Keith Olbermann’s take on the Senate health care bill last night was so well said that all I can say is “yeah, what he said”…

All of this talk about the Democrats failing to pass a bill hurting Democrats has a wrinkle I’m not hearing anyone talk about.  The question isn’t whether failing to pass a bill hurts Democrats in general (it does), but which Democrats get hurt.  The most vulnerable Democrats are the ones most opposed to real reform.

That means that the most vulnerable Democrats are also the least valuable Democrats. 

Will it be Democrats in relatively safe seats in the Northeast, Northwest and West who really get hurt in 2010?  Not unless they lose their base, which they will do if they fail to pass real reform.

I’m willing to bet that the blue dogs in the House and the turncoats in the Senate will pay a much higher price whether they pass reform or not than the real Democrats, many of whom are in relatively safe seats.  The only way the real Democrats in those safe seats get hurt is by failing to pass real reform, thereby losing their base. 

If that’s the case, why should the real Democrats concede to those Democrats who are selling their souls and running for their political lives?  To avoid losing a dysfunctional, mythical filibuster-proof majority?  Will anyone really miss Blanche Lincoln if she loses next year or Joe Lieberman if he loses in ’12? 

I doubt it.  Kill the bill and pass a major Medicare buy-in plus whatever else you can through reconciliation.  Or reduce the margin necessary for cloture to 51.

Thousands die every year from lack of insurance and thousands more for being denied treatment by their carriers.  They are more important than any single Senator’s political future anyway (don’t cry for them, the Blanche Lincolns of the world always resurface as lobbyists or on corporate boards anyway).  It’s time to do the right thing.