The state-based progressive blogs are weighing in on Joe Lieberman’s filibuster threat, as well as on the “opt-out,” and overall it’s not pretty. Here’s a short sampling:
*In Connecticut, My Left Nutmeg says that Lieberman’s move ” is the clearest signal yet that he is strongly considering retirement in 2012,” given that “[it] would be political suicide in Connecticut to be seen as the Senator who killed health care reform.”
*Blue Virginia says that “this is where appeasement gets you,” that doing so “got us absolutely nothing, except what Joe Lieberman always does – betrays Democratic principles and stabs the party in the back.”
*Blogging for Michigan’s writes about how the opt-out will put “the public option choice will literally be in the hands of lawmakers who don’t care about us.”
*The Pennsylvania Progressive says that the opt-out “decidedly weakens an already weak bill” and that “[a]llowing individual states to opt out will hurt millions of Americans.”
*Missouri’s Show Me Progress “made some inquiries around the state legislature about the likelihood of Missouri opting out” and concluded that “the odds are relatively good that Missouri would stay in the public option system if an opt out bill needed to be passed through the statehouse.”
*On a more positive note, Loaded Orygun praises Sen. Jeff Merkley for being “a very strong supporter of the PO, and [who] helped put together the HELP Committee version of the bill that will be supplying much of the terms for the Senate configuration of it.”
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Certainly, Lieberman ought to be thrown out of the caucus. However, it’s really no problem for the Democrats. They can use reconciliation, or even “the nuclear option” to get a bill with a very strong PO passed, stronger than Reid’s, without the opt-out. If they don’t do that, they’re accountable, including Joe of course, but all the rest of them, and Harry Reid, as well.
The only good thing about this is that we have Lieberman to kick around again.
Did anyone see Chris Matthews tonite? What a twit. The Republicrats just won’t stop. I loved Marjorie Medvinsky getting her shot in.
Which I think we should use often starting right now. He has now tied himself to health care and that’s been our main interest for months. We can go after him every time health care is mentioned.
Any instant polls of Holy Joe’s voters? I want Joe to try to argue that he is expressing the will of his voters his state is not Red or even Purple.
On the surface, I think My Left Nutmeg is right. Lieberman knows he isn’t going to get re-elected, so he’s lining up his next job. He’s going to do a Tauzin.
But it might backfire on him. What good is he going to be as a lobbyist unless the Republicans ever get back in control? I mean, the Dems must hate this guy by now.
If I were a corporation, Joe Lieberman is the last guy on earth I’d want Congress to associate with my company/industry.
That.Was.Great.
Jane did some of her best and funniest writing on Joe this should be good.
A robust PO would be better.
Watched 10 minutes and shut it off .
Twit isn’t strong enough, asshole may be more appropriate
Oh, and thank you Lowell – we haven’t met.
Every single district in the state of Ct is solidly blue
Let’s not count our chickenpox …
Karl Rove’s $20 million investment in Lieberman’s 2004 “independent” campaign while cutting the republican candidate’s throat was a six year lease with a six year option.
Lieberman will continue to serve his investor until someone shows him the door.
True
Jane’s on Rachel tonight
Well, Himes, who defeated Shays, is a Goldman Sachs alum. Need I say more? Well, yes. Let me add that the last thing the Ds need is GS connections.
with top billing.
That is the kind of facts we need mentioned Holy Joe is not in the Center he is to the Right of his state his voters do not want this!
Holy Joe is to the Right of Missouri? Holy Frak anymore Right and Joe will start talking about the Master Race needing healthcare and how the rest of us Plebes can just suffer.
Thanks for the heads up
I guess my initial take is that Lieberman is expressing the White House’s view on the public option, which is that a health care reform bill should pass with an illusory trigger linked to a public insurance option that would have no viability if triggered. But, then again, I have become a cynic when it comes to health care reform and this administration.
I believe it was someone on MSNBC who said that Democrats should have known when they voted for him in November that Obama was a serial compromiser. All I know is I never saw the slogan “A Fierce Advocate for Preemptive Compromise” at any time during the campaign.
Wasn’t Holy Joe was Obama’s mentor in the Senate? I rest my case.
I agree that O & Lieberman are hand in glove.
I’ll repeat:
Lieberman isn’t gonna do a goddamned thing all by himself. There will be no 59-41 vote caused by Lieberman – doesn’t have the balls.
What is more problematic is w/n he’s putting together some sort of agreement with Nelson, Bayh, Landrieu, and/or Lincoln.
