Joe Lieberman is the quintessential sensible liberal. Politico and others reported yesterday:
Lieberman, who caucuses with Democrats and is positioning himself as a fiscal hawk on the issue, said he opposes any health care bill that includes a government-run insurance program — even if it includes a provision allowing states to opt out of the program, as Reid has said the Senate bill will.
“We’re trying to do too much at once,” Lieberman said. “To put this government-created insurance company on top of everything else is just asking for trouble for the taxpayers, for the premium payers and for the national debt. I don’t think we need it now.”
Asked about Lieberman’s threat to filibuster a final vote on the Reid plan, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said: “I haven’t seen the report from Sen. Lieberman or why he’s saying what he’s saying. I think Democrats and Republicans alike will be held accountable by their constituents who want to see health care reform enacted this year.”
Lieberman said that he’d vote against a public option plan “even with an opt-out because it still creates a whole new government entitlement program for which taxpayers will be on the line.”
And here’s an interesting little tidbit:
His comments confirmed that Reid is short of the 60 votes needed to advance the bill out of the Senate, even after Reid included the opt-out provision. Several other moderate Democrats expressed skepticism at the proposal as well, but most of the wavering Democratic senators did not go as far as Lieberman Tuesday, saying they were waiting to see the details.
This just underscores what conservative pundits (e.g., here) have been pointing out for months: It’s not the GOP would put the nail in the coffin of ObamaCare; it’s moderate Democrats! Even the NY Times can’t ignore this inconvenient truth this morning.
Ever since Lieberman sided with George W. Bush on Iraq, my lib-Dem friends and relatives have been calling him “crazy.” (That’s what lefties seem to call their opponents when they run out of other names. Sarah Palin, according to many, was “crazy” too.) Yet this is the party that threw Lieberman under the bus, while embracing megalomaniacal totalitalitarians like Barney Frank, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and President Hope&Change (not to mention Arlen Specter!)
Speaking of crazy, Meir Finkelstein at NewsBusters reports that Keith Olbermann accused Lieberman of being on the take from insurance companies in his state, and that’s why he’s threatening to block Reid’s irreproachable plan. OK, Keith, now how do you explain all the other Democrats’ opposition?
Keep speaking truth to Democrat power, Mr. Lieberman. I don’t agree with you on everything, but I agree with you on this.
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