"single payer option was defeated" as evidence of rightward drift.

Oh, c'mon, use your head.   There was never a majority for the single payer option in either Congress or the nation at large.    The latter is especially telling since Congress is supposed to reflect the nation at large, and usually does--including the large number of 'Neanderthals' who can still vote, even though Mudcat leftists are dismayed by how they do so, and would be only too happy to dictate to them so they would vote correctly.

Sorry, that's not how democracy works.

Even people right of center have a vote, painful as that might be to admit.

Just because there may have been a majority for single payer on Mudcat;   believe it or not, Mudcat is not exactly a true reflection of the US electorate.

Duh.