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At Least Pretend You Know What You're Talking About, Lieberman.
Sen. Joe Lieberman has announced his intention to join the Republicans in filibustering any health-care bill that includes a public insurance option. Why, you might ask?
"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."
A public insurance option will make health-care reform cheaper. It is less expensive. It's not even a proper entitlement! The only people who stand to lose money on the proposition are insurance companies, who would lose their monopoly status and be forced into actual competition. That Lieberman would stand up and claim to be acting in a fiscally responsible manner is simply intellectually dishonest. Lieberman represents many insurance companies in Connecticut, who have funded him very well in the past. Hey, maybe he's not just schilling for the insurance industry, but the fact that he can't come up with a coherent reason for his opposition doesn't help him make the case that he has any principles whatsoever.
-- Tim Fernholz
COMMENTS (10)
The man comes from Connecticut, in which Hartford is the "Insurance Capital of The World" (or so they say).
Need I say more as to why GI JOE would vote against anything that would eat into Higher Insurance Company PROFITS?
Yup Joe, you sure do look out for the UNinsured in your state without getting bought out by Big Business.
What a Hypocrite!
Posted by: Tom | October 27, 2009 2:35 PM
That this clown could have been VP makes the Gore 2000 loss more tolerable.
Posted by: Anonymous | October 27, 2009 2:44 PM
Are you guys are so foolishly partisan that anyone disagrees with you is a liar? Leiberman is a good man who can see past the illusion that his party is trying to sell.
Posted by: Obamabot | October 27, 2009 3:10 PM
Oh please, Obamabot. Lieberman (please note the correct spelling) hasn't been a Democrat since he lost the primary against Ned Lamont in 2006. And he only won that election because he was the de facto Republican candidate.
A better class of trolls, please. We expect more from TAPPED.
Posted by: Sammy | October 27, 2009 3:29 PM
If by "good man" you mean he's shamelessly self-serving and often completely ignorant of the issues on which he speaks, there are few better.
Posted by: Aaron | October 27, 2009 3:29 PM
Leiberman is a good man who can see past the illusion that his party is trying to sell.
The indies are trying to sell an illusion now?
Posted by: Anonymous | October 27, 2009 3:31 PM
First, Lieberman is not a Democrat. He won office on the Party for Lieberman ticket, and I think that tells you all you need to know about his actions.
Second, I've gotten tired of hearing insurers called a monopoly. They aren't, and that fact is part of the problem.
No insurer by itself has the power to set prices. In fact, it is the lack of a balanced market that has allowed medical inflation to run at something like double the CPI for the past generation.
It's important to keep this point straight, since the progressive argument is that we NEED a monopoly (in the form of single-payer) to exert pricing power in the market. It is also the progressive argument that co-ops and single-state plans are not big enough to exert pricing power.
Posted by: RZ | October 28, 2009 6:29 AM
Thank you for your sharing. Supposed to attack these head-on and you will find a deep sense of gratification that will fuel your happiness. Maybe you are also interested in Abercrombie and Fitch. I'm just hearing the curiosity behind it.
Posted by: AF | October 28, 2009 8:20 AM
He, and every other 'centrist' clown can only say that becuase they are never challenged or corrected by the media.
They might be challenged more often if the pro-public option congressman would explain that in every interview.
Posted by: jm | October 28, 2009 11:49 AM
Leiberman is merely horse trading. We bomb Tehran and he votes for healthcare. He might settle for invading Syria.
Posted by: Arion | October 28, 2009 4:59 PM