Joe Lieberman, Health Care Reform killer

According to Kevin Drum, in The Death of the Public Option, it seems that Joe Lieberman is succeeding in killing off both the public option and the Medicare buy-in (which I was actually more excited about, since it seemed to me like a closer step to single-payer). I'm just waiting to give money to whoever springs up to run against Lieberman next year. Why doesn't the man just become a Republican and stop lying to all of us.

Update: Moveon.org is now running a fundraising campaign to raise money to defeat Lieberman in the next election. I just contributed. Anyone who wishes to do the same can go to Moveon and contribute: https://pol.moveon.org/donate/lieberman.html.

For more information:

First, Joe Lieberman helped President Bush invade Iraq, and the Democrats in Washington forgave him. Then, he endorsed John McCain, and they forgave him again. Then, he personally attacked Barack Obama at the Republican National Convention, and still the Democrats forgave him.

Now, Joe Lieberman is single-handedly gutting health care reform. The time for forgiveness is over. It's time to hold Senator Lieberman accountable.

First, we're going to launch a huge ad campaign to make sure every last Connecticut voter knows that Senator Lieberman is blocking strong reforms. Then, we'll push Senate leaders to strip him of his chairmanship and seniority. Finally, we'll work to defeat him in his next election.

Our goal is to raise $400,000 in the next 24 hours, to send a deafeningly loud message that we've had enough of Joe Lieberman. That'll take at least 16 donations from Ithaca—can you chip in $40?

Sen. Lieberman has been one of the biggest obstacles to real health care reform with a public option all year. But over the past two weeks, he's taken it to a dangerous new level.

First, he demanded that the public option be removed from the bill. Then, last night, he killed an expansion of Medicare—an idea that he himself championed just three months ago and that was added to the bill specifically to satisfy him.

He's shown that he can't be reasoned with. Most of all, Joe Lieberman can't be allowed to stay in the U.S. Senate.

We can do this. Connecticut is a solidly blue state, going 60% for Obama in 2008. Polls in Connecticut show he's in trouble. Thirty percent of Lieberman voters in 2006 said they would not vote for him again, and, in another poll, he trailed one possible Democratic opponent by a whopping 44 points.

We've had enough of Joe Lieberman. Please help raise $400,000 in the next 24 hours to send him home for good. To get there, we'll need 16 people in Ithaca to help out. Can you contribute $40 right away?

Thanks for all you do.

–Nita, Carrie, Wes, Steven, and the rest of the team

Sources:

1. "Thompson, Lieberman attack Obama in red-meat speeches," McClatchy Newspapers, September 2, 2008

2. "Lieberman Rules Out Voting for Health Bill," The New York Times, December 13, 2009.