The Carlo Rizzi of the Democratic party
Joe Lieberman sticks in the knife, yet again
The Carlo Rizzi of the Democratic party
Dick Polman, Inquirer National Political Columnist
There's something about Joe Lieberman that always prompts me to conjure The Godfather. Perhaps because he is so clearly the Carlo Rizzi of the Democratic party.
But here's the thing: What if Carlo Rizzi had indeed conspired with the Barzini family to turn Sonny Corleone into Swiss cheese at the toolboth, and Sonny's brother Michael had indeed unearthed Carlo's treachery...only to cut Carlo a break and allow him to fly off to Vegas for a new life of sun and fun and further treachery? Wouldn't we have ridiculed Michael as a naive softy if he had spared Carlo the shock of sudden death by strangulation? If he had told Carlo, "there's a car waiting to take you to the airport"...and he had meant it?
Yet that's how the Senate Democrats dealt last November with Lieberman's treachery. The allegedly Democratic-leaning independent had just returned from a grand campaign '08 adventure in which he had clearly crossed the line. Not only had he stumped for the Republican presidential candidate, but he had suggested on national television that Barack Obama might be a Marxist; that Obama wanted to practice "what used to be known as socialist theory"; that Obama favored "retreat in defeat from the field of battle." Lieberman had set up Obama for a hit, the hit had failed...yet there he was, in the weeks after the election, telling the Senate Democrats that he wanted to caucus with them in 2009. And not only did he want to caucus with them, he also felt he deserved to keep his chairmanship of the prestigious Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee.
We know, of course, what the Democrats decided to do: Nothing. Carlo/Joe got to keep his perks and his seniority. Obama was in a conciliatory mood, hoping to change the tone in Washington and all that, and he sent word not to touch the guy. Chris Dodd, Joe's Connecticut compadre, inadvertently did his own Godfather number when he told the Senate Democrats that Joe was "willing to be a member of your family." Joe himself promised Democrats that if they spared him, they would "not regret" their decision. The expectation was that even if Joe continued to vote like a hawk on foreign policy, he would at least hew to his Democratic roots and support the majority caucus on the big-ticket domestic issues. Such as health care.
Which brings us to health care, and Joe's announcement yesterday that he intends to side with the Republican family in the latter's street war against any health reform package that contains a government-run insurance option. He says he'll try to garrote the Democrats by working with the GOP to sustain a filibuster and thus prevent a final floor vote on such a bill. It'll take 60 votes (in other words, all 60 senators in the Democratic caucus) to cut off a filibuster via a cloture motion; Joe's decision is apparently the thanks that Democrats get for sparing him last November. (Here is Joe's decision, in parliamentary parlance: "If the bill remains what it is now, I will not be able to support a cloture motion for final passage.")
Joe still seems intent on taking revenge for the treatment he received in 2006, when few Senate Democrats came to his aid during his difficult party primary campaign; antiwar Democratic voters, fed up with Iraq and Joe's hawkishness, ultimately awarded the party nomination to antiwar challenger Ned Lamont. Joe won in Novemvber as an independent, essentially forming the Party of Joe...and apparently that's still his party. (By the way, one Senate Democrat who did come to his aid, who did stump for him during the primary, was Barack Obama. Which means that Joe has now stiffed Obama twice.)
We can't read Joe's mind and say conclusively that his public option naysaying stems from a fresh desire to treacherously twist the knife. But that seems the likeliest possibility. One can theorize that maybe it's because he takes donation money from the folks at Aetna, the giant insurer based in Connecticut; but Aetna's tally since 2005 is only $65,000, and nine other corporations have given Joe more during that time span.
One can also theorize that maybe Joe opposes the public option for substantive policy reasons, but the reasons he gave yesterday were basically a crock. He said, for instance, that the public option "creates a whole new government entitlement program for which taxpayers will be on the line." Factually wrong. Under a real government entitlement program (such as Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid), Americans can broadly participate if they meet age or income criteria, and the money for such programs is earmarked in the budget. Whereas the public health option, offered in addition to the private plans, would be basically financed by the voluntary customers' premiums. Joe also said that he thinks a public option would create "trouble" for "the national debt," without once mentioning that, according to the Congressional Budget Office, the most liberal public option would save $110 billion over 10 years while more modest versions would save around $25 billion.
To paraphrase what Tom Hagen said about Hyman Roth in Godfather II, Joe has played this one beautifully. He's sticking the knife into the naive Democrats who made nice to him. Unless Olympia Snowe comes to the Democrats' aid, Joe can now position himself as the pivotal character in the Senate health saga. The Democrats basically have no choice but to indulge him further; if they try to put the hit on him, why should he care? If he scuttles health reform and the Democrats pay a price for that at the polls next year, he'll shrug it off because he's not really a Democrat anyway. And he himself isn't up for re-election again until 2012, assuming he even wants to do that.
Perhaps the lesson of all this is that, while the Senate Democrats appear to have 60 filibuster-proof votes on paper, the magic number is really meaningless if the 60th vote belongs to an embittered disloyalist with no sense of gratitude, someone whose core conviction is that revenge is a dish best served cold.
