The grumbling from liberals started weeks ago on the direction of health care reform in the Senate.  It went away for a little while, but now there are prominent voices in the Democratic Party who have a simple message:  "Kill the Senate Bill."

That was also the message from Tea Party protestors who gathered across the street from the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday afternoon, chanting "Kill the Bill" in hopes of changing some minds.

But this is not about those opponents of health care reform.

Rather, this is about a prime supporter of reform, who has now decided that without a public option and without a Medicare buy-in, the bill is not worth supporting.

"This is essentially the collapse of health care reform in the United States Senate," said Howard Dean, the former Governor of Vermont. 

"Honestly the best thing to do right now is kill the Senate bill, go back to the House, start the reconciliation process, where you only need 51 votes and it would be a much simpler bill," Dean told Vermont Public Radio.

Now is this just Howard Dean?  Or is this going to be the opinion of liberals in the House, who want no part of a bill that has no public insurance option.

President Obama was clearly trying to address that issue after he met with Democratic Senators on Tuesday at the White House.

"There are still some differences that have to be worked on," said the President, who then sent a clear message to Democrats that it is time to cut the deals that no one wants to cut.

"Now, let's be clear.  The final bill won't include everything that everybody wants.  No bill can do that."

In other words, someone isn't going to be happy with a final deal, because one side or the other will have to give in, like on the public option.

As I wrote yesterday, Democrats have the option of sinking or swimming on this.  They have more than enough votes to approve a bill without any Republican votes.

It's gut check time for liberals.  Their bluff is being called.  They have talked big about voting against a bill that does not have a public option.

We'll see whether it was all talk or whether they will actually vote for a bill.