Democrats flailing desperately
Their original plan was to get this monster greased through the process before the August recess, with as few people knowing what was in it as possible and as little debate as possible.
The plan consisted of a "public option," financially backed by government printing presses, and a series of mandates designed to make it almost impossible for the private sector to offer any reasonably-priced choices to the public and still keep the companies running. Many major Democratic figures in this debate, including Obama, are on record as saying this whole thing was just a pausing point on the way to a government health care monopoly.
On the White House website, they even brag about how they're going to control the private sector "competition":
For the record, the President has consistently said that if you like your insurance plan, your doctor, or both, you will be able to keep them. He has even proposed eight consumer protections relating specifically to the health insurance industry".
The link goes to a list of the restrictions designed to snap the spine of the private health insurance industry. Nobody who refuses the public option would be permitted to take on a new policy with any company that does not meet these restrictions.
Fortunately, in our broadband information age, this attempted health-care-by-fiat approach blew up in their faces, and a hell of a lot of smart people pointed out the problems in the bill long before Palin did.
Now the Democratic Party, which long ago lost the ability to actually debate on facts, is falling back on their tried and true method of simply declaring their opposition crazy and evil.
That, and a multi-million dollar ad campaign by pro-Obama interest groups accusing the opposition of being "astroturf."