Goodby Joe, you gotta go, me-oh-my-oh
Or...Benedict Arnold Lieberman.
A filibuster is a long-winded speech in Congress...a tactic used to stall or kill legislation that's up for a vote. Sen. Strom Thurmond (D/R-SC) holds the record, filibustering for 24 hours and 18 min. against the Civil Rights Act of 1957....though the bill eventually passed.
This week Sen. Joe Lieberman, the Independent/Democrat from CT, told reporters that if a public health insurance option was in the final health care bill, he would join a GOP filibuster to prevent it from getting an up or down vote.
But back in 1994, Joe called the filibuster a menace. He called it "a dinosaur" and said it was "a symbol of a lot that ails Washington today." He said "Senate obstructionism" had gone too far...and actually took action to kill the filibuster once and for all.
"[People] are fed up -- frustrated .. and angry about the way in which our government does not work, about the way in which we come down here and get into a lot of political games and seem to -- partisan tugs of war and forget why we're here, which is to serve the American people. And I think the filibuster has become not only in reality an obstacle to accomplishment here, but it also a symbol of a lot that ails Washington today. [..]"
But now Lieberman threatens to join Republicans in a filibuster against an important once-in-a-lifetime healthcare reform bill, because it has a public option...which would allow some Americans to choose between competing public and private health insurance plans.
Someone needs to remind Joe of his previous positions on healthcare....how Joe campaigned in 2004. He proposed expanding government-run health care programs for the young, extending it up to age 25...and the creation of a plan modeled after the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program...which would create a competitive, organized marketplace.
Wonder what happened to the Lieberman of 1994 and 2004? A heavy concentration of the health insurance industry in Connecticut...who might have him in their pockets?
We mustn't forget now, after the '08 election -- after Joe had campaigned for McCain and Obama forgave him -- Joe gave a little speech about how he prefers to look forward, not back.
I guess because it solves the hypocrisy problem for him.
