. >> i saw that, and the proposal on cooperatives of course ken conrad from north dakota has put thatorward as an alternative to a strict public option. but as another way to bring competition into the health insurance marketplace, and i think depending upon how it's implemented it could be quite effective in bringing competition. as i say, my preference, i've always said this. my preference would be to do the kind of public option we've adopted in the health committee. but if that's not something we can get the votes to do, then this idea of co-ops is certainly something to explore and it could serve the same purpose to a large extent. >> jeff young, one more question. >> over the course of these months when you've been having these meetings in the gang of six and finance committee, you've been sort of the quiet one. senator baucus is chairman. he talks to the press and he is on television. senator grassley, senator ensly, they're much more vocal about the problems they have and they've been much more in the mix politically. i just wanted to ask you what your thinking behind that is.

ken conrad a democrat of north dakota sided with republicans on this.eally a case of orrin hatch saying he doesn't want to discriminate and did not mean to offend but he believes the language needs to be improved to protect the concerns of those who do oppose abortion and the women democrats and it goes beyond the women but notably they spoke out saying they felt this was unprecedented and they raised a lot of concerns about it, so it's another interesting chapter in the debate about abortion services. >> kelly, thank you very much. >>> at stake the way forward in afghanistan. this afternoon president obama and his senior advisers will gather in the white house situation room and debating strategy and discussing america's goals for the now eight-year-long war in afghanistan. joining us live is has helena cooper and retired u.s. army general barry mccaffrey. my thanks to both of you. general, i start with you. talking about 18 people and very high ranking folks in this meeting today. i'm sure, general, you've been in similar meetings. how will the presid

and i just, i think a lot of democrats are scratching their head when they look at max baucus and ken conradwhole other rant for me today. we're going to take some time to remember the victim of the 9/11 terror attacks. mike mcginty is one of the thousands of people who lost his life on that day. mike was working on the 99th floor of the world tray center. his wife cindy joins us live. late senator ted kennedy played a special role in her personal tragedy on 9/11. and i wonder if could you talk about that and the relationship with ted kennedy and explain it to our audience. >> well, senator kennedy, after 9/11, call every single family in massachusetts to offer his condolences and to say that if there was anything the senator could do to be helpful to any of the families, he would be happy to help us. and right away, my family needed something. the navy couldn't fine mike's discharge papers and we wanted an honor guard at his memorial service. and the senator's office was instrumental in straightening out the red tape. and then shortly after that, about a month later, the senator also organi

. >> although we've asked ken conrad this and some of it is denying him a political win. >> absolutely. when demint said it's going the break him, obviously, for senator demint, that's what it's about. but there are how many republicans in congress that you can't throw in and say they're all demanipulates. >> but joe, my point is, you can't disentangle those two things. >> yes, you can, come on, john. >> no, no, no, you're wrong. >> just to say that you hope your side prevails and therefore you've got a liberal democratic president and you hope that a lot of his things don't -- i can see how you connect the dots that way. but to say that maybe in their mind they think health care reform that he's proposing might be good, so i want him to fail -- >> no, no, no, that's not what i'm saying. no. they have big dinners owes what is the right solution for the country and they also think that the right solution of the country is going to come when their side is in power. so they disagree with the substance and they want to hurt the president politically. >> well, they're all saluting the same