Why Democrats push health care, even if it kills them  —  To some observers, the Democrats' race to pass national health care seems irrational — even suicidal.  Don't party leaders understand how much the public opposes the bills currently on the table?  Don't they know that voters are likely …

Is the Senate health-care reform bill still worth passing?  —  “Insurance companies win,” Markos Moulitsas tweeted last night.  “Time to kill this monstrosity coming out of the Senate.”  —  This was, for progressives, a frustrating vote.  But the flip side of it being morally unconscionable …

What Public Option Supporters Won  —  The public option is dead this morning.  And this time, it isn't coming back to life.  The Senate isn't going to include any version of the idea in its bill.  And while the House can still demand a public option in conference, nobody I know expects the House to prevail.

Deal or Die on Health Care  —  Why progressives should support a Democratic compromise.  —  The moment of decision on health-care reform is arriving for progressives in Congress.  Some of them have insisted they will refuse to vote for any bill without a public option, and that is now the only bill that has any chance of passing.

Obama: ‘Last chance’ for health reform  —  In a provocative argument designed to rescue his foundering health-care plan, President Barack Obama will warn Senate Democrats in a White House meeting Tuesday that this is the “last chance” to pass comprehensive reform.

Gore Derangement Syndrome  —  Al Gore, speaking at Copenhagen, cited the work of Dr Wieslav Maslowki to the effect that “there is a 75 per cent chance that the entire north polar ice cap, during the summer months, could be completely ice-free within five to seven years.”