The Bitter Man and his Republican Base
By John Amato Wednesday Oct 28, 2009 12:00pm
The Bitter Man strikes back.
Democratic moderates who control the balance of power on health care legislation balked Tuesday at a government-run insurance option for millions of Americans, underscoring the enormity of the challenge confronting Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid one day after he unveiled the plan as a consensus product.
{}The decision to include a government insurance option in his legislation had obvious appeal for liberals who account for a strong majority inside the Senate Democratic caucus, and it is likely to please labor unions and party activists in Nevada.
But it has gained less-than-effusive support from Obama, who is eager to have at least a dollop of bipartisanship for his signature domestic issue. Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine, the only Republican who has sided with Democrats in committee this year, has announced she will not support the bill Reid drafted.
Still, if Reid is pressed in coming weeks by moderates to fall back, he can explain to liberals that he was forced to do so because his preference — a government insurance option — proved to be unobtainable in the Senate. Already, that pressure is evident...read on
Joe Lieberman is a bitter old man who was looking for some media juice yesterday when he decided to spit in the face of Americans who want real health care reform. Can you trust either his motives or what he says anymore?
Joe Lieberman has once again rolled a political hand grenade into the Democrats’ tent.
The Connecticut independent obliterated any illusion that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) can quickly ram through health care reform with a public option, telling reporters on Tuesday that he would join Republicans in a filibuster to prevent a vote on Reid’s plan if it isn’t changed first.
“We’re trying to do too much at once,” said Lieberman, who signaled he would vote with Reid on the first procedural vote that requires 60 votes, the motion to proceed.
The media will never call out Lieberman over his bullshit.
And Lieberman’s justification on this is just nonsense – the public option would SAVE money for the government, to the tune of $100 billion dollars over 10 years according to the Congressional Budget Office. It also would cost nothing to the taxpayer, being financed by individual premiums.
The public option saves money and Holy Joe knows it. And the Senate will never take action against another Senator no matter how outrageous their behavior is.
But Lieberman’s fellow Connecticut senator, Democrat Chris Dodd, who faces a tough reelection fight in 2010, dismissed the idea that Lieberman would incur any retribution.
“No, no, no. People are going to be all over the place,” he said when asked if Lieberman should be punished. “The idea that people are going to be reprimanded because somehow they have a different point of view than someone else is ridiculous. That isn’t going to happen.”
Lieberman can thank President Obama for retaining his committees and unless he gets caught in bed with a goat, he gets to do whatever he wants. The House of Lords always protect their royal status over their constituents. Well, Mr. President -- it's time to reign in this herd of Conservadems if you really want the public option. All this could be the awesome kabuki dance that pols do as they negotiate legislation through the media. Well, Mr. President, you got him -- you own him now so make him pony up. Oh, wait -- Senators are immune to any type of accountability. Sorry, I forgot what I wrote earlier in this piece.
Too bad Ned Lamont didn't win in 2006, but we forced Joe out of the Dem Party and Ned is still speaking up against Lieberman. They did debate health care and Holy Joe was for "universal health care" at the time, but now he has a Republican base to protect.
I asked Lamont if he thinks that Obama, who intervened last November to keep Senate Democrats from stripping Lieberman of his committee chairmanship, was guilty of trusting Connecticut's junior senator too much.
"I would really hope that Senator Lieberman would have returned that courtesy by talking to the president's team before walking out on this filibuster plank," he replied.
Lieberman's seat will be up in 2012. His polls numbers have improved a little this year, but they're still very shaky, a 48-45 percent approval rating among all voters in the state. But among Democrats, they're poisonous. Does Lieberman's latest move mean he's abandoning any thought of running as a Democrat again in '12?
"He got re-elected in '06 with overwhelming Republican support," Lamont said. "So I guess he's just taking care of his base."
Do me a favor and contact Joe's offices and tell him to give us an up-or-down vote on health care and not to join Republicans in a filibuster. He likely won't listen, but it's important that he hear our voices.
One Constitution Plaza
7th Floor
Hartford, CT 06103
(860) 549-8463 Voice
--
706 Hart Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
(202) 224-4041 Voice
And please: Donate to Blue America's Campaign For Health Care Choice so we can continue to fight for health care reform. We have several actions we're working on...
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You got it - done and done
"unless he gets caught in bed with a goat, he gets to do whatever he wants."
That remains to be seen. Fasten your safety belts there are a few more surprises in the works.
what goat would have him.
it's time lieberman be served his very own
shisk-ka-balls for lunch.
