Joe Lieberman (I-CT) is demanding the public option be taken off the table completely:  “Just take this government-created, government-run health insurance company that will cost the taxpayers, premium payers and the debt a lot of money — take it off the table,” Lieberman said, emphasizing that he believes that the rest of the bill includes [...]

Blanche Lincoln is certainly against a government funded public insurance option: “Creating another government-funded option is not where we’re going. We don’t need to go there,” Lincoln told members of the Arkansas Farm Bureau during a video conference. “A government-funded option is something that I think is not the way to go.” This philosophical opposition [...]

Nancy Pelosi may not have enough votes for the “robust” public option tied to Medicare rates plus 5%. The Hill has published the official whip count [note: The Hill has now removed this page. Data was copied and posted here] of those House Democrats who oppose the robust public option. As I’ve pointed out countless times [...]

Last week Chris Dodd said he might support Joe Lieberman as an independent in 2012. And yesterday after Lieberman threatened to take the unprecedented and historic move of joining the Republicans to break the caucus’s filibuster-proof majority, Dodd said there would be no consequence: But Lieberman’s fellow Connecticut senator, Democrat Chris Dodd, who faces a [...]

. . . but it’s not because I have any special ability to draw a primary challenger out of thin air. It’s because there are credible challengers sitting on the sidelines, waiting to jump in if Lincoln does filibuster health care. And if I know it, she knows it. Blanche’s numbers in Arkansas are weak. [...]

Lieberman threatens to filibuster any bill with a public option. This a complete reversal of what he was saying during the 2006 election. It also begs the question: why does Lieberman still have his committee gavel and what is Obama doing about it? Gibbs says Obama has not really done a thing yet. All major polls [...]

Politico is reporting that Thomas Carper (D-DE) is working on an alternative to the public option opt-out, which would be the public option opt-in. This is would a “national” public option where states must pass a law to join. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) told the AP he was against any federal public option, but might open [...]

Harry Reid “trusted him”:

“The question is, do I trust Senator Lieberman? The answer is, yes, I trust Senator Lieberman…. We’re looking forward, we’re not looking back. We’re not looking back at the 95 filibusters that were conducted, those are something that took place in the past. We’re looking forward to the future, a future that we believe sets a new tone for America.” – Harry Reid, November 18, 2008

Nice going, Senate Majority Leader Reid. Well, you trusted him, you fought for him — now you own him.

The state-based progressive blogs are weighing in on Joe Lieberman’s filibuster threat, as well as on the “opt-out,” and overall it’s not pretty. Here’s a short sampling: *In Connecticut, My Left Nutmeg says that Lieberman’s move ” is the clearest signal yet that he is strongly considering retirement in 2012,” given that “[it] would be [...]

If Obama truly does support the public option, he’ll be twisting Joe’s arm. Likewise, Harry Reid.

If they don’t, if Reid and Obama protect his chairmanship — or water down the bill to get his “support” — we’ll know it was all just a nice bit of theater.

And there will be no doubt that the Democrats needs a new Majority Leader, even if we’ve got to suffer another Republican jackass in the Senate to make it happen.