In an interview with Ezra Klein today, Daschle claimed he never said he wanted to abandon the public option:
I don't know where that came from. We've been pushing back on that all day. I didn't say that. I have said emphatically I support a public plan. A Medicare-for-all public plan. Any federal plan. For all the reasons that have been made for years. It's important for cost, for choice, for competition, for popularity. I strongly support it.
What I did say is that I'm willing to compromise on most things to bring the package across the line.
Including the public option? Daschle, you confusing bastard.