He, if he takes a “stand” here, might get a job as a lobbyist. But since the stench of Lieberman would be too much for the elected members of either party to stand, that job won’t last long.
A traitor is a traitor – a skunk is a skunk, and no one wants to hang around with or be seen with either.
Lieberman will be 68 in Feb ‘10.
His shelf life as a Senator, I have to believe, is done.
So, he’s AIPAC lobby bound.
But how much can he DO for AIPAC?
And how much can he DO at his age?
In regards to any comments about states actually GOING for the opt out, their people, in the REDDEST of states, who need reform the most, would HANG any politician or elected official to opt out, so that’s a dog that won’t hunt. NO ONE STATE will opt out, not for ANY reasons.
What us progs and libs need to worry about is whether this PO that we end UP with, has power and strength to compete with private insurers, starts in 2010, and covers enough of a pool of uninsured to FORCE competition on the private insurers.
And, we should be real concerned that ALL of us, can opt IN to the public government run plan, if we don’t like our present coverage from our jobs. And, mandates MUST include government subsidy to cover 100% of those at 400% above poverty level, and those unemployed!!!! If you are unemployed, you can’t afford even $100 a month, much less $2-300 a month for coverage.
But worrying that states will opt out, once a PO is passed, signed and implemented? That’s a false fear. We should be HAMMERING that point to left, middle and right all day long. And we should be hammering the MSM on that point, that states opting out is a joke of a fallacy of a worry for ANYone to consider.
On we trudge, on we hope.
But PLEASE folks, don’t feed the false fear of a state opting out.
Never. Gonna. Happen.
Look how far she’s come!
Rachel’s up!
Tell Joe no vote for healthcare aid to Israel gone thanks to Bush we can’t afford it. Personally I think all foreign aid should be cut even food aid after all didn’t Saddam sell the food we gave him and bought weapons?
How many countries in South America get aid and kill their own people?
Think about the peace process if Israel knows that Obama will veto their aid and that given America’s economy fighting for foreign aid could cost Israel friends I think we can get Israel to finally agree to a fair peace.
Any Pups know about any live feed of Rachel’s Show from MSNBC on the toobz? We don’t have cable.
My understanding is, I have to wait till about 9pm Left Coast time for it to be loaded up?
Thanks in advance.
Harry: “Hey Joe, see that seat in the back there, right behind Franken?”
Lieberman: “um – yeah.”
Harry: “Guess what – that’s your new seat !!”
Liebrman: *gulp*
Harry: “And that gavel in your hands – that belongs to me, motherfucker. Hand it over.”
Lieberman: “But, but….
Harry: “Eat shit and die, Joe. Have a nice day.”
It’s good to have dreams, huh . . .*G*
Man do I wish it were so scripted as you put it . . . . *G*
Shhhh, everybody – Jane’s on with Rachel!
Hmmm, there is silence? Everybody catch Jane?
I love that she dared Blanche Lincoln to filibuster. Call out the Blue Dogs! More! More!
does Israel have a functional healthcare system, anyone know?
To Larue
Try: http://wwitv.com/tv_stream/b2714.asx
The important thing here though is still the Democrats, NOT LIEberman. If LIEberman isn’t going to support them on procedural votes and therefore does kill reform or meaningful reform, the D’s need to take his gavel, take his committee seats, and let him go on over to the R’s. They NEED to do this for political cover. They can then look at the public and say, “See, it failed because the REPUBLICANS blocked it.” If they let LIEberman remain in essence a D by keeping his chairmanship, then the public can say, “Huh, Democrats had a filibuster proof majority and still couldn’t get it done.”
The question is, will the Democrats show some spine?
And then go to conciliation!
Well, Joe doesn’t like the president. If Obama needs to make the sale its not going to be pretty.
Excellent appearence on Maddow by Jane.
I loved the explicit dare, and the host of facts & evidence in the implicit dares.
Its great to see people lay it out in shades of gray and 3D+. I especially liked the historic note, and that Joe often breaks filly-busters and then votes No anyway. There were a few more angles to hit him on, some that you got, and I am sure the rest if there was time.
Here’s hoping fact peddlers, and honest cause people get on that there TV some more. Fact peddlers and not Fox peddlers.
she convinced me to finally open an account. i m cheating on huff, but i dont think that relationship is going to last.
I still say no way Lieberman has the balls to do it alone. But if, one way or another, Lieberman votes with the R’s – I agree – cut his ass loose immediately.