That's Leiberman's shriveled up lips slurping up the blood of the war dead and the uninsured. He wants all the money to go to wars against Iraq and Iran to protect the criminal state of Israel and does not care how many American's must die for it.
BOHICA
did it ever stop ?
I bet there are a lot of people in Connecticut who would love to sign that petition.
Joe Leiberman IS a NeoCon wolf in (I) Independent clothing - except that the (I) doesn't really stand for Independent - (I)nsurance and/or (I)srael, or both. Since Connecticut voters cannot legally recall him, perhaps his God will, and the sooner the better.
2012 is way too far away for the Liberal Progressive movement, or for any reasonable, cost-controlled HC reform - the blood of an additional 150,000 plus Americans will be on the NeoCon's hands, never mind just how many more ME wars he would help the USA into as an AIPAC/Israeli Zionist.
And we can all thank BH Obama, Rahm Emanual, and Harry Reid for their help in defeating Ned Lamont, a Democrat.
Plus most of the big Health Industry cartels are in CT, so as long as he keeps CT wealthy, his state will support him....right?
It was not a majority of Connecticut voters that put Joe Leiberman back into office. He was in trouble with the state Democrats, and lost the Democratic primary to Ned Lamont. Leiberman chose to re-enter the race for Senator as an Independent because he had assurances from the DNC, Obama, Emanuel, and Reid that he could not only count on national Democratic support, but that he wouldn't lose his committee appointments.
As an Independent, Leiberman drew many votes away from Lamont in the general election - enough to throw the election.
office, that is what happens when one wins an election.
He sucks, but he was elected by Connecticut. You know the state that keeps on giving... Thanks!
Now that fixing elections has become so easy, how do you know it wasn't done in his case? Diebold. Stacked courts. Piece of cake.
That sucker deserves worse, though.
Make him pay full price at Applebee's see how he likes them apples!
Droopy dog will fold like a cheap tent.
I'd bet on it - even if he doesn't fold this would only mean the senate version of the bill would be effected - the final bill will have a public option.
I know that isn't headline grabbing or exciting but it is a fact and a reasonable outcome.
Why can't we ask Joe why Americans aren't good enough for government healthcare but Israeli citizens are. Israel has a singlepayer system, and Lieberman is their loudest spokesman in the senate.
that we are probably paying for their single payer system.
a good one.
And BTW Connecticut, for you many imbeciles who again sent Progressives this lying traitorous pile of shit to Washington, constantly stabbing progress in the back....Fuck you!
"constantly stabbing progress in the back"
Is that listed as a peexisting condition?
The state that gave us Joe Loserman, Vince McMahon and George W. Bush.
THANKS GUYS!!! :-(
I thought after 8 years of bush/chenny/republi/neocon/religiousright that no one would have voted for a bush supporter. It all goes to show what I have been saying for a while now.
republicanism/conservatism is a mental illness!
voting machine made a "mistake."
When you give a party you can always rely on Joe to put a doodie in the punch bowl. Sure it ruins everything but it gets everyone's attention on him for that moment.
They should put the sleazy SOB's office in the parking lot!
That would give him a hint of what's in store if he joins the repuke war against the American people.
..is too good for him.
politicans are a reflection of the voters.
as joe is a reflection so is cheney.
as is george bush jr and sr
until we come to realize this we will continue to blame and judge politicans for our ills
any country that believes it is christian to make mega profits off the sick and needy and have our wars for profits we will continue to elect the joes, cheneys, and bushs of the world.
we have met the enemy and it is we americans not the politicans
we are a dumbed down religious nation not to suggest that atheism is any more advanced in their thinking.
we are in a rapid decline and few will tell you that
instead we call it a recession and most believe it out of fear of this american decline
what would the universe be like without our rapid decline. we are an immoral nation with our wars for profits, mega military and indeed capitalism by its very nature is immoral.
few will understand my words very few as I spent most of my life blaming politicans and lawyers only to realize they are only a reflection of america's values and mentality.
this american mentality of individualism and materialism is destined for decline. history tells us that but few of us learn from history.
we must learn through experience not history. wisdom seldom teachs us but suffering does.
we americans are learning vaulable lessons as to what works and what does not work. wealth can be as harsh of a teacher as poverty.
we will become a third world nation with our values and beliefs. maybe we will learn more from that then staying a wealthy nation.
few understand how we became a wealthy nation. very few. most think it was capitalism. we see what we want to see.
oh obama will send more troops american mentality demands that he does. the win at all cost mentality.
afghan will be obama's vietnam.
