Sharing an email received last night from a friend in Arizona about Massachusetts, Healthcare, and a special High One to Joe Lieberman
Sent: Tuesday, January 19, 2010 10:53 PM
To: Tessa Marquis
Subject: I'm with Stupid
Hi there....Everything's fine healthwise...We haven't lost the house or anything, but I was pacing around the house, ranting ... and thought of you...hee hee.....What the hell were they thinking in MA !!?...Losing that seat was the most irresponsible damn thing I've seen in a long time ... An awful candidate who appeared not to care what happened or that it was a gift bestowed on her or I don't know what...We've been huge Obama supporters and after all these cynical years have definitely given the benefit of a doubt to the congressional Dems, but where were they?...How did the national committees miss this until it was too late?...shit!... I, of course, am one of the millions of uninsurable Americans with a big ol' pre-existing condition ... In our particular case we had insurance for years but in '97, when I was diagnosed with Hep C, one fuck-up at a hospital put through a bill for $380 on the insurance...In the state we were in, they couldn't just drop me, but they could and did double and re-double the rate... We actually paid $1400 per month for just me for some years...Then they raised it to $2400 per month and that was that...In all that time the only bill the insurers paid was that $380...The nature of the disease was that I went for more than 10 years with no real problems other than the occasional blood test...Of course if I now had all the money I paid in premiums.....well.....And as I'm sure you're well aware, there are millions like me and worse....Sooo it really pisses me off when "my guys" pull a bone-headed screw-up like tonight...Thanks for listening...Hope you and yours are happy and well...By the way.....If you should happen to see Joe Leiberman on the street up there---please do something horrible to him----and tell him I sent you........lovetom
Rosa DeLauro isn't pulling any punches. She's quoted in Politico as stating that she believes that Joe Lieberman ought to be recalled:
"No individual should hold health care hostage, including Joe Lieberman, and I'll say it flat out, I think he ought to be recalled," Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) told POLITICO.
John Larson also indicated that he finally "gets it" regarding Lieberman..sort of:
"It goes beyond frustration in Connecticut in terms of the way people feel," Larson said. "I have a great deal of respect and I have long admired Joe Lieberman. This goes against the grain of most of what he's fought for and stood for all of his life. It's thoroughly frustrating and disappointing for so many of us."
Thankfully, Connecticut voters have another chance to do what they should have done three years ago: vote for Ned Lamont, albeit for governor instead of senator. Can you begin to imagine how much better off this country would be today if Ned Lamont were in the United States Senate instead of Joe Lieberman? I hope we don't have to ask ourselves that question about the state of Connecticut three years from now.
A House Democrat from Connecticut said Tuesday that Sen. Joe Lieberman should be recalled from office over his opposition to the Senate health care bill.
"No individual should hold health care hostage, including Joe Lieberman, and I'll say it flat out, I think he ought to be recalled," Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) told POLITICO.
Connecticut has no recall law for state officials, and the Constitution does not authorize states to recall members of Congress since each house has the authority to police its own members.
But DeLauro's comments speak to concerns running through Democratic circles in Connecticut and in Washington after Lieberman exerted his will on Democratic leaders and the White House, saying he would join a GOP filibuster if the bill included either a public insurance option or a provision allowing people aged 55-64 to buy into Medicare.
Now it appears that the leaders will drop those plans to win the support of Lieberman and the rest of the Democratic caucus.
"There's huge concern that borders on frustration," Rep. John Larson (D-Conn.) said of Lieberman's position.
"It goes beyond frustration in Connecticut in terms of the way people feel," Larson said. "I have a great deal of respect and I have long admired Joe Lieberman. This goes against the grain of most of what he's fought for and stood for all of his life. It's thoroughly frustrating and disappointing for so many of us."
SNIP
Wasn't DeLauro's husband a pollster or advisor to Lieberman in 2006? Did he serve Lieberman in the 2006 general election? Can't remember off hand.
As I was looking for something else this morning, I found the following Word file which includes:
> A message sent to the DCCC and DSCC explaining why I support individual candidates, but won't contribute to their "umbrella" fund-raising efforts, AND
> A June '06 letter to Senator Schumer -- written by Robin Winick and me, and read by 31 Connecticut voters who endorsed its contents. It's small consolation that we were so on target. Given Lieberman's continuing outrages, and Ned's possible run for Governor, I thought it would be interesting to see what fell on deaf ears at the time.
The letter also is relevant to this week's close House vote on health care. While Republicans vote in lock step, Blue Dog Democrats continue to thumb their noses at meaningful reform. Why on earth should we support those who ignore their own constitutencies?
