When Howard Dean made a statement saying that he would vote for the public option opt-out over the Baucus bill, many took that as an endorsement. But it was so loaded down with caveats I had a hard time believing that it represented the ringing endorsement that many assumed it was.

Charles Chamberlain is the the Executive Director of DFA, the grassroots political organization founded by Howard Dean. I asked him where DFA stood on the opt-out. His response:

Every American deserves the choice of a public option, not just those who live in Democratic states. Further, it is impossible to allow states to opt-out and still be a national plan. It would be a morally unacceptable compromise if Democratic Senators let Republican states opt-out because too many Americans would continue to suffer and in some cases even die without health coverage. It’s time for Democrats to stop negotiating with themselves in an attempt to get Republican votes. The majority of Americans want a public option and are depending on the Democratic Majority in congress to pass real reform with a national public option available to everyone on day one. We have the majority votes needed in both houses of Congress to pass a public option now, It’s time to get the job done.

Proponents of the veal pen opt-out argue that it’s necessary because there “aren’t 60 votes in the Senate” for a public option. What they are saying is that there are members of the Senate Democratic caucus who would take the unprecedented step of joining with the opposition party to break a filibuster-proof majority and keep their own bill from coming to the floor.

But they have failed to produce even one Senator who will publicly say that. They’re capitulating without forcing those members to pay the political price of making that public admission. Does Joe Lieberman or Ben Nelson or Blanche Lincoln or Mary Landrieu have the political courage to do that? We may never know, because the veal pen “opt-out cop-out” protects them from that exposure.

Moreover, Rachel Maddow recently reported that the Democrats may revoke the leadership of anyone in the caucus who filibusters health care. But if the veal pen “opt-out cop-out” means they get what they want without having to take that step, no price paid. Blanche Lincoln keeps the chair of Senate Agriculture. Joe Lieberman keeps his gavel on Homeland Security. Their implicit threat gets them what they want. Rahm is happy, and the Blue Dogs, the “centrists” and the lobbyists control the health care debate once again.

If the Republicans were suggesting something that could keep the public option’s benefits from 23% of the population and add $6-25 billion to the cost of the bill, we’d be screaming bloody murder. But because it’s being floated by veal pen trigger pimps and those willing to stamp it with the good liberal housekeeping seal of approval, somehow it’s “acceptable.”

That’s always been the danger of the veal pen. The word of these liberal institutional validators carries tremendous weight with progressives, and if the White House can easily use them to launch these kinds of stealth missiles into the progressive political space, the damage they can do is much, much worse than anything the GOP could muster.   Things suddenly become acceptable to progressives that  would leave them screaming bloody murder if George Bush tried the same thing.

DFA is right. Leaving red states behind in a health care overhaul is deeply immoral. That’s consistent with what Howard Dean told the Huffington Post — opt outs are not his ideal for health care reform, and they shouldn’t be considered unless there is absolutely no other option.

If the veal pen organizations want to promote the opt-out, they need to prove that there is no other option. They need to force Lieberman and Landrieu and Nelson and Lincoln to say they will filibuster a health care bill with a public option.  But they have failed to do that. And in doing so, they’re protecting these “centrists” from the consequences that should result in them losing their power in the Senate.  Contact them and ask them to speak out against the opt-out like DFA has. And if they won’t, ask them why.