Why is it so hard to ask all Democrats and the people who caucus with them to vote for cloture?

[GarbagemanLB]

I seriously don't get why the analysts talking about the likelihood of a public option getting through the senate act as if voting for cloture and voting for the bill are the same thing.

Why the hell can't the Democrats get in line for ONCE and agree to give a public option bill an up or down vote? I am sure we have at least 51 votes in the senate for a public option. This is infuriating.

[Clio the Leo]

1. Everything I've read (in the paper) the last few days ...

.... goes along with what you're saying. That there are, perhaps, 55 or 56 votes for the public option and the presumption is that the rest of the party then would vote for cloture to get the GOP to stop debate. When it comes down to it, the remaining Dems who aren't willing to vote for a PO simply wont vote against it because they dont want to be seen as fighting the party as a whole.

I think. :shrug: