Trying to find the bright side while dancing on the dark side of the moon

About the only positive side of the Supremes stealing the 2000 presidential election for George W. is the fact that this jerk never became vice president. True, he might not have been as dangerous as Dick Cheney, but he could have wielded even far more influence today. I'm thinking, however, the voters of Connecticut aren't going to stand for his flip-flopping on health care reform and will vote him out of office the next time he's up for re-election, which, unfortunately, is still three years away. In fact, Jim Shea, a columnist for the Hartford Courant, wrote recently: “If you think you are sick of Joe Lieberman now, just wait until you get sick.” A poll conducted by Quinnipiac College showed a majority of Connecticut voters favored a public option plan in any health care reform legislation.

According to the above-linked story in the New York Times, Senate Democrats can't understand why Lieberman wants to scuttle President Obama's health care reform initiatives. Hell, the answer is simple. His wife, Hadassah, is an unpaid lobbyist for a number of pharmaceutical and insurance companies and she previously worked in public relations for two pharmaceutical companies. Plus, during his 2006 re-election campaign, Mr. Lieberman ranked second in the Senate in insurance industry contributions. He has received more than $1 million insurance company campaign contributions since 1998.

What's interesting about all this is that when he was Gore's running mate in 2000 he advocated a public option in health care reform and even suggested a Medicare buy in for people who are 55 and older, two plans he now says need to be scrapped from the current legislation before he will support it.


Update: The New York Times has an excellent editorial on Liberman's flip-flopping in its Wednesday edition.