Posted By Vicki McClure Davidson on October 28, 2009

Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CN) has made a long political career in being unpredictable, a piercing thorn in the side of Congress. Sometimes, that thorn is in the side of Republicans. This week, it’s lodged deeply in the side of the Democrats.

Lieberman is alarmed with the direction of ObamaCare, and announced that he will filibuster when the government-run health care plan is put to a vote.

Sen. Harry “I’ll Vaporize my 2010 Opponent” Reid is, well, quite distressed about Lieberman’s announcement. But he’s trying to put on a happy face about it.

From Politico, Joe Lieberman: I’ll block vote on Harry Reid’s plan:

Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) said Tuesday that he’d back a GOP filibuster of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s health care reform bill.

Lieberman, who caucuses with Democrats and is positioning himself as a fiscal hawk on the issue, said he opposes any health care bill that includes a government-run insurance program — even if it includes a provision allowing states to opt out of the program, as Reid has said the Senate bill will.

“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.”

Asked about Lieberman’s threat to filibuster a final vote on the Reid plan, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said: “I haven’t seen the report from Sen. Lieberman or why he’s saying what he’s saying. I think Democrats and Republicans alike will be held accountable by their constituents who want to see health care reform enacted this year.”

Lieberman said 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.”

His comments confirmed that Reid is short of the 60 votes needed to advance the bill out of the Senate, even after Reid included the opt-out provision. Several other moderate Democrats expressed skepticism at the proposal as well, but most of the wavering Democratic senators did not go as far as Lieberman Tuesday, saying they were waiting to see the details.

Lieberman did say he’s “strongly inclined” to vote to proceed to the debate, but that he’ll ultimately vote to block a floor vote on the bill if it isn’t changed first. “I’ve told Sen. Reid that if the bill stays as it is now I will vote against cloture,” he said.

“I can’t see a way in which I could vote for cloture on any bill that contained a creation of a government-operated-run insurance company,” Lieberman added. “It’s just asking for trouble – in the end, the taxpayers are going to pay and probably all people who have health insurance are going to see their premiums go up because there’s going to be cost shifting as there has been for Medicare and Medicaid.”

Reid’s response was restrained.

“I don’t have anyone that I have worked harder with, have more respect for in the Senate than Joe Lieberman,” he said Tuesday afternoon. “ As you know, he’s my friend. There are a lot of senators, Democrat and Republicans, who don’t like part of what’s in this bill that we sent over to CBO. We’re going to see what the final product is. We’re not there yet. Sen. Lieberman will let us get on [to begin debating] the bill, and he’ll be involved in the amendment process.”

From Slate, The Lieberman Option:

From now until health care reform either passes or dies, there will be a series of daily eruptions that will rival the ones from August for passion, confusion, and mischief. Today’s installment was Sen. Joe Lieberman’s announcement…Because Democrats need 60 votes to end a filibuster, they need all 58 Democrats, plus independents Lieberman and Bernie Sanders of Vermont, to fight a unified Republican side. Without Joe, in other words, health care reform dies.

This announcement caused a stir among certain kinds of liberals for two reasons. First, they hate Joe Lieberman with a pore-cleansing passion. The bill of particulars is long, but the primary inflammation comes from Lieberman’s support of George Bush’s Iraq policy and the senator’s suggestion that Democrats who opposed Bush were unpatriotic. He also suggested, during the campaign, that Barack Obama did not always ‘put his country first.’ Second, Lieberman saw fit to announce his effort to kill one form of the public option just as the idea was rising from the table at the morgue.

[...]

Reid not only has to get Lieberman’s vote but also can’t afford to lose any of the handful of moderate Senate Democrats like Ben Nelson, Mary Landrieu, Evan Bayh, and Mark Pryor, all of whom have reservations about the public option. Most have been noncommittal, except Bayh who has taken a similar position to Lieberman’s—supporting a filibuster on the final bill—if fees placed on the medical-device industry are not removed.

From Hot Air: Video: Reid praises Lieberman, refers to self in third person:

In Reid’s defense, given the razor’s-edge nature of the vote in the Senate, even if he had bought off Lieberman he’d probably be in this same position with Ben Nelson or Blanche Lincoln or Landrieu or Bayh or Pryor. Every centrist is potentially the 60th vote; every Blue Dog will have to be bought off or else one of the Maine twins won over, and maybe Reid realized that he simply didn’t have enough legislative goodies to make that happen. So, faced with a choice of offering a bill with no public option and watching the left turn against him or offering a bill with a public option which he knew Lieberman would vote against, why not choose the latter course and hope that Liebs draws most of the heat from progressives?

Exit question: Now that Snowe and Collins each stand to be the 60th vote, aren’t they faced with a major prisoner’s dilemma in being the first to strike a deal with Reid — possibly to become a Democrat or independent and receive all kinds of plum committee assignments — and thereby become the crucial tiebreaker? Assuming, that is, that he can keep the rest of the Democrats on board.

UPDATE, OCTOBER 30, 2009
Riehl World View: Health Care Bill News: NY Times: Costs Higher Than Reported:

The CBO has issued a preliminary scoring of the health care bill suggesting it will reduce the deficit and health care costs somewhat over ten years. Keyword preliminary, as far as I’m concerned. I’m not buying it and neither is NRO – from yesterday. Late last night the NY Times said it will cost more than what the Democrats allege.

But a closer look at the budget office report suggests that the number everyone should have reported was $1.055 trillion – which is the gross cost of the insurance coverage provisions in the bill before taking account of certain new revenues, including penalties by individuals and employers who fail to meet new insurance requirements in the bill.

Next Obama will be telling us the NY Times isn’t really a News outlet. At least we would agree on something for once.

Related reading:
Wall Street Journal: Political Wisdom: Lieberman in the Cross Hairs
Publius, Big Government: Pelosi Health Care Bill: The Worst Bill Ever
RedState: Harry Reid Blames the AMA. Can’t Bring Himself to Blame RedState
The Snooper Report: Obama And Reid Continue Secret Health Care Negotiations
The Patriot Room: $1,000 fine for not getting health insurance
Diary of a Mad Conservative: Government health care should scare everyone
Philip Klein, American Spectator: “60 Minutes” to Take on Medicare/Medicaid Fraud
Rep. Tom Price (R-GA), Big Government: Government Still Trying To Take Over Health Care
Kyle Olson, Big Government: White House Visitor Logs: Pay No Attention to Socialized Medicine
HillBuzz: Most transparent government ever? Nancy Pelosi blocks public from taking part in healthcare legislation
Nice Deb: Video: Don’t Shut Us Out
Ztower: Top White House advisor in closed door meeting with Senators. Hey! Where are the C-SPAN cameras?
Michelle Malkin: Obamacare doctor bribe fails in Senate, Reid whines and Is your teacher lobbying for Obamacare at school today? and The “vapor bill” materializes, but don’t spend too much reading it and Shhhh: Sneaky Dems create Obamacare reconciliation loophole
Gateway Pundit: Fearmongering First Lady Pushes Nationalized Health Care (Video) and Far Left Crank Krugman Casually Refers to “Teabaggers” in Latest Column
Gregory Conko, Big Government: Baucus Bill is a Cure Worse than the Disease
James C. Capretta, National Review Online: The Baucus Death Spiral
Kyle Olson, Big Government: Lest We Forget: SEIU, ACORN Behind Ongoing Push For Socialized Medicine
Fortune, CNN Money: 5 freedoms you’d lose in health care reform
Barry Goldwater Jr., American Spectator: Health Care Amtrak-Style
Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion: Job Killers for Health Care Reform and Can You Imagine If Republicans Handed Out White Coats
QandO: Fact Checking The Democrats – Private Health Insurance

Quin Hillyer, American Spectator: Not Abiding Obama
Ztower: Axelrod video all but confirms Obama not interested in quick, easy and cost-effective solutions to health care.
Frugal Café Blog Zone: New ObamaCare Audacity: Bribes for Doctors, Led by Nevada’s Senator Harry Reid? and Gov. Pawlenty’s Sound Argument about Health Care Reform: Need to Focus on What Drives Up Health Care Costs and Death in the NHS Lane: Terminally Ill People Are Erroneously Sentenced to Die Early by “Death Panels” in UK and “Something Terrible Is Happening”… We Don’t Listen Enough to Ignorant, Overpaid Celebrities on Government-Run Health Care (video) and Astro-Turfing at the White House: Invitation-Only “Doctors for Obama” Organization Show Faked on WH Lawn
Warning Signs: Democrat Lies and Healthcare Reform
On My Watch: Healthcare for Illegals – Delayed by Design – A Moral Agenda Paid For by Moral Bankrupy
Riehl World View: Votes Not There: Netroots Mount Public Option Push and Feds Use Intimidation To Silence Critics On Health Care Reform
Philip Klein, American Spectator: Baucus’s Accounting Trick
Publius’ Forum: Democrats Healthcare Behind Closed Doors

American Glob: Pawlenty Says Baucus Bill is a Tax & Spend Bill
Vigilocanis (Watch Dog): Democratic brain trust holding secret meetings-breaks Obama promises…
Jason Killian Meath, Big Hollywood: Heather Graham: MoveOn Fembot for ObamaCare
BBC News: ‘Basic care’ lacking in hospitals and Fear over NHS compensation scale and Prison food ‘beats NHS hospitals’ and Hospital food waste is almost £1m
Telegraph: Daughter claims father wrongly placed on controversial NHS end of life scheme and ‘Cruel and neglectful’ care of one million NHS patients exposed and Sufferers pull out teeth due to lack of dentists and Dying patients and Number of NHS patients given wrong medicine doubles
VotingFemale Speaks!: Sarah Palin Calls Out Obama; Where’s the Tort Reform, Socialist? and Obama-Pelosi Declare WAR; Demonizing Health Industry; Warning, Socialist Demons At Work and ObamaCare will imprison you if you do not obey
The Western Experience: British health care at its best!
MensNewsDaily: The Real Cost Of Health Care In France
The Weekly Standard: Choosy Moms Don’t Choose Socialized Medicine
Just Americans Making Ethical Statements Weblog: Fundamental Right…to Favor or Oppose
Wellsy’s World: Canadian health system “not sustainable,” looking to privatize
Are you Freaking Stupid?: Healthcare Industry Adds 544,000 Jobs During Recession, Will Media Notice? | NewsBusters.org

Categories: Economy, Government, Health, Social and Political Climate
Tags: Americans, Congress, Democrat, economic recession, filibuster, government-run health care, Harry Reid, health care, insurance, Joe Lieberman, nationalized health care, ObamaCare, political, politics, Republican, Senate, single payer health care, taxes, taxpayers