That is the main problem. Coupled with the inability of many to pay attention to anything except their immediate surroundings. You know, a form of ADD. Probably from all the toxins people have ingested and inhaled from corporate pollution.
.
I'm rooting for Traitor Joe, he is actually doing us a favor.
If he and his self-serving scumbag, corporate-asswipe cohorts manage to kill this bill they will be saving us from finding out the hard way just how bad it really is. This legislation was written by lobbyists. We don't need 1500 pages of insurance company protections and a token public option. We need HR 676.
Let them kill this bill, piss off voters and we'll have a bloodbath at the midterms. Then next year we'll try again with a congress much more sympathetic to citizens. Patience is a virtue.
While I do believe HR 676 IS the solution, I don't think killing this legislation will get us one step closer. Most voters are not really paying attention, and the Republicans will have a field day with this. The media will report it day after day, Democrats did not deliver. The majority of the electorate is not engaged enough to listen to the gritty details of what exactly happened. At the end of the day, many only care about who won and who lost because sadly politics is viewed as a sporting event.
I have no problem being wrong, and I want to believe this all plays out like you suggest. Only time will tell.
Reconciliation
The bill will not just die.
No reason for catastrophic hyperbole.
Yes. Reconciliation is what will have to be done. It remains to be seen just how much has to be taken out for this process.
Anything that doesn't effect the budget.
This IS what the Insurance companies want because reconciliation would force out the provisions for:
No preexisting conditions, no dropping of coverage and no recission.
All of these things (and a few others) would then have to be in a seperate bill(s).
I sincerely do not believe the republicans believe even half of what they are saying. They have lost their way and are now just determined this democratic President will fail, doing whatever they have to do to try and make it so. They realize their President for the last eight years was a disaster and if they can make the present one fail, somehow they feel it will redeem their party and it's name.
Meanwhile, all the nut jobs on the right are putting the party two steps back everytime they say or do something. All this is going on and while it does, the country is being stymied on any progress we need to make.
I have read some pretty far fetched opinions that the Whitehouse put Joe up to this shit. Reports and opinions still float to the surface that indicate that Obama and Company do not want a public option. They have promised the insurance companies the moon.
I would quickly call BS on that unless there are facts to back it up. In every speech I have heard the President give on this subject, he has always said he was in favor of a public option.
I believe he never supported public option/single payer as part of his original political platform for his presidential run (he supported single payer in his senatorial run though I think)... I just want Mr. Obama to come out and tell us exactly where he stands, period.
All I have seen so far, regarding his position, is the continuous projection exercises from both his supporters and detractors figuring and assuming where he may or may not stand.
I just want him to be on the record, that would go a great ways to settle things. Especially since the thing he actually supported in his campaign was an increased level of transparency in his presidency. So now it is time for him to put out on that regard...
"that the Whitehouse put Joe up to this shit"
None other than FDL.
I never go there these days - now I will make certain I NEVER go there.
You're absolutely right, Patricia. My dad was saying the exact same thing today.
Tell you dad he is one smart cookie. :)
Will do. How've you been? I've been SUPER busy at a new job the last 8 or so months so I've not been here too much.
I'm good and thank you for asking. I wondered where you had gotten off to. I got a new dog in Feb. so my life has been a whole lot about him.
I gotta ask what maybe a stupid question to anyone who can help me here. Tonight Beck is following one of his winding trails on his chalkboard. The story reads from right to left on the board. He said it reads backward just like chinese. Isn't it hebrew that reads right to left or is it both or what? I think I just went brain dead for a moment.
... Chinese and Japanese are technically written from top to bottom, right to left. If he is using horizontal layout, then it can be read left to right since that is not the supported layout anyways.
What I am trying to say is that Beck is a f*cking idiot who could not find his own a** with a flashlight, much less figure out things about more complex stuff such as non-alphabet based written languages.
Thank you Tyler. Some of that my brain knew before it died but some I did not know. I guess that's what I get for trying to follow Beck's reasoning and rationale.
I bet he could find his own ass with a flashlight, because that's where he keeps his head, all nice and snug inside.
;-)
I haven't gone there yet. I can just flake out without the help of alcohol sometimes. Especially while watching Beck. His face and voice just sucks the intelligence right out of people.
Give me about a half hour and I'll let you know how cold and dee-lish that sweet little cocktail will taste.
why would u use fox news on your post john?
senior white house officials have instructed us not to.
universal healthcare for Americans.
See if that works on this asshole. I bet it does.
