Snowe Job, Part 7

Senate Majority Leader In Her Own Mind Olympia Snowe is out of the Obamacare race, as I called from the beginning.

Senator Olympia Snowe said she won’t support the immediate creation of a government-run insurance program and raised the possibility that legislation overhauling the health system won’t be completed this year.

“A public option at the forefront really does put the government in a disproportionate position with respect to the industry,” Snowe, the only Republican so far to vote for health-care legislation, said on “Political Capital With Al Hunt,” which airs this weekend.

Snowe’s vote is crucial because her support would decrease the chances of Democrats such as Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson and Arkansas Senator Blanche Lincoln bucking their party. She might also bring along more Republican backing, from fellow Maine Senator Susan Collins or Ohio Senator George Voinovich.

With so many complex issues to parse, lawmakers may need more time to finish the legislation, Snowe said.

“Christmas might be too soon,” she said. “We should give it the time it deserves.”

Snowe's entire Snowe Job raison d'etre is to sabotage the plan from within. There's a reason the GOP threatened to bury her should she vote for the Baucus Bill in committee, then they changed their mind 48 hours later. It was a trap from the get-go in order to try to kill the bill from the inside. Democrats aren't biting, however.

Today we now know the truth: It's the Party of S-NO-we. The GOP will never let a bill with a robust public option pass. They will destroy this bill even if it means going all in on all out war.

The battle lines have been drawn. Now the real fight for health care reform begins in earnest.