EXCERPTS: U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman says it is not pleasant being the 60th senator.
By threatening to join a Republican filibuster that could be prevented only with 60 votes, Lieberman this week became arguably the most powerful lawmaker in Washington.
And, in some quarters, one of the most despised. Angry Democrats have been blasting him for threatening to block President Barack Obama's signature goal of health care reform.
So incensed is U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, who has served in the Connecticut delegation with Lieberman for nearly 20 years, that she told the Politico website that Lieberman should be recalled for holding up health reform. The removal is impossible because Connecticut lacks a recall law, and DeLauro herself said she was unfamiliar with the process in the state because the action is so rare.
But she is hardly the only Democrat blasting him for opposing the so-called public option and the Medicare buy-in that would allow workers as young as 55 years old to join the government-paid health plan.
"It's no fun because I know a lot of them are disappointed," Lieberman said in a phone interview Tuesday afternoon.
Asked whether he has received tough feedback from colleagues, Lieberman said it was "a fairly emotional caucus" on Monday night when the Senate Democrats decided to drop the Medicare buy-in that many of them had sought. Still, Lieberman says there has been considerable movement this week on crafting a bill that would generate the necessary votes to ensure its passage.
"For me, this has been a very encouraging couple of days," Lieberman said.
Lieberman's role this week had made him even more unpopular with liberals back home in Connecticut. State Sen. Edith Prague of Columbia buried her head in her hands Tuesday when asked about Lieberman's position on health care.
"Can you help me get my vote back? I voted for him," Prague said after removing her hands from her face. "What a mistake. What a disappointment he has come to be."
Lieberman's power as the 60th senator has prompted speculation: Will he become even more isolated from Connecticut Democrats when the current furor subsides? And what, really, has been behind Lieberman's opposition?
He has consistently said he opposes a public option because he believes it will expand the size of government and add to the federal deficit. He labeled as "ridiculous" the "psychoanalysis" and political dissection of his motives. For example, Lieberman strongly rejected the notion that he was seeking to protect the insurance companies.
"They haven't really been lobbying me hard on this," Lieberman said. "I've never hesitated to take them on when I thought they were wrong."
State Rep. Chris Caruso, a Bridgeport Democrat, said that Lieberman's current views have nothing to do with supporting his home state's insurance industry, positioning himself for future office or loving the limelight. It relates directly, he said, to Lieberman's loss in the Democratic primary in 2006 against upstart Ned Lamont and his abandonment in the general election by the party's liberal wing.
"He's had this complete sea change in the last six or seven years, and he's betrayed his own roots and beliefs," Caruso said Tuesday. "I think in this case it's a clear vendetta. I'm really surprised at the pettiness and vindictiveness that he's showing."
Lieberman has won praise nationally from conservative talk-show hosts such as Sean Hannity and from the 60 Plus Association, a nonpartisan group touted as the conservative version of AARP.
In Connecticut, Democrats remember Lieberman from his days as a liberal state senator in the 1970s and his run against U.S. Sen. Lowell P. Weicker Jr. when he took liberal stands on many issues.
Weicker said Tuesday that Lieberman must be held accountable for his actions.
"Very frankly, if he doesn't want to be held accountable ... on an issue as important as this, it's not going to bode well for him in the future," said Weicker. "The state is very much for health care reform. There comes a day of reckoning."
Although Weicker considers himself an independent, he doesn't give the same label to Lieberman. "He was basically elected as a Republican when he lost the Democratic primary," Weicker said. "It was the Republicans who put him into office. Yes, I am an independent. I don't think Sen. Lieberman is an independent."
Lieberman said his previous position had been misunderstood, referring to the buy-in that was part of his platform as the Democratic vice presidential running mate of Al Gore in 2000. "But in 2000 our nation's budget was balanced, debt levels were less than half current levels, Medicare was not on the verge of insolvency, and there was no viable proposal like the one we are debating today to provide affordable coverage to more than 30 million Americans who currently lack health insurance, including people 55 to 65," Lieberman said.
http://www.courant.com/news/politics/hc-lieberman-1216.artdec16,0,452073.story?page=1
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