Although this latest stunt gets his face back in the news and must make him feel once again relevant, he really has nothing to lose. Even if he fails to hold his Senate seat in the next election, he's guaranteed a future income way beyond his current salary once he enters the private sector to carry on with his agenda. He'll also extract a huge government pension and generous, government-provided health benefits. How ironic!
So the man is set for this life. It's the after life that this scumbag should be concerned about.
If he ends up being the vote that sustains a filibuster, and given all of the above, the Democrats should go out of their way to demonstrably humiliate this man to the maximum extent possible for his remaining days in the Senate.
To think we were so close to getting rid of this shmuck.. Naturally next time he's up for election he'll pull the same crap as last time and make all kinds of promises again only to break them once re-elected..
gets smaller on the horizon....
If you ask Barack Obama or Harry Reid or Barbara Boxer about Joe Lieberman, they will tell you what a great leader he is. The idea that the Democrats would punish this creep over his support of the GOP is laughable. In fact, I would not be at all surprised to see Lieberman elected Senate Majority leader if Reid should retire.
It's only that the Repugs are so evil and such bad news that I follow politics or get involved at all anymore , it's sure not because I like the Democratic party , they are one big cluster puck , too many of them being just as corrupt and low as the Repugs , Republicrats. Sadly we really have only two choices , bad or much worse .As for Lieberman I can't add anything more to the conversation other than a string of foul words . There needs to be a purge within the Democratic party that's for damn sure .
Why not? Nothing left to lose here in Democratville.
*RECONCILIATION*
Stop fretting about what Leiberman does. After he endorsed the Republican presidential candidate at the RNC Leadership Convention in the last election, why would anybody be stupid enough to expect anything different?
It's very simple.
1. Table the bill with the public option.
2. LET the Republicans filibuster if they want. The longer they obstruct healthcare reform, the more the public will despise them. THE "SOUTHERN BLOCK" FILIBUSTERED THE EQUAL RIGHTS ACT OF 1964 FOR 54 DAYS, and what did it get them? In the end, it passed, and in the end they looked even MORE stupid.
So, LET them filibuster at their own peril. Eventually there'll be a motion for cloture.
3. If Leiberman votes against cloture, yank both of his committee chairmanships and kick him out of the Democratic Caucus FOR GOOD! Let him be a junior back bencher.
4. If Blanch Lincoln votes against cloture, throw a MASSIVE AMOUNT OF MONEY at her challenger in the 2010 Primary. Take her down HARD and get her out of there. She's up for re-election in 2010.
5. If you fail to get enough votes for cloture, pass it with Budget Reconciliation. You only need 51 votes for that. If any Republicans whine about it simply point out all the tax cuts for the wealthy that they passed when they were in control of Congress, and let Jon Stewart replay endless clips of Republican speeches on the Senate floor in favor of the "nuclear option" when Democrats were threatening to filibuster Bush's court nominations.
Screw Lieberman time to go after the one that's been backing and defending this jackass Joe. I don't care who takes Reid out if it be GOP or not but Reid has got to go period.
Nancy Pelosi needs to get her walking papers also! Fuck'em both!
Joe's decision is no surprise when you realize that the capital of the state he represents is known as...
"The Insurance Capital of the World!"
and a filibuster are two very different things. He needs his chairmanship taken away, and I believe he is in his first term as an Independent Senator. He helps us not.
CT: Home of the BUSH CRIME FAMILY
Leibershit is THEIR boy.
Tell you what Reid should do:
CALL FOR 51 VOTES.
This is up to the people of CT not this Joe guy.
That fucker. He has no idea what it's like to live in fear of getting laid off and therefore losing the family's health insurance (for which I pay for except for mine and it takes 35% of my monthly check to cover). He has no idea what it's like to have a pre-existing condition and know that you CANNOT get individual coverage unless you join the "state high risk pool" and pay $800 a month PER PERSON. Fuck you Joe Lieberman.
Oh he knows Ali , but like too many of them he just doesn't give a damn . Lieberman is on the take ( what a shock ), the Maddow show tonight showed how much money he's taken from the Insurance lobby and it was a lot of dough , I forget the exact numbers but they left little doubt about it , Lieberman is just looking out for Joe Lieberman , the pathetic weasel has no conscience to deal with . Conneticut is well over 60 % in favor of the public option with 20 something % against it so he's crapping on his "constituents" big time too . I hope the voters in Connecticut are happy , congratulations .
I can not for the life of me understand why the democrats let this asshole into their party especially when this c********r votes with the republicans on all issues!I hope the voters show this creep the door when he comes up foe re-election!
this man is a republican he is listed as a dem to destroy the dems.you know,keep your enemy close
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