On Sunday, Senator Joe Lieberman infuriated Democrats by announcing that he would vote against the latest compromise health care legislation, despite the fact that during the delicate crafting of the compromise he had told them he would support it. His stated reason? The compromise would allow people starting at age 55 to purchase health insurance from Medicare, which Lieberman said he could not support.
But a video turned up of Lieberman not only endorsing expanding Medicare to people over the age of 50, but trying to take credit for it as his own idea: “What I was proposing was that they have an option to buy into Medicare early.”
When confronted with the video, taken only three months ago, Lieberman replied that he did not dispute that he once supported the idea but said he did not recall having done so, or the context, until Mr. Reid’s office confronted him about it.
So why did Lieberman do such a complete flip-flop? According to the NY Times:
Mr. Lieberman could not be happier. He is right where he wants to be — at the center of the political aisle, the center of the Democrats’ efforts to win 60 votes for their sweeping health care legislation. For the moment, he is at the center of everything — and he loves it.
Indeed, in an interview yesterday, Lieberman flashed a broad grin, saying “My wife said to me, ‘Why do you always end up being the point person here?’” It is worth noting that his wife is a former pharmaceutical company executive. And during his 2006 Senate reelection campaign, Lieberman received the second highest amount of campaign contributions from the health insurance industry in the Senate.
3 Comments
When reading or studying the history of the holocaust, I could never understand how some people could collaborate with the Nazi’s to the detriment and torment of their own people. These self serving types of people in our world neither build or destroy, they set back waiting to be the decider so they can fill their pockets no matter what happens. I say those that stand firm for an ideal, are the American hero’s. Those like Joe Lieberman’s will never be.
We are witnessing the balance shift in the scales of Democracy, set by Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence, from the power of government being held by ‘we the people’ where ‘all men are created equal’ back to The Divine Right of Kings where the wealthy and powerful run the country. Keep notes so you get it right when your grandchildren ask you what happened to America.
There is a lot of talk about how this is Lieberman’s retribution on Kos and Firedog Lake for 2006. Don’t sell Joe short, he is most likely holding a grudge for the Democrats not adopting him as the natural heir for the 2004 nomination.