Wednesday, November 25, 2009

In Defense of Joe Lieberman
  Politics piece by Thomas Lindaman

To put it mildly, Joe Lieberman is an enigma, albeit a plain-spoken one. He tends to vote with the Democrats in the Senate, but when he doesn’t, it’s usually for a very good reason. With the health care reform bill, Lieberman has decided to make a public break with his ideological allies and oppose any reform bill that includes a public option.

And for that, Lieberman has been attacked by his colleagues on the Left.

My history with Lieberman has been spotty at best. At times, I was behind him all the way (i.e. the Bill Clinton impeachment), and at others, I was grossly disappointed with him (i.e. going back on his position on school vouchers in the 2000 Presidential election). To put simply, when it comes to Lieberman, I’ve been snake-bit. Having said that, someone needs to set the record straight and defend him. And since it’s my column, I guess that’s my responsibility.

First off, the hypocrisy coming from the Left regarding Lieberman is astounding to put it mildly. They claim to be all about diversity of thought, but only if they approve of the thoughts ahead of time. Anyone on the Left who fails to follow its rigid, uncompromising ideological mold is instantly branded as a traitor. Just look at how the Left has gone after California Senator Dianne Feinstein on defense issues (except when it comes to holding people accountable for making money off war). Now with the health care reform bill, these same Leftists are calling Joe Lieberman a traitor and suggesting that Harry Reid should strip him of his committee chairmanships because of his “betrayal” of the Democrat Party.

Wait. Isn’t Lieberman an Independent because of Senate Democrats stabbing him in the back after they backed Ned Lamont in 2006?

As if the Left hasn’t shown enough duplicity by opposing Lieberman, there’s more. A frequent refrain from Leftists is that Lieberman is only opposing the public option because he’s being funded by insurance companies, since Connecticut is the insurance capitol of the world. Let’s not forget that there’s another Senator representing Connecticut, Christopher Dodd. A quick check of OpenSecrets.org reveals some interesting information about the two Senators.

Chris Dodd received a total of $1,423,006 in contributions from the insurance industry for the 2005-2010 Congressional terms. And insurance contributions represent the #3 industry contributing to Dodd, behind securities and investments (#1) and lawyers and law firms (#2).

And how much did the evil Joe Lieberman get from the insurance industry? A whopping $473,894, #7 on the list of his contributors. Now, I’m no math wizard, but I do know that $1,423,2006 is higher than $473,894…by a factor of 3.

By the way, Senator Dodd is a proponent of a “strong public option.” Hmmm…let’s see…if Joe Lieberman is being motivated by campaign cash from the insurance companies to oppose the public option…then why is Chris Dodd getting more from the same insurance industry to promote the public option it allegedly opposes?

Leftist logic at its finest, kids!

Listen, there are a lot of things you can take Joe Lieberman to task for (not the least of which being his decision to run with Al Gore), but this isn’t one of them. For something so massive and wide-reaching, we need as many voices as possible debating it. Lieberman’s resistance to the whims of his former party should be a wake-up call to the Senate Democrats that there may not be the support necessary to pass it out of their chambers.

Can Lieberman’s mind be changed? Maybe, but not with the tactics being employed by the Left right now. If Lieberman remains opposed to the Senate version of the health care reform bill, it will empower others who are wobbly on the issue to vote against it. And I don’t think Harry Reid has enough money to treat Lieberman like he did Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu. (On a side note to Senator Landrieu, how many pieces of silver is $100 million?) He may infuriate them with his opinion, but that’s only because the Left knows Joe Lieberman is principled enough to stand for what he believes, even if it means suffering the slings are arrows of outrageous Leftist sentiments.

Thomas Lindaman
http://commonconservative.com/

Posted by Thomas Lindaman on 11/25/09

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