Notwithstanding the "diary" that was recommended by far more people than it should have been for a number of reasons as well as the "other diary" that is well meaning but has a title that I think is fairly off topic for the lion’s share of the actual diary content, a few things are being missed here about Joe Lieberman.
- He either lies or pays lip service only to change his position on many things far too frequently;
- He only cares about having power, keeping power and feeling important;
- He doesn’t give a shit about progressives or protesting or whatever we stand for - witness how he left the Democratic party for his own party in 2006 or tried to screw over Obama and the Democratic caucus.
There are more, but these are enough for now.
The "diary" about Hadassah Lieberman was actually lifted from a Joe Conason article from 2006 – which has a lot of information on the Liebermans. Also, fellow kossack, progressive activist and McCain dirt treasure trove Cliff Schecter did an article a few years ago (in addition to other stuff) on Lieberman’s hypocrisy – including as it relates to health care as far back as the Clinton years (you should read this).
But Lieberman didn’t care about progressives as he screwed them over in 2006. He didn’t care about the Democratic party as he shilled for McCain and trashed Obama in 2008, and didn’t care about his caucus as he turned his back on them after being re-elected (thanks to the "everything but the war" asinine comment as well as other actions).
Sure, Hadassah’s "employment" may be sketchy as it relates to what she actually did for the payments she received. And it is sketchy timing as it relates to a 2005 bill that Senator Lieberman introduced to the benefit of GlaxoSmithKline (see the Conason article lined above). But take a look at this list of donations to Lieberman since 1989. Three of the top 12 industries have contributed $2.7 million to Lieberman:
Health Professionals $1,041,362
Insurance $1,036,070
Pharmaceuticals/Health Products $612,540
Since 2005, the totals are over $1.1 million:
Insurance $469,644
Health Professionals $369,370
Pharmaceuticals/Health Products $305,590
So what is the answer here? Well, unless he gets stripped of his committee leadership (won’t happen), letters and protests and calls to his office won’t do much. He doesn’t care about any of that – and has shown that repeatedly over the years. He isn’t up for re-election for another 2 years, so there is little that can be done in terms of bringing down his approval ratings any more now because we are too far away from the primaries, let alone the general election.
My thought? Make the story (for now) about him being a puppet of the insurance and healthcare industries. Now, it is a "Lieberman goes against the Democrats" storyline. It should be "Lieberman sells out Americans for millions in health care political contributions" or "Lieberman sells his vote and sells out Americans to insurance industry".
Or, even better, some better dirt could be dug up – he has been around for decades and has screwed over too many people for him to NOT have major skeletons in his closet.
He is in it for himself and himself only. Make him so toxic that anyone who stands by him or allows him to continue his shameless behavior will be tainted by him.