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Backstabber.
The Web site for the award-winning alternative weekly, the Philadelphia City Paper.
Backstabber.
So Joseph Lieberman (Connecticut for Lieberman, Conn. — seriously) has decided that this compromise of a compromise of a compromise of a public option will not be suiting him, no sir. Even though he supported this exact same goddamn thing just a few months ago, as an alternative to a real public option. Check it:
In the vid, Lieberman appeared to go further than the current Senate deal, which would expand Medicare to those aged 55-64, saying he supported the idea of expanding it to people aged 50 and over. Lieberman referenced his proposal along these lines during the 2006 campaign, and added:
"My proposals were to basically expand the existing successful public health insurance programs Medicare and Medicaidâ¦
"When it came to Medicare I was very focused on a group — post 50, maybe more like post 55. People who have retired early, or unfortunately have been laid off early, who lose their health insurance and theyâre too young to qualify for Medicare.
"What I was proposing was that they have an option to buy into Medicare early and again on the premise that that would be less expensive than the enormous cost. If youâre 55 or 60 and youâre without health insurance and you go in to try to buy it, because youâre older ⦠youâre rated as a risk so you pay a lot of money.â
And even though he stumped for it in 2000, as a veep candidate. And even though, a week ago, he told Democratic senators that he supported it. And even though this plan, milquetoast as it is, has yet to be scored by the CBO. And even though Lieberman promised his constituents in 2006 that he would fully support the Democratsâ universal health care agenda And even though Lieberman has been caught lying about how much the various health plans would cost.
This is, as columnist David Faris pointed out last week, the sad state of affairs in which we find ourselves, in which one petty man with a grudge against the progressives who nearly threw his ass out on the street a few years back can derail the reform that millions of Americans have sought for decades, to settle a score. It's bad enough that the White House has to grovel before the likes of Olivia Snowe to nudge the ball forward; itâs worse that this sniveling prick, this unprincipled wretch of a human being, will probably get what he wants.
The White House doesnât seem to have much of an appetite to use reconciliation to get health care reform through the Senate. And efforts to ameliorate the role of the filibuster havenât gathered much steam (although, Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa is toying with the idea of eliminating it altogether, which seems like a better idea before you consider the words "President Sarah Palinâ ⦠shudder).
So now what? I'd love to see the Dems boot this little leech from their caucus, strip him of all his seniority and committees and make him run as a Republican in 2012 after a few years as a nothing backbencher in the Senate. Itâs high time to kneecap the bully. But I donât get the feeling that dish is on the menu.
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