Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Mr. Green In The Conservatory With The Candlestick

I didn't think there was any Senate Democrat stupid enough to come out and kill Obamacare. But then, Joe F'ckin Lieberman isn't a Dem, technically. He's just an asshole.
Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) said Tuesday that he’d back a GOP filibuster of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s 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 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."

Lieberman added 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."

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.

Lieberman did say he's "strongly inclined" to vote to proceed to the debate, but that he’ll ultimately vote to block a floor vote on the bill if it isn’t changed first.

Your move, Messrs. Reid and Obama. What now?

[UPDATE 3:10 PM] As BTD says, fine then...let's muscle the robust public option through in reconciliation.

[UPDATE 3:52 PM] Marc Ambinder thinks Joementum is bluffing. Steve Benen does not. I'm with Steve. Joementum has screwed America over, and there's frankly not a damn thing Obama will do about it.

[UPDATE 4:47 PM] As expected, Lieberman's move has freed up the Snowe Queen and the other ConservaDems to hold the Reid bill hostage collectively.

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