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I hope Anthony Weiner is right here and that if our overly partisan Supreme Court does strike down the individual mandate in the Affordable Care Act that it does lead to the return of the public option. Here's more from TPM where Weiner expressed some similar sentiments to the ones made here with MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell.

Weiner Says SCOTUS Will Rule Against Health Care Law, Paving Way For Public Option:

This is more in the spirit of partypooping than of celebration. But on the first anniversary of the Affordable Care Act, one of the law's most dogged defenders, Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY), admitted he thinks the Supreme Court will strike down the individual mandate. It's not that he thinks the mandate is unconstitutional, but that the court has become so partisan, that its conservative justices will rule against President Obama in a 5-4 decision. He wasn't glum about it, though -- if the mandate goes he said it will pave the way for Congress to pass the public option.

"If lightning strikes, and it turns out that as many of us believe, the Supreme Court turns out to be a third political branch of government and they strike down the mandate -- big deal," Weiner said, expressing a 'so what?!' sentiment. "Big deal!" Read on...

I think potentially a bigger story our media and our politicians are ignoring is what's happening in Vermont, where they're poised to pass a single-payer health care plan for their state. If they can make this work there, you could see it spread to other states and eventually, hopefully, the rest of the country. If memory serves, this is the same type of scenario that brought Canada their health care program. It started in one province and eventually spread to the rest of the country. It's a huge uphill battle with lots of special interests poised to fight against it, but who knows. Maybe we win one there and move towards not allowing the insurance companies continuing to rob us blind so they can take care of their stock holders and their CEO's instead of the people they're supposed to be bringing a service to.

Vermont’s Single-Payer Salvation:

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John King talked to Virginia's wingnut birther Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli about today's ruling by Judge Henry Hudson that the individual mandate in the health care law is unconstitutional. Cuccinelli dismissed concerns that this might create uncertainty for employers in Virginia and said he hoped that would make it harder for the Supreme Court to turn down hearing the case.

Cuccinelli also defended immediately raising campaign funds from the ruling, painting himself as the victim who's going to have powerful interests coming after him, rather than the fact that he's been using the issue for political gain from day one.

Par for the course, ignored in this conversation... Judge Hudson's conflict of interests. Also ignored, whether or not conservatives getting their wish if the Supreme Court does take the case and rules against it, that potentially opening the door back up to a public option.

CNN Transcript:

KING: Dan Lothian at the White House -- Dan pointing out a legal ruling that reignites the political debate. Now let's get the perspective of the man who challenged the law and won, at least this first round. Republican Attorney General Kenneth Cuccinelli of Virginia joins us from Richmond tonight. Sir, I'm holding the decision here from Judge Hudson. You win the case on this round. You just heard Dan Lothian note there are two other cases upholding the law. One of them in Virginia --

CUCCINELLI: Right.

KING: What do you think makes this decision better than the other two?

CUCCINELLI: Well, whenever you have a state as a party with the federal government, you're in sort of a different category. And the next one of these is coming up Thursday in Florida when they have their merits hearing down in Florida. Probably get a ruling in January or February time frame in that case. There are 25 total cases running across the country.

Certainly you're going to see a series of rulings, but even in the two we've seen so far that went the federal government's way on the individual mandate; the federal government was ruled against in both cases on their tax argument. And there are two arguments in this case. The individual mandate, whether or not it's constitutional, and whether or not the penalty, if you disobey the government instruction that you must buy their government-approved insurance is a tax.

And the federal government lost again on the tax argument in addition to the individual mandate today. This is obviously a very important ruling. But as you've pointed out here on this show, this one is probably going to the Supreme Court. We hope it gets there soon because it certainly introduces an amazing amount of uncertainty for our whole economy.

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I'm not sure which is worse. Senator Jim Bunning or Senator-elect Rand Paul. One thing is sure, however. They're both swaggering jerks. One ties up women; the other threatens patriots.

The Senate Finance Committee held a hearing on the Affordable Care Act yesterday for the benefit of repealers and anti-repealers alike. Along with the usual posturing, there was this remarkable exchange between Dr. Berwick and Senator Bunning. Clearly piqued by Berwick's recess appointment, Bunning berates him for accepting it without the proper hearings. Never mind Bunning's silence when George W. Bush appointed all of these folks as recess appointments, including the evil, odious neocon John Bolton to the UN Security Council. No, no, that doesn't matter to Bunning at all.

Dr. Berwick was really quite engaging despite the browbeating attempt. When scolded for daring to accept President Obama's appointment, he quite humbly answers that his President asked, and he accepted because he, too, wants to serve his country.

The entire hearing is here. It's quite interesting, particularly when Berwick is actually allowed to respond to questions. He's a terrific person to have as head of the CMS, particularly right now.

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Anthony Weiner has some novel suggestions for grassroots democrats to become more involved in the political process, which he shared earlier this month with the Manhattan Young Democrats. Text from the NY Observer. Full video at YouTube can be found here.

“Every single moment that we are stroking our beards and gazing at our navel and thinking about the world we’d like to be and singing ‘Kumbaya’ is another day we’re not punching Bill O’Reilly in the nose.”