And aren't those of us who blog on and read My Left Nutmeg getting tired of the endless copy written about Joe? I apologize in advance for contributing to his obvious hunger for public attention -- however negative. . . .
Nine health care reform activists were arrested this morning while staging a sit-in inside Senator Joseph Lieberman's congressional office in Washington, D.C.
The activists were there representing an organization called Mobilization for Health Care For All.
Explaining their reasons for their actions, student activist Jason Ortiz said, "we staged a sit-in at Senator Lieberman's office this morning in order to ask him to return the $65,000 campaign donation that he recently received from the Aetna health insurance corporation and to ask him to represent the people of Connecticut, not the insurance companies."
The group was also there to protest Senator Lieberman's announcement last week that he will filibuster any health reform bill in the Senate that contains a public option.
In total there were 9 arrests made at approximately 10:15 a.m. EST, Thursday, November 5.
At 9:15 this morning the group requested a meeting with the Senator and refused to leave until they were given a chance to meet with him. They were told by Senator Lieberman's staff that they would not be given a meeting with the Senator, and that if they did not leave they would be arrested. Senator Lieberman's staff subsequently contacted law enforcement, and 9 activists were physically removed from the building and arrested.
Some members of the group went to a meeting of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs (which Senator Lieberman chairs) to stage a protest in the presence of Senator Lieberman. They were asked to leave and did so without incident.
Of those arrested, one, Brittney Florio, is currently a University of Connecticut student, and one, John Mohrbacher, is an alumnus.
For more information, please call Jason Ortiz at (860)639-8101
In stating his opposition to a public health insurance option, Lieberman sounded familiar notes from reform's opponents, calling it a "government entitlement program" that will cost the government more money. Neither assertion is true. The public health insurance plan would be paid into, not subsidized, and as the Congressional Budget Office has repeatedly stated, the plan would reduce both premiums and government costs.
The Wilton, CT Democratic Town Committee tonight unanimously approved a strong Resolution for health care reform with a public insurance option, and urged representatives in Congress to stand with them at every stage of the legislative process.
The Resolution comes on the heels of a contentious public event Sunday, August 30 outside Wilton Town Hall where Congressman Jim Himes -- faced with a group using fear, prejudice and ignorance -- spoke with courage, conviction and intelligence about the need for a public insurance option as part of real health care reform in America.
David Sirota writes on OpenLeft that he got an email written by Lieberman, forwarded to him by a fan that Lieberman still opposes the public option.
Here's what Lieberman said
A broad coalition is needed when addressing an issue as large, and as important for our nation's citizens, as health care reform. While, in general, I would prefer not to see a public plan option because of cost concerns and the possibility that it could potentially prevent the formation of the coalition that will be necessary to pass reform, I am very open to all options that have been laid on the table.
Now as Sirota notes, Lieberman did not say he would vote against a healthcare bill with a public option, so looks like he's got his finger testing the political wind again.
Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) said this weekend that he opposes a public option plan for consumers in a healthcare reform plan to emerge from the Senate.
"I don't favor a public option," Lieberman told Bloomberg News in an interview broadcast this weekend. And I don't favor a public option because I think there's plenty of competition in the private insurance market."
Lieberman's decision joins several other centrist Democrats' decision to have publicly refused to back the plan, derided as a "government-run" plan by Republicans.
SNIP
"We have a unique opportunity, a real opportunity to do this year what we've been trying to do for years, which is to reform American healthcare," Lieberman said. "I think the one thing that will stop that is pressure on the so-called public option."
"Let's get something done instead of having a debate," the Connecticut Independent added.
This decision needs to be turned into a death knell for any re-election attempt Lieberman may have for 2012.
Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) have threatened to halt all business in the Senate until Congress passes their legislation allowing President Barack Obama to suppress photos showing detainee abuse.
"We're not going to do any more business in the Senate," Graham said. "Nothing's going forward until we get this right."
But House Democrats are insisting on hearings before they even consider signing onto the Senate's effort, Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) said Monday night.
The Lieberman-Graham amendment, which would empower the Pentagon to block the photos for up to three years without review, has sharply curtailed House support for the congressional war supplemental, as has an $108 billion line of credit for the International Monetary Fund. The Huffington Post confirmed Monday night that Lieberman-Graham had been removed from the bill in conference. Anti-war Democrats who oppose International Monetary Fund money can compromise on that issue, Frank said. But Lieberman-Graham, which would supersede the Freedom of Information Act, is different.
"I believe it would be possible to get people to switch. I'll switch, others will switch. But not if that FOIA thing is in there," he said. "This is a bill that nobody's had a chance to debate."
