Lyin’ Joe’s Blowin’ Smoke

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

If Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) had followed my advice after the election last November, Joe Lieberman (the party of me! – CT) would have found himself stripped of any committee chairmanships and his Senate office would have been reassigned to the janitor's closet of the Hart Office Building. The janitors deserve better digs.

Of course, in the ways of the Senate today, Joe Lieberman paid no price for his holding the "50 Democrats plus Joe" Senate hostage for two years to his constant threat to caucus with the Republicans and give them control of the Senate; his bad-mouthing of Barack Obama during the presidential campaign; speaking at the Republican National Convention; and campaigning on behalf of his warmongering buddy, Sen. John McCain.

God, I miss the old days. Lyin' Joe Lieberman would have never been heard from again.

Well, heeee's baaaack! As Kos says, "Enter Joe Lieberman, and his successful bid for attention yesterday, promising to screw Democrats for the umpteenth time by joining Republicans in a filibuster of the Democratic health care plan. Whatever."

The Lieberman Problem is addressed by mcjoan at Daily Kos:

Josh [Marshall] provides some perspective on the Lieberman situation. Basically, what else could you expect from Lieberman? He's not on either of the committees that have been the focus of the debate, so here was his chance to get in the media spotlight, his favorite place to be. He's the Senate's biggest narcissist, which is saying something. He's certainly gotten all over TV with it. But Josh argues that this is the ConservaDem way, they hold out in hopes of getting something in the negotiations.

Nonetheless, the thing to react to with Lieberman, the thing that will possibly get traction, are his lies, which he ran to FOX News with this morning.

This is a new entitlement program and the taxpayers and the premium payers are going to paying for it or else the debt’s going to go higher, and it’s just the wrong thing to do now. So I just felt if I believed that, it was time for me to say it…. It’s just not worth the risk, and it’s not necessary to reform health insurance, which we need to do. When people hear public option, I think they think it’s for free. It’s not for free. Somebody’s going to have to pay for it, and you can bet it’s going to be the taxpayers and the people who pay health insurance premiums now.

The full transcript is available here.

As Ezra says, his argument is "simply false."

"I think a lot of people may think that the public option is free," he says. "It's not. It's going to cost the taxpayers and people who have health insurance now, and if it doesn't it's going to add terribly to the national debt." Soon enough, he'll be looking at Congressional Budget Office numbers saying the exact opposite. The public option costs taxpayers nothing, adds nothing to the debt and saves everyone money. Lieberman won't be able to hang onto this argument for very long, and then what?

Lieberman will be able to hang on to that argument as long as it is reported without being refuted. He loves to lie, and will continue to do so as long as he's not directly challenged on them on camera and by the reporters asking the questions. Every Democrat who is asked to comment on him also needs to point out that his supposed opposition to this reform is built on a fabrication. As CBO report after CBO report has shown, the public option doesn't cost the taxpayer anything, won't add to the deficit. It will be paid for by consumer premiums, premiums that will be affordable because the administrative costs for the program will be low.

Joe's blowin' smoke, and for that and all his other betrayals, his committee chairmanship should be in jeopardy (and shouldn't have really been given in the first place). But that's a decision for his colleagues to make, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if there's some discussion of that in Senate backrooms today. In the meantime, what we can do is to continue combat the lie and to continue citizen lobbying of his colleagues to do the right thing.