So, at the risk of insulting five-year-olds everywhere, we're supposed to believe he's doing this because he's acting like a five-year-old? Yeah, that's classy, Senator!

Isn't this the most obvious explanation? It took Peter Beinart to come up with this?

Argh! Just...argh! I dislike Joe Lieberman intensely and can't wait for the day that he's booted out of the Senate, but can we stop with the mind-reading and over-dramatizing? It's not a soap opera, and it's no better than the kind of dumb-ass thing that the Glenn Becks of the world do. Joe Lieberman's a jerk and a grandstanding fool, but he's also, as he's demonstrated, a pretty canny, pretty savvy politician. In 2006, when he needed to pick off enough Democrats to win, he tacked to the left. He's looking at the landscape in Connecticut and realized (or at least surmised) that his path to remaining a Senator goes through the conservative Dems and the moderate Republicans in Connecticut. He can't swing to the left, because the Dems are sure to field someone to his left. He can only swing to the right and keep the field clear of a "real" Republican. He's looking to build the same kind of coalition he built in '06 and needs more red meat for the Republican base. That's why he's not going in for the "death panel" nonsense, but the reasonable sounding "let business take care of it" tact. And he's got the Democrats in a bind because of it.

What Obama should do is offer him the ambassadorship to Israel or some other post, get him to retire from the Senate, but maintain his prestige.

But, please, guys, for my sake, stop with the augury. It's not doing anyone any good.

It's a little hard to believe that a man with the strong religious and ethical beliefs of Senator Quisling would abandon his principles just because he thinks the Democrats abandoned him in 2006. More likely, he just didn't have much in the way of principles to begin with.

After all, if he'd been acting like a Democrat, Connecticut's Democrats probably would have supported him in that primary. But he wasn't, so they didn't.

Either way, Lieberman is a putz. Something we might have suspected in '00, got pretty sure about it by '04 and had firmly confirmed by '06. The '08 highjinks were extra. It's too bad that it took the "leadership" this long to take the measure of the SOB (no real offence to his mother). Or, perhaps... they like him the way he is.

Lieberman was always this man. A lot of you pretended not to see it because you liked the way he punched hippies, but he has always been a petty, craven scumbag.

Maybe Lieberman is planning for a senate loss next time around.

His prospective career is as a right wing speaker/pundit/wise man, so he needs to brush up his credentials and get himself some insurance industry consultancies so he remains important when he is no longer a senator.

Why is Beinart ignoring the fact that Lieberman's wife has been a big-time lobbyist for big pharma and healthcare insurance companies for years?

Or, maybe, like his pal John McCain, he's entered the twilight world of Grandpa Simpson. . .

"Lieberman may simply be "in hock to insurance companies," some of which are located in Connecticut."

Cigna, for one

I'm with J.

Lieberman is acting like a republican because that's the only way he gets re-elected--with republican votes.

No need to posit some kind of moralist melodrama (although it sure does seem to make folks feel better about disliking the senator everyone loves to hate)

Good god, who gives a flying crap? Why do you continue to destroy perfectly good electrons attempting to decipher this miscreant? Write him off already and be done with it!

I give a crap. I give a crap for all those who will suffer and die, just so Joe Lieberman can live out his little revenge fantasy. He is (or Benen may think, has become) a terrible small-minded man whose foolishness does nothing more than hurt those who are disadvantaged. He is a character with no character.

That people should die for his tantrums is perfectly acceptable from his point of view. As a man who cares for others, I find him an insult. All humanity should find the likes of Joe Lieberman an insult, and would, if there were not so many others like him.

Been saying this for weeks over at Open Left -- The biggest public option supporters are Lieberman's biggest persecutors, the lefty bloggers, Firedoglake and Jane Hamsher, Daily Kos etc. Does anyone really think Joe is going to be the deciding vote to give his mortal enemies a huge victory?

This isn't just general bitterness -- this is an opportunity for direct payback.

