politico reporter ken vogel.fellow at the heritage foundation. todd, how different would it be -- okay, i guess we just lost the signal to todd webster. another communication problem. he's the former democratic worker in the daschle administration, in his office. ken, let me ask you tonight. white house backing. they're backtracking. or what are they doing? i mean, are you clear that where the white house stands, and do you think their messaging has been spot-on? >> i don't think their message is has been spot-on. i do think, however, that this floating of a trial balloon on the public option possibly taking off was a very purposeful effort to see how that would affect congressional support, public support for the plan as a whole. however, i think it's a bad sign that they -- signal that they were willing to make this concession this early in the game. i think that regardless of how secretary sebelius tries to recast it or regardless of what joe kline says, many people viewed it as not just an essential part of t

ken vogel of politico. and susan molinari from my favorite island in the world, staten island. susan, this could seriously back fire for republicans. your party's being labeled the party of no, now you have washington lobbyists sending these people out in an organized way to these town meetings to stand up and scream no in the most incoherent way. not looking for any answers to any questions. should the national republican party be worried about how this looks? >> you know, i think the national republican party is hopeful that people understand, and i've talked to elected officials, that, you know, the people who work in the united states have representatives in the united states senate, don't want this, just like the democrats didn't want it when moveon and code pink would do it to the researches when george bush was president. look, it's the republicans and people like me who said, from the start, slow down a little bit. we don't have to have this august 7th deadline. this has to be a real conversation. disrupting these town hall meetings so that you can have a real conversat

ken vogel for politico, it would seem clearly enough, if they looked at it rationally, if medicare wantsmy grandmother to have a consultation, great, because then we don't have to pay for it. how did it get turned into this argument over death panels? >> well, there was just enough of sort of a basis for opponents to hang this idea that there were death panels that it made a great talking point and we're still talking about it even as it appears that the senate finance committee, which is the panel that's going to produce the eventual bill, has no interest in seeing any language close to this in the bill. it has kind of snowballed to the point where it has become a talking point that is no longer based on the facts of what was in the original house bill. >> the republicans have won on this politically because everyone is talking about what is not in the bill and democrats can't get their message across. >> and that's probably one of the reasons why the senate finance committee is not enamored with having this in provision by stripping in out and saying they have no interest in it. you wo