Pow!

“I follow Twitter for the Tea Part[ies] and just show up to f**k with them,” he said. The crowd of 20-somethings crowed.

“No, I don’t actually do that. I just sit at my desk and they send me talcum powder every couple of weeks.”

Ka-zam!

He was only half-joking. On Thursday, March 25, an envelope of white powder (which ultimately proved harmless) arrived at Congressman Weiner’s district office in Kew Gardens. Given Mr. Weiner’s prominence in the health care debate, and the sometimes violent leanings of those opposed to health care reform, Mr. Weiner is an obvious target. He has, perhaps more than any fellow member of Congress, used health care as a springboard to launch himself into the center of the roiling national argument. And he’s done so not by abandoning his New York shtick, but rather by capitalizing on it.

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Don't we wish Orrin. Orrin Hatch pretends that the Republicans weren't involved in the process of putting together the health care bill. Sorry Senator but the ones who were completely shut out of the process were single-payer advocates. They weren't even allowed a seat at the table when Max Baucus was having his hearings. You and your party on the other hand were given ample opportunity to muck up the bill you refused to vote for later. I also can't believe he had the nerve to say the Senate passed the Health Committee bill when that's a blatant lie as well. The end result of that Senate bill was not what came out of the Health Committee and he knows it.

From Slate--This Is What "Bipartisanship" Looks Like:

What do the GOP amendments to this Senate health care bill actually say?

When the Senate health, education, labor, and pensions committee passed its health care bill Wednesday, the Obama administration hailed it as a "bipartisan" effort. No matter that it passed the panel on a strictly party-line vote, with all 13 Democrats voting for and all 10 Republicans voting against. It was bipartisan, administration officials explained, because it contained 160 Republican amendments. Republican senators said that characterization was absurd. After all, they said, most of the 160 amendments were technical, rather than substantive, changes. Lisa Murkowsi of Alaska told the New York Times that, while it was "pretty impressive" that 20 of her amendments were accepted, "they were all technical."

Who's right? There's no real way to resolve this debate without examining the content of these amendments, and the committee has yet to officially release them. But a Senate Republican source sent Slate a summary of many of the amendments, with a short description of each. (Download the Excel file here.) Disclaimer: This is an incomplete list. Of the 788 amendments filed, only 437 appear here. And of the 161 GOP amendments passed or accepted, we have confirmed only 80 as such. We hope to update the document as more information becomes available. Read on...

Transcript via CNN below the fold.

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From The Cafferty File:

CAFFERTY: The Republicans' victory in Massachusetts could very well be the final nail in the coffin for the Democrats' health care reform.

Exit poll data from one Republican firm shows the health care bill was the single most important issue to Massachusetts voters. This poll found 52 percent of those surveyed are opposed to health care reform; and 42 percent say they cast their ballot to help stop the overhaul.

Without the 60 vote filibuster-proof majority in the Senate, the Democrats are left with a few options - none of them all that good... and most involving complicated legislative procedures.

The house could pass the bill that cleared the Senate as is - but several House Democrats are suggesting they won't go for that.

The House could also pass the current Senate bill and then try to fix it with a procedure that only needs 51 votes to pass the Senate.

Or the Democrats could scrap what they have and just try to pass a bare-bones bill that includes some of the most popular initiatives.

Several senators - including democrat Jim Webb - are calling for health care reform to be suspended until Scott Brown is sworn in.

And it appears President Obama may be getting the message... he says that the Senate shouldn't jam health care through before Brown is seated: "People in Massachusetts spoke. He's got to be part of that process."

Here's my question to you: How should the Democrats proceed on health care now that they no longer have the votes to pass it in the Senate?

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You can always count on Joe Lieberman to stick his finger in the Democrats eyes every time he gets a chance. Lieberman Calls for ‘Move to the Center,’ Doesn’t Rule Out Switch to GOP:

Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), who’s done plenty in recent months to alienate Democrats, won’t improve his standing with his comments today to Fox News. Asked by Neil Cavuto if he would switch to the Republican Party if the GOP somehow took over the Senate in this year’s elections, Lieberman declared that he has “no idea.”

“That’s a big hypothetical a long away from now,” he said. “I was elected as an Independent but I remained a registered Democrat, so I’m with the Democratic Caucus.”

Today’s tight Senate contest in Massachusetts, Lieberman added, is indication that Capitol Hill has grown too partisan — and voters are fed up. “The independents are speaking loudly around the country today and they’re telling us, one, to get together here in Washington,” he said. “The second thing really is to do something about the economy and move to the center and worry about things that [independents] are worried about.”

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They sure as hell don't mind disrespecting the will of the entire country though, do they? This smells of them finding an excuse to jam through the crappy bill passed by the Senate and telling the House they have to go along with it or it's a failure for the Democratic Party. Lawrence O'Donnell was on MSNBC and said Harry Reid would not seat Brown until Massachusetts submitted all of their paperwork for the election which is going to take a couple of weeks. So they would have two weeks to still try to reconcile the bill and make it better without worrying about Brown's vote if that's what they wanted to do.

