i think they ought to put Joey Lieberman in a giant tupperware -- let him hang out in the Clown Car Senate, but just keep him air-tight away from the other 99 clowns...he is such a vile, traitorous man.

Lieberman is fuelled entirely by vanity, resentment, and bitterness. There's never been anything good about him -- he ran to the right of Lowell Weicker when he was elected to the Senate. He was also the worst mistake Gore ever made.

This is very good article and very precise and
informative. I am waiting for your coming article.
Keep your good work up.

If the Israeli secret service can be persuaded joe lieberman is an American state secret , will they steal him ?

I wonder if Olympia is willing to vote for Medicare and Medicaid expansion.

Knife with hair on it neuters Senate squirrels again...

This has become painfully fun to watch:

How many of Joe's insults can the Senate leadership stomach before they strip him of his Chair and give it to a real party member?

"But they agreed to show up, engage in good-faith talks, search for common ground, and work on a solution".

This is where you and I will always differ. Republicans NEVER negotiate in good faith. Never, under any circumstance.

I stand corrected. Apparently there are no republicans among the ten senators you cited. For a minute there, I thought you had lost your mind.

Okay - I'm up here in Massachusetts; a hop, skip, and few turnpikes to Connecticut. I just HAVE to go down there to see what the voters just think of this man.

Sure (putting aside the finer details that United States is not a pure democracy) - if he is expressing their will, has their confidence - fine then. Yet, I suspect...

Man o' man.

Joe Lieberman is bought and paid for by the insurance companies. He is a disgrace. Stripping him of his chairmanship is long overdue.

Joe Lieberman will officially begin his insurance/pharma lobbying career in January 2013. Unofficially, he's already started it. Everything -- EVERYTHING -- he does between now and then is a big wet kiss for the signers of his future paychecks and a big fuck you to the Democrats he thinks have betrayed him.

It's that simple.

His wife is alrady a Health Industry lobbyist.
Why does no one mention this?

Lieberman decided not to show up. Roll Call reports that the Connecticut senator just doesn't want to get in the game.

Maybe Joe thought that it might be kind of more difficult for him to make whatever was his current monthly argument to his colleagues, who might be inclined to point out its inconsistencies right away, rather than pliant reporters, who dutifully stenograph every word of Joe's sacred wisdom?

Personally I think Lieberman still believes he belongs in the White House and is aiding in blocking Obama's agenda because he thinks that will help his prospects for 2012, maybe not as Prez but maybe a real VP chance...

To see what Joe Lieberman is up to these days is to remind me of the vice-presidential candidates the last three elections:

2000 -- Joe Lieberman and Dick Cheney
2004 -- John Edwards and Dick Cheney
2008 -- Joe Biden and Sarah Palin

What a contrast between Biden and the rest. No wonder the GOP, abetted by cable news, tries to make Biden a laughingstock. The Karl Rove playbook says go after the enemy's strength.

When does Harry Reid kick this piece of s#$% out on his ass and hand him over to the Republics? This mofo should not be a chair of any f#$%ing committee under a Dem. majority. We all need to be sending him that GoJo stuff.

Traitor Joe strikes again. After Healthcare is done, it is time to strip him

"Lieberman's office said Monday that the self-described Independent Democrat has not attended in person because he feels he has been unambiguous about where he stands."

This is pretty funny given the ever-shifting sands of his reasoning for WHY he stands where he "unambiguously" stands -- opposed to a public option. Not good at linking, but I will say this has been reported in depth at Talking Points Memo, where I suspect everyone here goes, too.

But on the bigger point, why HIS position is what's important rather than working to achieve a compromise, it is quite telling of how hubristic this twerp is. The only silver lining to the Supreme Court seating President Bush is that the country missed have this un-mensch a heart-beat away from the Presidency.

From Aetna to Joe Lieberman:

Here is a note granting you permission to attend these meetings on a public "plan".

Included is $1000 to cover traveling expenses.

Aetna President

What should be done to Joe cannot be done while he is a senator

I don't know anything, but I assume that Lieberman is absent because he doesn't want to share the limelight. My guess as to how it plays out is that progressives give up practically everything to get to agreement in the TEam of 9 team players and then that becomes the left more bargaining position in negotiations with Lieberman.

I think he want to be the 60th Senator to say yes.

Now it is also true that he doesn't have any coherent arguments against the public option and he knows it. Give and take is related to debate (I mean a bit of debate can't be avoided when negotiating no matter how diplomatic one is). I'm sure he knows he would humiliate himself if he has to pretend to try to convince rather than just saying no.

"...there is growing talk that the 60th vote..." Steve Benen.

It's about time we faced reality here; there will be no "60th" vote if the HCR legislation includes any viable public option or anything that even remotely accomplishes what the public option will. Reid's present options are simple: include public option and lose two, three or more Senators. Dump the public option and lose the next two or three elections.
Had the Senate and House leadership started with single payer, they might have been able to avoid this; unfortunately we'll never know. Now their best (only?) hope is to split the HCR legislation into two bills; one financial bill to go via reconciliation and one dealing with any other aspects of HCR that would take the usual legislative route.
There financial bill would naturally include the public option and the mandates, because of their accompanying subsidies. And, as many of the private policies will be purchased with subsidised funds, there is no reason not to also include the prevention of recissions, the removal of lifetime caps and cancellations.
Oh, and the effective dates for implementation need to be within 90 days of the President's signature. Allow Senator to vote against the legislation once it has reached the Senate floor, but require a yes vote for it to reach that point. The latter would be the hardest, but it's the only hope left.
I only hope I'm wrong...

of course Joe Lieberman sold us out again.It was a big act telling the american people that he was not going to vote for the health plan.Time for some new politicians.