"Does anyone really think Joe is going to be the deciding vote to give his mortal enemies a huge victory?"

But we wouldn't BE his mortal enemies if he wasn't doing stuff like this!

My own thought has been that he is suffering from a brain tumor.

Yeah, yeah, and Saruman was a white wizard before he started breeding Orcs. So what?

The fact remains that, whatever his motivation, Joe Lieberman now stands as a key opponent of progressive causes of all kinds, and he should be stripped of any authority granted him by his "caucusing" with the Democrats.

The Democratic leadership would find themselves in a better place if they just counted on Lieberman to vote GOP and stop courting him so much to keep him in the caucus. I'm guessing Snowe is a more "gettable" vote than Lieberman at this point. That statement is not just about health care reform, either.

And if/when he votes to filibuster health care reform, don't stop at removing his committee gavel. Take away all of his committee assignments altogether. Cut off his access and his perks. Give him his new office between the utility closet and the men's room. Sure, that will force him to caucus with the GOP, but what's the net effect of that at this point?

I personally think LIEberman had a lot to do with Gore losing the election on '00.
As awful as it sounds, he's aJew and people from the south aren't huge fans of Jews. Gore didn't even carry his own state.
I think the election would not have been as close as it was if LIEberman were not on the ticket, and of course Gore's victory would have been too large to be susceptible to fraud as it turned out to be.

"Alex, I'll take Bitter Old White Guys for $200."
"Despite being better off than most Americans, this old white guy is bitter because he lost the Presidential campaign in 2008."
"Who is John McCain?"
"Correct!"
"I'll take Bitter Old White Guys for $300."
"Despite being better off than most Americans, this old white guy is bitter because he lost his party's Presidential nomination in 2004."
"Who is Joe Lieberman?"
"Correct!"

"small" and "petty" are words that are usually used to describe a Putz. For those who don't do Yiddish, that means "a penis that thinks it's a person."

I think that describes Kapo Joe to a T. I'm sure all the other Kapos who preceded him in selling out their people to the enemy had good personal reasons for doing so.

But it still comes down one word that really describes this worthless piece of shit:

TRAITOR.

Keeping bad company isn't the only explanation.

Could it be that Lieberman is DOING EXACTLY WHAT THE WH WANTS HIM TO DO...killing the PO. Forcing the senate to accept what the WH wanted all along...the "trigger" option...Rahm Obama bargained away the PO for campaign money from Private ins going to the dem party (especially Blue Dogs) and are exchanging Lieberman's vote for Snowe's vote to get a PO with a trigger...which is no PO at all...exactly what the WH and president Rahm Obama pushed for all along. Why would they support a "trigger" option to begin with when they knew all along that it's the same as having no PO at all.

Lieberman has done this type of bidding for the president before...he got the torture photos stopped from ever being released via FOIA by tacking it onto a another bill...something Obama could not get done through the courts.

Good rule of thumb...if Lieberman, McCain or Graham have anything to do with it...it's F*#ked.
They only care about themselves and keeping power.

Lieberman has been a moralistic, petty scold for 20 years -- how come you've only just noticed?

When Lieberman was Al Gore's Vice-Presidential running mate, he was also running for re-election to the Senate. To make sure that he wouldn't be out of a job if the Democrats lost the big race, he kept his name on the ballot for the Senate seat.
If Gore had been elected, Connecticut's Republican Governor and recent jailbird, John Rowland would have made the appointment of the new Senator to replace Joe if Joe won that election too. Joe was re-elected to the Senate without having to do any real campaigning. What a shock 2006 must have been for him.
So much for party loyalty.
oldswede

Nice theory. Whatever his past virtues, Joe Lieberman is now for sale to the highest bidder,

Why does he hate Democrats so much? As a standard-bearing Dem, he was a weak has-been.

But as a nimble, grinning Judas, he's now INfamous. And I guess that's better than nothing.

And he should die.

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