Behold the eternal leftist domestic-policy CW, that all Democratic setbacks derive from their failure to push an even more socialistic agenda. Funny thing: If the deciding votes in Massachusetts were cast by disgruntled liberals who wanted to kill the bill because it lacks a public option, why wasn’t there a grassroots “vote Brown” movement in the lefty blogosphere? Did I miss that? The nutroots don’t much like the Senate bill either and, last I checked, their leading lights are all pretty reliably liberal, but as far as I know the party line among them was that everyone should hold their noses and vote Coakley. Or does Dean seriously believe that Massachusetts Dems were so ticked about The One’s supposed centrism that they turned out in droves to … destroy the Democrats’ supermajority?

Believe it or not, Matthews does a pretty bang-up job here of grilling him. Money quote: “If she wins, it’s a victory for your side. If he wins, it’s a victory for your side.”

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