The detainee photos bill sailed through the Senate appropriations process with a simple voice vote just before the Memorial Day recess. Frank deemed hypocritical those Senate Republicans who complain that the Democratic majority has flouted typical approval processes.
"I'd like to hear the case why they think it's a problem, I'd like to hear from some opponents," he said regarding the potential release of detainee photos. "This has got nothing to do with the Appropriations budget. The IMF does. The IMF's spending. Whatever happened to procedural regularity?"
SNIP
The people in Iraq already know the brutality that took place in our prisons. The only reason our government doesn't want those photos published is that they want to keep Americans in the dark about the nasty deeds they did in our name and keep the illusion that our military and intelligence services only have our safty in mind. What b.s.!
For your consideration: Lieberman Looks to Make Detainee Photos Indefinitely Secret Sen. Lieberman (I-CT) has submitted an amendment to the Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2009 (S. 2346) which would withhold any “photograph relating to the treatment of individuals engaged, captured, or detained after September 11, 2001, by the Armed Forces of the United States” if the Secretary of Defense certifies that the release of the photos could endanger citizens or the armed forces. This incredibly broad statement could cover photos of all detainees captured in any future actions taken by the U.S. military. If passed, these government records which belong to the people would no longer be available under FOIA ... http://www.ombwatch.org/node/10028 Of course, Joe would have us hide pictures of Katrina victims, Jewish holocaust victims, and deaths in Darfur... or would he? We've really got to reconcile our responses to fear with hate and loathing with how we can once more stand tall in the world's court of public opinion. Nobody said it would be easy.
One other interesting point from Culvahouse's talk: Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, a prominent supporter of McCain's during the campaign, was apparently a serious contender for the vice-presidential nod. But, because Lieberman is not a registered Republican, there would have been legal issues in some states. "Five states have sore loser statutes... [making] it very difficult for someone who's not a member of the Republican Party to become the vice presidential nominee if they only switch parties to become a Republican shortly before the convention," Culvahouse said, according to Politico's Jonathan Martin. "So you were looking at going to the Supreme Court, which is not particularly appetizing."
Just saw his name listed on the Rachel Maddow show along with other conservative Democrats. Lieberman is back to his usual self -- obstruct change in favor of Main Street.
Lieberman, Meet Lieberman By now you know that Avigdor Lieberman, head of the Yisrael Beiteinu party, did in fact play king-maker in the Israeli election and, after much maneuvering, threw his support to Netanyahu which resulted in Bibi being asked to form the Israeli government. (Livni's Kadima courted Lieberman as well and in doing so, lost the support of Labor and Meretz. )
So what's Avigdor's next move? Campaigning for Minister of Foreign Affairs. Step one in that campaign is what Ha'aretz calls a "global charm offensive." This PR effort is aimed at convincing us that, in the words of Daniel Ayalon, Yisrael Beiteinu member and former ambassador to the US, "Lieberman is not a monster."
And guess who is the first US politician to help out this new rebranding effort? None other than our very own Joe Lieberman!
SNIP
Oh boy, we have 2 scumbag Liebermans to deal with now!
Juan Cole thinks that Netanyahu's election could spell the beginning of the end for Israel, if it keeps listing to the right...
Netanyahu has vowed to abandon negotiations with the Palestinians, and says he will expand the program of Israeli colonization of the Palestinian West Bank.
Netanyahu is a train wreck for the Middle East. He is willing to ally with Avigdor Lieberman, an open racist who is gunning for the 20 percent of Israel's citizen population that is Palestinian. Netanyahu wants a war with Iran, and when the Israeli Right wants a war nowadays, they usually want our children to fight and die in it for them. The 1996 "Clean Break" Neoconservative policy paper advocating a war on Iraq was written for Netanyahu. (They are not satisfied with picking our pockets for their weapons and colonization projects). Netanyahu will further oppress and brutalize the Palestinians, which he will keep in a slave-like condition of statelessness, and from whom he will steal what little property they have left. Last time he was in office he went around poisoning his enemies, for all the world like the Bulgarian KGB in the old days.
Netanyahu is the devil's gift to international terrorism, which his policies will provoke. Fifty years from now, the turn of Israel to the hard right will be looked back upon as the beginning of the end of Israel, the time when the crucial decisions were made that rendered it impossible for the Israelis to stay in the Middle East in the face of the increasing popular anger Netanyahu will have provoked in 1.5 billion Muslims. No, Israel cannot be defeated on the battleground. But the French colons in Algeria were never really defeated on the battleground, either, nor were the thousands of Britons who had ruled India.
Bysiewicz and legislative leaders call for special election to fill future U.S. Senate vacancies in Connecticut
By Secretary of the State's Office
Secretary of the State Points to Senate Vacancies in Illinois, New York as Evidence of the Need for Long Overdue Election Reform.
Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz today joined the incoming House Chair of the Government, Administration and Elections Committee, State Representative James Spallone (D-Essex) in calling for the adoption of a law designating a special election to fill any future vacancies in Connecticut's U.S. Senate seats. In the case of a Senate vacancy, current law provides for the governor to appoint a successor to fill out the remainder of a term or until a special election can be called on the date of the next even-numbered general election.
Every few weeks The Day prints a notice on the editorial pages titled "How to contact your elected legislators in Washington." Sen. Joe Lieberman is always listed in the notice as a Democrat.
On Nov. 19 The Day ran a story on Sen. Lieberman in which reporter Ted Mann referred to "Joe Lieberman, D-Conn." And in Morgan McGinley's column last Sunday he also referred to Joe Lieberman as "Connecticut's junior Democratic senator."
Although Joe Lieberman caucuses with Connecticut's Democratic senators, he ran for the Senate as an independent, not a Democrat, and he's not a member of Connecticut's Democratic Party delegation. The least the Day could do is acknowledge this fact and change the (D) after his name to an (I) when doing a story on him.
EDITOR'S NOTE: SEN. JOSEPH LIEBERMAN REMAINS A REGISTERED MEMBER OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY. AS LONG AS SEN. LIEBERMAN IS A REGISTERED DEMOCRAT, THE DAY PLANS TO IDENTIFY HIS PARTY AFFILIATION AS DEMOCRATIC.
The Day newspaper is posing this online question. There are many replies, but for some of you it too may be a place to vent a bit and put in your two cents.
...with a poll in the field this week in Connecticut, we'll soon see how much his embrace of Bush/McCain has affected his job ratings back home. Results due Friday.
And Kos sees that Obama is using the term "compromise". That means that Lieberman can stay in the Dem Caucus but he must give up something in turn. Kos cites a Washinton Post article mentioning a compromise solution.
A possible alternative would be to give Lieberman the chairmanship of the Small Business Committee, which has one of the lowest profiles on Capitol Hill. Its current chairman, Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.), is set to move into a more prestigious chairmanship. Other senior members of the Small Business panel already chair more powerful committees, which would allow Lieberman to become chair if he is removed from his current post.
While that chairmanship would be a step down for Lieberman, he still would receive an annual budget that would allow him to maintain additional staff and would continue to participate in important meetings, such as the weekly gathering of committee chairmen hosted by Reid.
I bet this reporter got a "trial balloon" leaked to him to test the waters.
Kos has a diary, Obama team leaves Lieberman decision up to Reid, that makes me think that Obama and the Senate Dems are using Lieberman as a measuring stick to judge Harry Reid's leadership. If Reid does not punish Lieberman in some significant way, then Reid is basically saying that Democrats can trash Democrats and betray the pary with inpunity. Rewarding treachery by allowing Lieberman to retain his plum committee chair and act like nothing happened sends the signal that Harry Reid is no leader.
Here's the excerpts from linked articles in Kos' diary that make me think Lieberman is really a test for Harry Reid's leadership abilities
Obama's spokesperson
"We aren't going to referee decisions about who should or should not be a committee chair," Obama transition spokesperson Stephanie Cutter emailed me, in response to questions about Obama's stance on Lieberman's future.
here's Hillary Clinton
Two Clinton aides said she is not making calls on Lieberman's behalf. "Hillary isn't doing anything," one said. "She is leaving it up to Reid."
Kos: So Obama's team has left the decision up to Reid. Clinton -- who serves on the steering committee that decides committee leadership -- has left it up to Reid.
It's on Reid's plate. If Lieberman keeps his committee leadership, it'll be Reid's fault. Everyone has dumped the decision on his lap, and it should be an easy enough one to make.
More from Greg Sargent
My take: By taking no position, Obama is in effect throwing the decision over to Senator Harry Reid, making it possible for the Senate to take action against Lieberman. But his statement -- paradoxically -- could also give cover to those who want to do nothing about him, making it easier for him to hang on to the post.
And Jame Hamsher has the key analysis.
One point I think needs to be made. This isn't about Joe Lieberman maintaining membership in a country club as a matter of feel-good "bipartisanship." There's actually a job that needs doing here, and when Chris Dodd and Evan Bayh say that they want Lieberman to retain his chairmanship, they are saying that the extraordinary waste, graft, greed and cronyism that have built the Department of Homeland Security to a bloated, ineffectual taxpayer-funded behemoth under Joe Lieberman is just fine.
A short piece on what is probably motivating Lieberman's desire to hold onto his Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs chairmanship, or any other committee chairmanship for that matter.
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