Loudly.
Loudly enough to be heard in Arkansas, Nebraska, and Louisiana.
Listening, kids?
Oh, and the tie of Joe so explicitly to Reid (”I trust Joe”… Harry) and Obama was gold.
Israel has a government funded universal healthcare system.
Someone should ask Joe why he votes to fund Israel’s healthcare system, but will not vote for the same system in America?
Is Liarman going to retire to Israel? They already have one but compared to ours he is a lefty.
LindaR, I so agree with you but then again, I don’t see how these insurance companies continue to survive.
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I just watched Jane on Rachel Maddow show and she is the one who prompted me to join firedoglake although there isn’t much that I can do to help the cause. But I am in the fight for tha long haul.
Joe lieberman looks like he has one foot on the grave and the other foot on a bananna peel. But inferemce from an average citizen like me seems to belive he sides with the Hartford Insurance which is the worst company that I ever delt with.
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“Hartford Insurance Company Sucks says I”. They all suck IMHO
I guess the only other thing that needs to be explicit each time is the moral argument… who do these people “represent”? I trust Joe as well…to support himself and his corps.
Some of these crooks are so clear in their lack of interest in the ideals & needs of the people in the states and/or districts they represent.
I am sorry that some health insurance people will lose their jobs, I really am. But people doing what seemed to have been productive work have been losing their jobs for a long time.
I hope Obama starts to make more clear some of the opportunity costs were are losing. Think of the cash that could go into more productive things than:
- paper wealth transfer (HIC, much of “Wall street”)
- MIC (surely we can afford a modest scaleback? Perhaps 1 or 2 of the 800 bases)
- Energy (who killed that electric car?)
- Cigs and alcho
As someone said the other day – perhaps some of these geniuses will go into making real business and not all end up on wallstreet flipping Trillions back and fourth (and skimming). They should be flipping burgers.
Like many businesses cutting costs by eliminating benefits, perhaps it is time for the U.S. to do the same. The repubs should go along since they are so fiscally responsible. We could start by dropping health care and pension benefits for members of congress. That should save a few
billion. Then we close Quantanamo tomorrow. Bring home all the troops from the middle east. Could probably save trillions there. It all fits right into the repub game plan. Then maybe we can have universal health care.
Is it significant that he named his party Connecticut for lieberman and not lieberman for Connecticut.
someone should ask him that question: why is government healthcare OK for Israel but not for Connecticutans? And would he advocate the privatization of Israeli care on the American model?
LIEberman?
He’s just making noise for United Aircraft’s fighter cancellation.
The AR lady will probably cave when she sees the polls at home on her.
Evan Byah is the one who will trip the wire.
I hope the progessives stand their ground. If the Blue Dogs want to join the repub filibuster, fine. But up the anty. Make it the most widely televised political event ever show on C-Span & the cable networks. A virtual 24/7 viewer marathon. Zoom in for closeups of Bayh, Nelson, Landrieu, Liebermann, etc. Make sure to have a huge digital counter going in the background indicating how many uninsured Americans died during each of their filibuster speeches. Oh, and it goes without saying to kick Liebermann’s worthless ass out of the Democratic caucus and strip him of any position of power.
None of this matters. The “public option” isn’t tied to Medicare rates, won’t be cheap, and hardly anyone will be eligible to get it. Meanwhile, everyone else will be forced to buy crappy insurance from the evil bastards of the medical-industrial complex.
Given the context and the facts, I hope Lieberman, Bayh, and others DO derail the bill. No bill at all is better than fake health reform, so I for one won’t waste a scintilla of anguish over filibusters and the like. UNLESS, that is, the awful mess that the Democrats are about to push onto the American people looks like it’s a winner.
This is the only developed nation in the entire world where you can be driven to bankruptcy as a result of getting sick. The ONLY ONE. This hasn’t been addressed, so to hell with the legislation.
Let us not forget that Joe is in the position now to blackmail and possibly destroy the Dems chances in 2010 only because Obama helped him to win in 06, and those a**holes in the senate welcomed him back with open arms.If someone gave Joe a set of balls he wouldn’t know what they were or what to do with them. His next gig in four years from now will be collecting a million dollar salary from some insurance company. Joe can now sit back and laugh at his constituency and his esteemed colleagues in the senate and White House.
A couple of months ago Frank Rich asked the question in his NYT article referring to Obama, Have we been Punked? It sure looks that way Rich.
but they voted for a republican?
Joe ain’t all bad.