The Republicans and Brown would be screaming like banshees but who cares. They can't be screaming much louder than they are right now. So either they want the Senate bill passed or they don't care if HCR passes at all IMO, but who knows. I guess we'll find out shortly as this plays out.

L. KING: John King is at Brown headquarters.

The last Republican from Massachusetts, John, you know it well, I guess, was Senator Ed Brooke, the black liberal Republican, was it not, in -- in, was that '78 -- '68 maybe?

J. KING: He was a moderate -- you're exactly right, Larry. Ed Brooke was a moderate Republican from Western Massachusetts. He served two terms. He left the United States Senate in 1979. And not since then has Massachusetts sent a Republican to the Senate.

But tonight, Massachusetts has not only decided to send a Republican to the Senate, Larry, Massachusetts is sending a very blunt message to President Obama and the national Democratic Party.

Scott Brown campaigned against the Obama health care plan, against the Obama stimulus plan, against what he calls "the spending and the taxing in Washington, D.C."

And voters in a state that Obama carried by 26 points have now, by a significant margin, decided to send a Republican, Scott Brown, to Washington.

And I want to echo the point, Wolf, just made. I'm told by two Republican sources high up in the Brown campaign that Martha Coakley, the Democratic candidate, called a short time ago to say she was conceding the race. I'm told she congratulated Scott Brown on the campaign and wished him well in the very consequential days he has ahead, Larry, as he goes to Washington now to take the seat that Edward M. Kennedy, the liberal icon, held for 46 years.

L. KING: One other thing, John. And we'll discuss it later and certainly at length in our -- in our midnight show, is he can't be sworn in, according to Massachusetts law, until the 29th.

Can the Democrats in the House and Senate try to do something before then on health?

J. KING: Can -- the answer to can they is yes. The answer to will they is don't be so sure. The White House has sent signals it would like to try to move fast. But many Democrats are saying that that would be dangerous, if you disrespect the will of the people of Massachusetts.

This election is being fueled by Independent voters, Larry. Independent voters are very powerful in many of the other key states and key races this year. Many Democrats are afford that if they act quickly in that interim period, they will cause a lot more trouble for themselves in the long-term than any benefit they would get in the short-term.

L. KING: Thanks, John.

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Well, it looks like everyone has their price. Sen. Sanders explains why he's going to vote for the health care bill even though it does not contain a public option.

From Sen. Sanders site--Release: Primary Health, Dental Care for 25 Million More Americans:

$10 Billion More for Community Health Centers will Revolutionize Care

WASHINGTON, December 19 – A $10 billion investment in community health centers, expected to go to $14 billion when Congress completes work on health care reform legislation, was included in a final series of changes to the Senate bill unveiled today.

The provision, which would provide primary care for 25 million more Americans, was requested by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).

He said the additional resources will help bring about a revolution in primary health care in America and create new or expanded health centers in an additional 10,000 communities. The provision would also provide loan repayments and scholarships through the National Health Service Corps to create an additional 20,000 primary care doctors, dentists, nurse practitioners, physician assistants and mental health professionals.

Very importantly, Sanders also said the provision would save Medicaid tens of billions of dollars by keeping patients out of emergency rooms and hospitals by providing primary care when then needed it.

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From MSNBC's Morning Meeting, Dylan Ratigan loses his temper with Debbie Wasserman Schultz when she starts spinning about what a good bill HCR is going to be but doesn't answer his question about why Wall Street is so happy and all the health insurance stocks are going up. Ratigan tweeted that he will apologize for losing his temper but not for "challenging lies and misinformation".

Here's the terrible thing about the administration and Reid allowing this health care bill to be watered down so badly by the ConservaDems in the pocket of the insurance companies. Now you've got someone like Debbie Wasserman Schultz who you know probably doesn't like what's going on any more than most of us do being forced to try to defend this crap sandwich to the likes of Ratigan, and not being able to. She really did not look like she was prepared for this interview at all. I think Ratigan was extremely rude, but I don't disagree with his points.

Wendell Potter followed up on the phone and gave him some plain spoken answers about why the stock market is so happy. Then he let hack KT McFarland follow up and act like Republicans aren't as happy about this as the insurance industry. They get to sit back and play populists and let the Democrats own this mess.

Eli over at FDL has more on this--What’s The Matter With Democrats?:

Not only have Obama and the Senate Democrats adopted pro-corporate policies that will hasten their own political demise, but they have allowed the Republicans to keep their hands clean and pretend to oppose legislation that they would have happily championed a few years ago.

[...]

Unless Obama and the Democrats pull their heads far enough out of their corporate donors’ asses to hear the transpartisan outrage brewing outside the Beltway, the 2010 and 2012 elections will be very very bad for them. They will reap all of the pent-up rage and resentment that was aimed at the Republicans in 2006 and 2008, and we know how that turned out.

Given Rahm's statement to Rupert Murdoch's Wall Street Journal, the administration is looking pretty tone deaf these days--Rahm Emanuel: Don’t Worry About the Left. Not helpful Rahmbo. We've got Axelrod trying to calm down left wing bloggers one day and Rahm Emanuel telling us to stick it the next. Talk about mixed messages.