Lieberman Closer To Supporting Reform, But Not There Yet

[FourScore]

Source: HuffPo

One day after he single-handedly killed off a provision to expand Medicare, Sen. Joseph Lieberman is still not promising to support the Democratic health reform bill -- though he told reporters Tuesday that he is getting closer.

"I'm getting to the position where I can say what I wanted to say all along, that I'm ready to vote for health care reform," he said. The Connecticut independent said he was pleased with concessions made by Democratic leadership and was hopeful that nothing additional would be added.

Lieberman also offered up a lengthy explanation for why he is now opposed to a provision he championed as recently as three months ago: a proposal to allow those as young as 55 to buy into Medicare

"I did not change my mind on Medicare buy-in," he said. "And I know this is a classic sort of sport here. Although it is not terrible to change one's mind if in fact you do. I do not want to spend too much time on this. In the 2000 campaign, when I was privileged to be Al Gore's running mate, the party platform was to suggest one way to improve health care was to allow 55- to 65-year-olds to buy into Medicare. That is a very stressed age group when you don't have insurance. But a lot of things have changed in nine years. The first is that in 2000, the federal government was in surplus and paying off the debt, not having increased the debt enormously. Secondly, Medicare wasn't on the verge of imminent bankruptcy, which it is now. And third, there was not a bill on the floor such as the one on the floor now, that would extend very generous subsidies to those 55- and 65-year-olds to enable them to buy insurance and reduce the impact of age in the pricing of insurance policies. So things changed a lot...

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/15/lieberman-closer-to-suppo_n_392693.html

[graywarrior]

1. I can honestly say he is more disgusting than Cheney & Bush.

[Jackpine Radical]

2. He's holding out for an amendment

that will protect the insurance companies from actually having to pay out anything if somebody gets sick.

[cynatnite]

3. Fuck Joe Lieberman. n/t

[thunder rising]

4. Judas go 30 pieces of silver, Joe?

[thereismore]

16. He does not believe in the story of Judas. He is an orthodox Jew. nt

[thunder rising]

32. Even so, it's still a story of betrayal for a "glorious" amount of money. Judas hanged himself.

I just have to wonder about the decrepit logic that Joe uses to allow himself to shave in the morning; it's that mirror thing.

[aquart]

37. Then remind him that the sons of Eli were worthless men.

[No Elephants]

45. Irrelevant. I don't believe in Cinderella or her mice coachmen either, but I know it's an

archetypal rags to riches, all's well that ends well story.

[No Elephants]

44. Judas had the decency to feel remorse and hang himself.

[BlueIdaho]

5. Has he released a 1-800 number yet?

Do you suppose if we all chip in and donate several million dollars to that fucker we can buy his vote away for the insurance industry?

[tomm2thumbs]

6. Kill the Bill in the Senate - it's forced servitude to the Insurance Industry

Howard Dean is right - without anything even remotely suggestive of a public option, the bill ain't nothing but profiteering by corporate lobbyists.

[cureautismnow]

7. This schmuck is ripe for some serious karma. n/t

:argh:

[COLGATE4]

8. Wins the award for schmuk of the year

[dflprincess]

9. He'll have a lot to atone for next year

In the meantime I hope Mr. Holier-than-thou gets worked over by his Rabbi.

[tonekat]

10. Karma is a helluva thing to payback, Lieberman!

I hope no one is standing next to him when the lightning strikes. Evil old bastard.

[Yavapai]

13. Yep, Karma can be a bitch!

Dear Grim Reaper,

So far this year you have taken away my favorite dancer Michael Jackson, my favorite actor Patrick Swayze and my favorite singer Stephen Gately and my favorite actress Farah Fawcett.

Just so you know, my favorite politician is Joe Liebermen.

Regards,

Bob

[tonekat]

43. Love it! N/T

[Kahuna]

11. He's full of it. He must be getting grief from his constituents though...

to even try to pretend like he's ready to support something. The worm. :puke:

[VaYallaDawg]

12. Surely, somebody somewhere, has an 8x10 glossy of this moron doing something naughty.

[tinrobot]

40. The camera lenses keep breaking because he's so damn ugly.

[VaYallaDawg]

41. Have to confess, I hadn't thought of that!

:rofl:

[No Elephants]

46. You mean, like callousness while 45,000 Americans die every year? Check C-Span.

They probably have the tapes.

[EFerrari]

14. Has anyone tried reading him "The Story of O"?

[damntexdem]

15. He is nowhere near to supporting reform -- he is all about destroying it.

Anything he ends up voting for won't be worth having.

[SPedigrees]

17. Why doesn't someone just drown the little bastard. nt

[Don Draper]

19. Good point

[Don Draper]

18. Lieberman is such a fucking liar, lets be honest

He is only opposing healthcare reform because he is still pissed about loosing the democratic primary and support of the liberals. He wants to give the middle finger to progressives because he is bitter. He is clearly contradicting himself in opposing medicare buy in.

Lieberman should be a national target for progressives in his next election. The Democrats (on a national level) should do everything they can to make sure the next democratic nominee wins. We should all donate what we can to whoever the democrat is (since I'm sure lieberman will run as an independent again).

[peace frog]

20. Oooooo, be still my beating heart

LIEberman is close to supporting the bill!!11! I'm so excited I can hardly keep from puking up a lung.

ASSHOLE.

[truthisfreedom]

21. Hey guys, c'mon, there's nothing wrong with Joe Lieberman.

Except that he's a disloyal, unfaithful, alienated, apostate, cheating, disaffected, double-crossing, estranged, faithless, false, perfidious, recreant, seditious, snaky, subversive, traitorous, treacherous, treasonable, two-faced, two-timing, unloyal, unpatriotic, untrue, untrustworthy, wormlike son of a bitch.

