Poor Harry Reid. He wants it all to be so simple …

By Jon Ralston

Monday, Aug. 31, 2009 | 2 a.m.

Poor Harry Reid. He wants it all to be so simple. He supports the public option on health care reform. But what does he really mean? During his telephone town-hall meeting Friday, Reid said he doesn’t want the public option to be totally public. As the Reno Gazette-Journal reported it: “Reid went on to say that most people ‘misunderstand’ a public option as ‘some government-run program.’ ” How could that happen, Senator? Then this: “But there are many ways we can do it. One would be to have an entity like Medicare. I really don’t favor that. I think what we should have is a private entity that has direction from the federal government.” A cooperative or a private entity contracted with the feds, a Reid aide said later. That clears it up.