Mr. Lieberman: The Democrats' Albatross

[dtotire]

December 16, 2009


Joe Lieberman seems at best hypocritical in his latest maneuver to foil Democratic hopes of passing groundbreaking health care reform legislation.

The independent Democrat is the 60th vote needed by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to break an expected Republican filibuster, and he's using his leverage for all it's worth.

Mr. Lieberman didn't like the so-called public option — a proposed government-run health insurance plan — and threatened to join the Republican filibuster. So the public option was scrubbed from the Senate bill. Fair enough; Mr. Lieberman doesn't have to like the proposal, even if polls show that a majority of his Connecticut constituents do.

The public option was replaced by a proposal to let people buy into Medicare at age 55. Mr. Lieberman said he opposed that, too, and again threatened to sidetrack health care reform.

But Mr. Lieberman's spurning of Medicare expansion makes no sense. He's been in favor of just such a plan for at least nine years. As Al Gore's vice presidential running mate in 2000, Mr. Lieberman beat the drums for a Medicare buy-in plan. He supported the same concept as recently as September.

This breathtaking flip-flop as reform legislation hangs in the balance, as millions of Americans wait for decent coverage, legitimately raises questions about the senator's motives.

Is the inexplicable about-face meant as a slap in the face to liberal Democrats who were instrumental in his defeat in the 2006 Democratic Senate primary, forcing him to run and win as an independent? Is it a bow to the insurance industry, which has contributed more than $1
million to his campaigns since 1998? Or does he simply like the attention?


http://www.courant.com/news/opinion/editorials/hc-lieberman-heath-blocking.artdec16,0,3373674.story

[madmom]

1. He's not an Albatross he's a Dodo, soon to be extinct, I hope.

[tomm2thumbs]

2. if only he were even a species worth naming -

plankton without a classification of any kind would be more fitting

(visually, he's got that amoeba face look already going)