The inimitable Digby, with a h/t from Ambinder, observes that Beltway reporter Ron Brownstein is a "snotty little twit" for tweeting a gratuitous insult about Howard Dean. As always, Digby is too kind.

But Brownstein isn’t the only guy who got the memo to denigrate Dean because he has the temerity to keep fighting for the public option when the White House would rather Democrats stop demanding something the White House is willing to give up. The New Republic’s Jonathan Chait piles on his own criticism of Dean’s advocacy, but gets his history wrong.

In an article with the lead in, How Liberal Despair is Hurting Health Care Reform, TNR’s Jonathan Chait lectures us on the need to take what we’ve been offered now and build on it later, just like our grandfathers did on Social Security and Medicare. Uh, spare us the history lessons until after the negotiations are over, but that’s not my point.

Chait’s own gratuitous slam at Dean is targeted at the "liberal fixation" on the public plan:

Second, liberal health care activists have come to fixate on the public option as the end-all, be-all of reform. “If Barack Obama’s health care plan gets changed to exclude a public option like Medicare, then it is not health care reform,” insists Howard Dean. “Legislation rises and falls on whether the American public is allowed to choose a universally available public option or not.” It’s worth recalling that Dean’s own health care plan from 2004 did not include a public option. Most liberal health care wonks think a public option is helpful but not vital.

I was curious to know why Dean didn’t see the need for a government-sponsored insurance scheme in 2004, and sure enough, I found a possible source, a "health care wonk," for the notion Dean didn’t have a public plan back then. The wonk said:

Re-reading Dean’s plan is useful to anyone looking for a bit of perspective on the national debate. The Vermonter was, of course, one of the more liberal candidates in the race, and the most oriented toward health care. But there was no public plan in his proposal. There wasn’t even a co-op. . . .

As I read the policy — and it’s possible there’s a more detailed summary than the one I’ve dug up — it didn’t even include insurance market reforms like banning discrimination based on preexisting conditions or outlawing rescission.

How could Dean have missed so much? So I looked at the link the wonk provided for Dean’s plan, and found this:

My plan consists of four major components.

First, and most important, in order to extend health coverage to every uninsured child and young adult up to age 25, we’ll redefine and expand two essential federal and state programs — Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. Right now, they only offer coverage to children from lower-income families. Under my plan, we cover all kids and young adults up to age 25 — middle income as well as lower income. This aspect of my plan will give 11.5 million more kids and young adults access to the healthcare they need.

Second, we’ll give a leg up to working families struggling to afford health insurance. Adults earning up to 185% of the poverty level — $16,613 — will be eligible for coverage through the already existing Children Health Insurance Program. By doing this, an additional 11.8 million people will have access to the care they need.

Many working families have incomes that put them beyond the help offered by government programs. But this doesn’t mean they have viable options for healthcare. We’ll establish an affordable health insurance plan people can buy into, providing coverage nearly identical to what members of Congress and federal employees receive.

To cushion the costs, we’ll also offer a significant tax credit to those with high premium costs. By offering this help, another 5.5 million adults will have access to care.

Third, we need to recognize that one key to a healthy America is making healthcare affordable to small businesses. We shouldn’t turn our back on the employer-based system we have now, but neither should we simply throw money at it. We need to modernize the system so employers will have an option beyond passing rising costs on to workers or bailing out of the system entirely. Fortunately, we have a model of efficient, affordable and user-friendly healthcare coverage: the federal employee health system.

With the plan I’ve put forth to the American people, we’ll organize a system nearly identical to the one federal workers and members of Congress enjoy. And we’ll enable all employers with less than 50 workers to join it at rates lower than are currently available to these companies — provided they insure their work force. I’ll also offer employers a deal: The federal government will pick up 70% of COBRA premiums for employees transitioning out of their jobs, but we’ll expect employers to pay the cost of extending coverage for an additional two months. These two months are often the difference between workers finding the health coverage they need, or joining the ranks of the uninsured.

Finally, to ensure that the maximum number of American men, women and children have access to healthcare, we must address corporate responsibility. . . .

Yep. There is no mention of "public plan" or even "co-op," nor does Dean use the words "insurance market reforms." All Dean proposed back then is that all children and young adults up to age 25 be insured through a government-sponsored insurance program called SCHIP, that families up to 185 percent of the FPL get government-sponsored health insurance through SCHIP, and that small businesses get to choose from and purchase plans like those offered to federal employees, and that some might receive state subsidies for COBRA in exchange for business contributions to the pool. And since there’s nothing to suggest the eligible folks could be denied coverage if they fell in any of these categories, it’s looks like, uh, guaranteed issue.

So the Wonk was literally correct: Dean didn’t call his proposal a "public plan" for kids and poor people, plus an "exchange" for small businesses, nor literally prohibit denial based on prior conditions. So yeah, the Governor was really backward back then.

I’d say a few corrections and apologies are in order. Dr. Dean will see you now.