucinich?
If you want to talk about the substance, why cite an OpEd that talks about style? Why not start the thread with a quote from "rational people" who are against the bill(s)?
Baum is an OpEd writer. Her job is to get people riled up and generate hits. You helped her earn her paycheck. ;-)
HTH.
Cheers,
Scott.