Senate's efforts to compromise appear to be gutting healthcare reform vision

Well, it would appear at this hour that the U.S. Senate is managing to turn the hard-fought efforts of people across the country on healthcare reform into the proverbial steaming pile of ineffective overcompromise.

Between last week's announced Medicare buy-in compromise and the introduction of caps on benefits -- something that goes against the very core of the healthcare reform vision presented months ago by President Obama -- one wonders if this effort is indeed about to succumb to Death by the Thousand Cuts.

Here's a sampling of what's out there this morning. Click the links within to read the stories.

• Howard Dean says he's no longer supportive of the Senate's version, recommends they 'start over.' (ABC News)
  

• Senator Roland Burris says he won't vote for a bill that fails to include a public option. (New York Times)
  
  
• And even if the Senate does pass something resembling healthcare reform, whatever they pass is likely to set off a fight between the Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives. (New York Times)
  

Stay tuned. While I'd normally say something like 'this could get messy,' it's clear the mess is already here. Let's see if they can clean it up.

UPDATE: From our member Paul Pierce comes this, a petition from CREDO Action that provides a quick way to tell the Senate to keep moving toward true healthcare reform:
http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/prog_sens_po/?rc=fb_share1