[Yavapai]

24. Don't hold back friend, tell us what you really think

:toast:

"Do you pray for the Senators, Dr. Hale" someone asked the Senate Chaplain. "No, I look at the Senators and pray for the country."

Edward Everett Hale, Senate Chaplain

[WheelWalker]

29. Oh, you mean

other than that he's a slimy, sleazy, sniveling little weasel rat, dog shit eating, lying mf'r?

:kick:

[Jefferson23]

22. The Republican's hero, go fuck yourself Joe.

[jkilvik]

23. Chicago Tough, My Ass!

All that's left is for Emanuel and Obama to put on their tu-tu's and knee pads, and prance down to Lieberman's office and see if he's consider becoming the new Senate Majority Leader.

[Umbral]

25. It should be obvious, Lieberman intends to make this bill so toxic it will kill the Democratic Party

or at least their electoral chances. If the public mandates are not striped from this legislation and the burden of reform placed squarely on the shoulders of insurance companies, the Republicans will eviscerate the Dems next election. Baring heavy modification, the bill should be killed outright. Lieberman doesn't care, look at the last election, he'll waltz to the other side of the isle, and laugh his ass off while doing so.

[Owl]

26. He's a schmuck.

[DLnyc]

27. Mr. Liarman is a manipulative slimy little shit.

That's the nicest thing I can think of to say about him.

[COLGATE4]

28. He gives slimy little shits a bad name!

[wildflower]

30. "the federal government was in surplus and paying off the debt, not having increased the debt"

:banghead:

[JDPriestly]

31. Here is how I read Lieberman's conduct.

He doesn't care about the American people or the health care bill.

He cares about getting re-elected to the Senate and keeping the cash from donors flowing his way.

He is also angry at the Democrats who did not support him in the last primary, and he secretly feels closer to Republicans than to Democrats at this point. After all, many liberals are not supporting Israel as he would like them to, and the Republicans are. Never mind that a number of grass-roots Republicans are Christian fundamentalists who would abolish religious freedom if they had a choice.

So, think of it. If he stops the health care bill one way or another he gets this huge payoff.

1) He becomes the hero of the Republican Party. Sooner or later, he will switch to the Republican Party. This stance on health care reform gives him a better if not sure chance to keep his committee chair when he switches.

2) He pleases the big donors in the health care industry or so he thinks. That, he believes, will translate into big bucks for him and his wife.

3) He puts a dagger in the hearts of Obama and the Democrats in Congress, possibly costing them the next election. If the bill is not passed, Obama looks like a loser. If it is passed, the cuts are mostly if not entirely to Medicare, and seniors will be very upset to find that they are being asked to sacrifice the health care they have paid for all their lives in order to fund insurance company profits including the pay-offs to the Liebermans and other conservatives in Congress.

The final outcome: Democrats lose control of the Senate and lose seats in the House in 2010, and Obama, if he is even able to complete his term, is challenged in the primary in 2012 and loses to an extreme right-wing Republican because the Democratic Party is hopelessly split.

That's the scenario we face. President Obama really, really messed this up. He should have read the riot act to Lieberman long ago. Obama should have forced Lieberman out of the party from the get-go.

Remember how cleverly Bush reduced expectations. Obama raised expectations. Unfortunately, Obama has not met those expectations. Obama needs to learn how to reduce expectations. He should tell Lieberman to ship up or ship out. If Lieberman becomes a Republican, we still have the majority in the Senate, and Obama will benefit because expectations will be severely reduced once he no longer appears to have 60 votes.

Now, that's how you play chess.

[Luciferous]

33. Fuck that corporate whore

My husband just got his health insurance enrollment forms for next year. They decreased coverage, increased the monthly premiums, TRIPLED our out of network costs, and put a lifetime cap of $500,000 on the amount they will pay for our entire family. And we should consider ourselves "lucky" because we have insurance :mad:

[JDPriestly]

34. A little tip for those whose premiums go up.

The insurance companies make their profits by "investing" your money in stocks and bonds, etc. When those stocks and bonds are high, they are making money. The insurance companies are just one step away from Wall Street.

They are all in the theft of America -- all together, the banks and the insurance companies.

[martymar64]

35. I don't remember us electing Joe president

Fuck him and let's go to reconciliation already.

[Politicub]

36. I loathe Senator Lieberman

Yes, I loathe him with every fiber of my being. I can't stand to see his face on the TV or on the Internet, and I'm sick of reading about how the HC bill hinges on his whims.

He is worse than a puke. Truly, I don't remember disliking Bush or Cheney as much as I despise Lieberman right now.

And I'm fucking pissed at the people of CT who sent this POS back to congress.

It's less about the HC bill than his smugness that he rubs in everyone's face.

Fuck him. Fuck him and him being "close to supporting reform."

[New Dawn]

38. Fascist Lieberman just wants to force the Fascist "Individual Mandate" on us.

[classysassy]

39. Just because he's Jewish does not make

him a bad human being,regardless of his religion Joe is n asshole.

[Betty]

42. the bill isn't loathesome enough for him yet, but it's getting there

once they make it punishable by death to not have private overpriced shitty insurance that does nothing for you... then he will be ready to support it. Reform means making things even better for the corporations.

[No Elephants]

47. Four words, one comma. Single payer, nuclear option.

Saving the lives of 45,000 Americans a year is worth it, let alone sparing bankruptcies and our ever collapsing economy.

The fillibuster and 60 vote rules give too much power to the minority anyway, and give one single POS like Traitor Joe the ability to thwart the wishes of a majority of Americans. NUKE 'EM.