Polman, you are your liberal defenders on this blog are a joke. You make the dems and their media look so dumb. Last week, you are praising Snowe for standing up for her beliefs against the so-called right wing extremists in the repub party. Now you smear Lieberman for standing up for his beliefs against the left wings wackos of the dem party. This is why the mainstream media and the Inquirer are dying and no one believes a word that they say. Yet, you have the guts to smear Fox News for being biased? Wow. Takes one to know one.— Comrade Noodlehead- I said it the other day, a 'principled politician' is one willing to lose his/her seat in an election because of a vote or position he/she takes. Most politicians are bought off by companies and vote the easiest, most lucrative (for their war chests) route. Lieberman has done neither here. He was for the Iraq War and almost lost his seat and now is against the 'public option' (knowing that it will be bad for the country in his opinion, mine too) when it would have been easier for him politically to just 'get on board'. I may not like many of his positions (Iraq one exception) but you have to respect the guy, imho:)— NEPhilly
Comment removed.- "This was an outstanding article by the best political writer in the area."...Well, that doesn't say much for the political writers in the area, now does it? Dickie...tell your mom to stop commenting on your columns.— puckdad77
- Anyone who campaigned for that idiot McCain has no business accepting any favors from the Democratic party. Lieberman is a skunk and if he filibusters with the Republicans they should expel him from the Democratic caucus and strip him of all his seniority and committee chairmanship privileges.— Yersinia Pestis
- Right on, Yersinia. But I wouldn't stop there. He should be shot, tarred and feathered, flogged, beaten, and made to read every column ever written by Dickie and Bunch. If he's still alive after that, then let the lynching begin. It's about time to show free thinking Americans what independent thought will get them around here. Unless of course your Olympia Snowe...then we'll throw you a parade! Yay democracy!— puckdad77
- puck, you are so pucking funny and correct to boot:)— NEPhilly
- ***"There is something truly disgusting about the way he cannot refrain from attacking Bush when he is being defensive about himself. I mean, it is beyond disgraceful here. He won the election a year ago. He became commander in chief two months later. He announced his own strategy — not the Bush strategy, his strategy — six months ago. And it [the announcement] wasn't offhanded. It was in a major address with the secretary of defense and the secretary of state standing with him. And now he is still talking about the drift in the Bush years? What is happening today is not as a result of the drift, so-called, in the Bush years. It is because of the drift in his years. It is because of the flaws in his own strategy, which is what he is now reexamining. He has every right as commander in chief to reexamine his own strategy, but he ought to be honest, forthright, and courageous enough as the president to simply say: “I'm rethinking the strategy I adopted six months ago” — and not, once again, in a child-like way, attack his predecessor.*** http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MDQ1NGRkNDVhZDM1M2IxMmI3NWZlZjI4MTE4YzQwMGE=— NEPhilly
- Amen, NEPhilly. Neither party should be deriding politicians such as Lieberman or Snowe (and I disagree with both of them ideologically most of the time). These people are putting themselves on the line every election cycle to walk on their own path when they feel the need. These types of politicians should be applauded for their courage. And if they were, you'd barely notice the noise because there's very few heroes in the sea of filth that fills both sides of the isle in Congress.— puckdad77
- I don't see why so many people have trouble distinguishing between Leiberman and Snowe. Leiberman LOST the Democratic primary in CT; therefore, he is no longer a Democrat, he's an independent. Snowe is an elected Republican. Lieberman is a first-term Independent with no seniority, no eligibility for committe chairmanship, etc. He was permitted to keep them with the assumption that he would help the Democratic party. If he's going to vote with the Republicans all the time out of principle or vindictiveness or whatever, that's fine, but if he's not a Democrat then he should not be permitted to keep the perquisites of a multi-term Democratic senator. Pretty simple, really.— Yersinia Pestis
- Comment removed.
- funny how Polman sees our government through the prism of the Mafia.
- harry, the problem is that this plan will raise premiums, not lower them. Take NJ for example, they have a govt. mandated health insurance program with a minumum coverage provision. You can now buy health insurance in PA for 1/2 to 1/4 of the price in NJ. Now expand that thoughout the country. If you think companies and politicians and rich people are going to make less money as a result of this legislation you are mistaken. yersinia, the dems chose to caucus w/Leiberman to have 60 votes on this and other issues. If you do things for cynical reasons (like having 60 votes) it might come back to bite you in the bu-tt. Also why is Snowe a staeswoman when she crosses the line but Leiberman is a traitor? You can't have it both ways. I can't wait to see what our vindictive White House is going to call/say about Sen. Leiberman. Will they put him together with Fox News and the Chamber of Commerce in their rhetoric? I would bet on it:)— NEPhilly
- Nigelthemastiff- Yes the Inquirer goes to Auction Nov 16th. I hope the new owners keep Polman. Despite him being massivly misguided and a flaming liberal he is the only one of the commentators who has anything interesting to say. What they need is better local coverage. Better commentators. Get rid of Smerconish, Bowden etc. Hire someone really good like Jonah Goldberg or Mark Steyn. Get a better foreign affairs commentator. Rubin is so clouded by her blatent liberalism that she can't see the forest for the trees on foreign policy. Downsize the distribution and circulation and focus on the future which is the " green and paperless " internet. Anyway here is the link.................http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/economy/ap/65169527.html
- NEPhilly : Lieberman can (and should) vote his conscience. Vote for cloture, then vote against the bill. I think BOTH parties, when in the minority, abuse the cloture (and filibuster) rules. Elections should matter. And yes, Obama (IMHO) was wrong went he voted unsuccessfully to filibuster a Bush SC nominee.— still_independent
Cited by the Columbia Journalism Review as one of the nation's top political reporters, and lauded by the ABC News political website as "one of the finest political journalists of his generation," Dick Polman is a national political columnist at the Philadelphia Inquirer. He is on the full-time faculty at the University of Pennsylvania, as "writer in residence." Dick has been a frequent guest on C-Span, MSNBC, CNN, NPR and the BBC. He covered the 1992, 1996, 2000, and 2004 presidential campaigns.
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