"There is a legitimate, if wildly improbable, fear that Obama's plan will start a process that will end with a health-care system entirely controlled by the government."

I think the Republicans would secretly love to support the Public Option because they know that its a money loser from the get go because it will begin by insuring the sickest, previously uninsurable among us and will likely kill substantive reform for a generation. But they can't do that because they don't want the political heat, so they have to engage in gross mischaracterizations about what the Public Option really is, a gimme to the insurance companies, who will no longer have the pressure of having to cover those less desirables.