Mad men

That splashing sound you hear is liberals jumping off the health care ship.

For all the talk of a Republican civil war earlier this year, it is remarkable to watch the left wing of the Democratic Party splitting off and vowing to defeat the measure that has been President Obama's top priority.

Finger-pointing is common when legislation is teetering on the brink, but the level of vitriol that has erupted in the past couple of days is nothing short of stunning.

Some liberals are angry at Howard Dean for suddenly leading the charge against the Senate bill. Others are furious at Joe Lieberman for forcing his former party to drop the remnants of a public option and Medicare buy-in. Still others are blaming Obama for letting this thing turn into an increasingly unpopular morass.

It's not that the criticism is unfair. Dean has never been much of a team player. Lieberman keeps wavering to maximize his leverage. Obama let Congress write the bills without much pushback. The Democrats have a big majority in the House and 60 votes in the Senate -- sort of -- and they still can't seem to get this done.

Harry Reid has drawn his share of criticism, but could LBJ or any other majority leader have cobbled together an acceptable compromise? When he adds something that liberals like -- the 27th iteration of a public option -- he loses moderate senators whose votes he needs to choke off a filibuster. When he makes concessions to the moderate side, the liberals get angry. Then there are the thorny side issues such as drug reimportation and abortion funding. The bill (which still must be reconciled with the House version, if the Senate gets that far) now has something for everyone to hate.

"New obstacles slowed Senate action on the healthcare bill Wednesday, as the hunt for supporters narrowed to a lone Democrat -- Ben Nelson of Nebraska -- and Republican delaying tactics brought debate to a temporary standstill, the L.A. Times reports.

Is it still worth passing? The president certainly didn't campaign for a public option. But to add, say, 30 million Americans to the health insurance system through a mandate -- a laudable goal, on the surface -- could really lead to soaring costs without a strong mechanism to keep prices under control. And that seems to be lacking, especially given Congress' record on calling for cuts in programs like Medicare but flinching when it's time to carry them out.

Joe Biden said on "Morning Joe" this week that health care reform would be dead for a long, long time unless this bill passes soon. And he's right. The Obama White House and the Congress made a mighty, yearlong effort in the face of near-unified GOP opposition. They're not likely to try again.

So the question for the Democrats is whether it's better to pass a flawed bill and claim victory -- even though most of the good stuff doesn't kick in for years -- or appear to be a totally dysfunctional party by failing to pass anything at all.

Talk about unappetizing choices.

Politico shines a light on the liberal split: