I visited a few web sites yesterday morning, as I usually do, and came across the comments made by Senator Joe Lieberman stating his opposition to a public option in the pending health care reform legislation. As I read the article several things rambled through my brain about Senator Lieberman and last year's presidential primary. I also thought about how he came crawling back to the dems to keep his Homeland Security chairmanship and how magnaminous President Obama was about accepting him back into the democratic fold. And then I got angry. Very angry. So I decided to send him an email. I had to let him know exactly how I felt about his comments. I'm sure he now thinks that I am an unhinged lefty, but that's okay. I can live with that.
Senator Lieberman,
I am writing to you regarding your recent comments opposing a public option in health care reform. I was opposed to President Obama's support of you in retaining your status on committees in the Senate after you aligned yourself with Sens. Graham and McCain during the presidential primary last year because I knew you were only interested in retaining your political power. I was correct in my assessment of your motives. I somehow knew instinctively that you'd do as much as you could to oppose the president's attempts to make the lives of all Americans better. Research polls show that over 72% of Americans want reform with a public option. You know this but refuse to work with other members of Congress to achieve this goal. I know you classify yourself as an independent, but I have seen little evidence of your ability to stop following the leads of the Republican Party. I'm quite sure your constituents are witness to your callousness regarding their health and financial well-being since research also shows that over 60% of bankruptcy filings are directly related to people's health problems.
Senator Lieberman, I also know that you know your status in the polls in your state, and there should be cause for concern on your part. What is puzzling to me is the source of your opposition to a public option. Is it the money you have received from the health care industry, is it revenge for McCain not being the POTUS, was it your rejection by the top members of the GOP as an acceptable vice-presidential candidate for Senator McCain, is it because you oppose having an African American as POTUS? Whatever the reason may be, I get the impression that you are not in Congress to help American citizens and businesses that are being broken by the high costs of health care for themselves and their employees. What has motivated you to act in direct opposition to the wishes of your constituents and the American people? Is it that you feel you are bullet-proof when it comes to being elected to the Senate?
Senator Lieberman, the political landscape of America has CHANGED, and it is no longer politically expedient for any politician, even the president, to oppose the will of the people. Today on the web site, TPM I ran across an excerpt of comments that you made on health care reform LESS than 3 years ago:
Blast From the Past ...
TPM Reader CM flags a couple of unequivocal statements on health care by Joe Lieberman during his 2006 campaign against Ned Lamont. They're pretty interesting in light of Joe's low profile on this issue of late -- well, until he announced his opposition to a public option yesterday:
July 6, 2006 primary debate:
And what I'm saying to the people of Connecticut, I can do more for you and your families to get something done to make health care affordable, to get universal health insurance, to make America energy independent, to save your jobs and create new ones. That's what the Democratic Party is all about.
Sept. 21, 2006, during the general election campaign:
After spending most of his Senate career advocating piecemeal health care reforms, Joseph I. Lieberman said Wednesday he strongly supports universal health care.
Lieberman devoted a conference call with reporters to an issue that his main rival in the U.S. Senate race, Democratic nominee Ned Lamont, has highlighted in recent days.
"I have long supported the goal of universal health care," Lieberman told reporters. "Ned Lamont can talk about it. I've been doing something about it all the time I've been here."
--David Kurtz
Senator Lieberman, were these words indicative of your true position on health care reform or sound-bites used to get re-elected to Congress? Senator, you do not seem to understand that you can't say one thing and do the opposite. You do not seem to understand that when you do that, there is a price to be paid. You do not seem to understand that when you oppose what the citizens of Connecticut have sent you to Congress to do, you spit directly in their faces and say to them, "I know you suckers re-elected me. I'm in now, and can afford to align myself with those who oppose what you want, thereby stabbing you in the back, until I come crawling back at the end of this term, telling you more lies to get re-elected."
If voting against a robust public option is what you want to do, do it, but we grassroots dems can guarantee you that we will remember your opposition to health care reform with a public option when you next campaign for re-election. This is not a threat. It is a promise.
Any time a politician gets into office and does not work to the best of his/her ability on behalf of the people, that politician leaves citizens with only one option----to work to their fullest capacity to replace them with someone who WILL work on behalf of American citizens.
xxxxxxxxx,
Life-long Democrat & financial contributor to the Democratic Party
I am waitng for a response from Senator Lieberman's office.