Daschle Folds on Public Option, While 83% of Americans Support It

Someone want to call Tom Daschle and tell him he's full of crap?

Plumline:

A new poll by a nonpartisan, D.C.-based research group finds truly overwhelming support for the public option. The kicker: The poll was bankrolled partly by previous opponents of health care reform, including one of the nation’s best-known insurance companies.

The poll -- which was just released by the Employee Benefit Research Institute, a D.C. policy think tank -- finds that a majority (53%) strongly back the availability of a public plan, while another 30% "somewhat" support it. That's a total of 83% in favor of a public plan -- a staggeringly large majority.

According to Greg Sargent, the poll was paid for by "AARP, American Express, Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, Buck Consultants, Chevron, Deere & Company, IBM, Mercer, National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, Principal Financial Group, Schering-Plough Corp., Shell Oil Company, The Commonwealth Fund, and Towers Perrin." Wow, now there's a bunch of commies, huh? They can't be real happy with these poll results.

Meanwhile, Obama's first pick to lead the charge for health care reform is also one of the first to run up the white flag.

Huffington Post:

Former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle said on Wednesday that the Obama White House would likely have to scrap a public option for health insurance coverage if it wanted to get the votes needed to pass systematic change.

"We've come too far and gained too much momentum for our efforts to fail over disagreement on one single issue," the Senator and one-time HHS Secretary nominee said, according to ABC News.

Americans want a public option, so what's the holdup here? Looks like it's time to beat your senators and reps over the head with popular opinion. Get on the phone.