Posted on 10/27/2009 11:20:31 AM PDT by careyb
Edited on 10/27/2009 11:26:26 AM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) said Tuesday that hed back a GOP filibuster of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reids health care reform bill.
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 Reids 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 dont think we need it now."
Lieberman added that hed 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." .................
He's just showing the Dem leaders the same loyalty they showed him back in '06 :)
Okay, so which Republican will cave to break the filibuster? Snowe? Collins? McCain? Graham? Maybe someone like Voinavich who is retiring and doesn’t have to face the voters?
Get ready because somebody on our side’s going to cave.
At least he is clearing the way for the Republicans to filibuster. I don’t think any of them will go for it.
Don't believe Joe does, either. He's famous for bold talk but folding when the time comes to put up or shut up.
GO JOE LIEBERMAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Behold the endangered species known as an honest Democrat. There are only a handful known to exist in the world.
Bad news for Harry, if he wants to see a doctor for that, hell have to wait 6 months.
Their rules don't apply to THEM, only to US.
If the Senate Dems did this (never happen) Lieberman would just caucus with the GOP and get his committee positions from them.
Good news! He must not be drinking Harry’s kool aid.
Actually, both graham and corynn stated last night on Greta that this op out thing was a Reid PR scam for Moveon.org and Reid does not have the votes.
Lieberman big donors / supporters are all the medical firms and insurance groups located in Conn.
He is not cutting off his K strett buds.
Say what you will about Joe Leiberman. I like the man. He is a good & decent human being.
If you would like to thank Senator Lieberman, you’ll have to write him...his voicemail box is full.
You can write him at:
http://lieberman.senate.gov/contact/index.cfm?regarding=issue
I thanked him for his fiscal responsibility.
Please write him, this position needs to be encouraged, especially because, I suspect, that he is getting a lot of heat for this stand.
Our best bet is to egg on both sides of democrats to hold the line. MSNBC progressives like Schulz and Maddow are actually calling for no reform without the Public Plan (now called the consumer option by Pelosi LOL) We need them again to screw things up.
Prediction: "Reid is just responding to pressure from the progressives running the train to get the Public Plan on the floor" . "When this bill fails (which Reid , Pelosi, Obama know it will) they will tell the progressives they tried but the evil forces : FNC, Health Insurance companies, Doctors, Chamber of Commerce, Glenn Beck, and Rush all played dirty. They will say 'the only way to foil them' is pass a compromise that Sen Snow will vote for(to give cover to moderates) . Maybe the trigger version. They will say 'Only that will foil those evil greedy insurance companies and the rich. We have to pull together and pass something for the team.' This current bill wont pass without Sen Snow cover and thank God she see's through the opt out scam. "
However, I will NEVER forget that he tried to disenfranchise our military in the 2000 election.
It's gonna take a LOT of rights to overcome that wrong.
I would bet that the “opt out” allows states to opt out of participating in the program, but not for paying for it.
Some days I would gladly give up a Rino and take Joe.
“which Reid , Pelosi, Obama know it will”
I don’t think Pelosi “knows” this at all. I think she shares the belief of many progressives that this is really a good idea and that she needs to “force” Senate to “do the right thing.” I think that she fully expects Senators, when jammed into a corner, to choose what’s good for Obama over their own political survival. In this regard, I believe her ideological blinders have made her delusional about political reality.
But whether they do or they don’t behave as she hopes/expects, I think she regards her hands are clean: if Obamacare fails, it will either be because the president was a weenie (unable to arm-twist Senators into doing his bidding the way a “strong” president like LBJ would have done) or Reid was a weenie (unable to do the same). When things hit the fan in November 2010, her take-home lesson will be that Democrats lost power because they lacked boldness, NOT because they were trying to foist on the American public something voters didn’t want.
Go, Nancy, go! Her recalcitrance on this point is our best hope for Obamacare to implode due to dissension among the ranks of Democrats.
I bet that states will be able to “opt out” of this about as easily as they were able to opt out of the Stimulus/Porkulus!
Lieberman is more conservative than many RINO’s.
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