There’s even a quote in the Politco story from HCAN in which a spokesperson says the public option claims are part of a false “government takeover” narrative. The spokesperson says, “It’s not helpful, it’s not smart and it’s not the truth.” Surely HCAN knows the truth right? They’re the ones pushing the public option. Well, here’s another HCAN spokesman in a less guarded moment admitting the public option is a strategic path to single-payer. Of course that statement never, ever appeared in any news story.

Somehow the major media never put the pieces together on this issue. As Gruber admits, Democrats did try to slide a pathway to single-payer into Obamacare without telling anyone. The proponents of this sneaky path to single-payer (Ezra Klein called it a “sneaky strategy”) were so successful in keeping it quiet that the incompetents at Poltifact made “government takeover” their Lie of the Year in 2010. Stop and think about that for a moment. Politifact’s Lie of the Year was true, at least so long as the public option was under consideration.