Anatomy of a talking point

My article in today's paper checked in with South Dakota's Congressional delegation on health care reform negotiations — and, thanks to an NPR interview, got Gov. Mike Rounds in, too.

You can read it here.

But what I found most interesting is the similar responses of Thune and Rounds when asked about the "opt-out" mechanism:

Thune: “Sure, states would choose to opt out if they could opt out of the tax increases and the Medicare cuts. But more likely they’ll get stuck with the tax increases and the Medicare cuts. They just won’t get any of the benefits. You’re almost forcing states into the program even though you’re telling them how they can opt out.”

Rounds: “The devil will be in the details. We haven’t seen a copy of the bill yet, but as we understand it, all of the states — even if they were to opt out — would still be subject to all of the taxes that it’s going to take to put together the public plan.”

Both Republicans are making the same argument against the opt-out clause. That could be a coincidence, but most likely it's an excellent example of how political communications efforts work. Political consultants brainstorm ways to frame issues in a way that makes people want to support them. So for Democrats, climate change bills are "green jobs" bills. For Republicans, they're "cap-and-tax."

The opt-out mechanism posed a particular problem for Republicans who have been fiercely opposed to a "public option" from the beginning. It appears a very reasonable compromise: You don't like the government-run health insurance plan? Fine, you don't have to have it.

Now, as Rounds said, the devil is in the details and "opting out" might not be as easy as that formulation makes it seem. But Republicans who believe, as Thune said, that "a government plan by any other name is still a government plan," it's important to find a way to dissuade the general public from latching on to the opt-out mechanism.

Hence what appears to be the Republican talking point against the opt-out mechanism: Sure, you can opt out of the public option, but you can't opt out of the other negative parts of the bill, including the taxes that will be used to pay for the public option.