Lieberman is one of the few politicians that seemed to really behave as an independent. Running mate of Al Gore, supported John McCain, worked with all sorts of folks from both parties.
Lieberman walked so Manchin and Sinema could run
Huh, I had apparently long since forgotten that Lieberman was Al Gore’s running mate. I guess the Dem party really has made some progress in the last 24 years.
Anyway I’d like to use the occasion of Lieberman’s passing to remember one of my favorite David Brook’s columns, basically the ur-text of “both sides” media:
Truly a clear eyed analyst of both American politics and global trends.
This is the guy that killed single payer
Nah, Obama was 100% against it as well.
I sure hope Armando’s colon has recovered from Kissinger doing everyone a favor.
If by that you mean “what will get Joe booked on the Sunday shows”, then sure.
Dude was the male Tipper Gore.
Man wanted to ban video games. And music. And the internet.
Lieberman: Not Hitler bad, not Kissinger bad, not even Manchin bad. Still, bad.
I swear, I hated what the W. Administration did to the country, but at the time, seeing who Al Gore was surrounding himself with, it made it a lot easier for this dumb 22-year-old Minnesotan to throw my vote away on Nader and consumer advocacy.
Well it turns out this might have been the right call.
No he wasn’t. He said many times that if he were designing the system, himself, from scratch, he would do single payer. He was trying to get health care reform passed as a political project, which means actually doing things that might work instead of dreaming up pie-in-the-sky. We did almost have Medicare for over 55 year olds though, and Lieberman was the one who torpedoed that.
And at least Manchin has the (good) excuse of representing West Virginians.
For all the shit folks like to give Manchin, I feel like maybe folks don’t understand that what you’re going to have moving forward is going to be so much worse.
The idea that the alternative to Manchin was some kind of progressive democrat is nonsensical. The alternative to Manchin is a hard core right wing Trumpist.
The fact that Manchin is a fluke and gives the Democrats a seat from fucking West Virginia of all states is the only reason we even control the Senate right now. So I get all the frustration with him but if he hadn’t been focused on doing the West Virginia part, he would have been voted out long ago and we’d have the lich running things again.
If I could exchange Mike Lee for Machin here in Utah I’d take that trade in an instant. Mike Lee and Tuberville are what the alternatives to Manchin realistically look like.
Yeah, exactly. For all the disagreements that Manchin had with the progressives, the reality is that he was a key element to actually passing Biden’s stuff, not a barrier to it.
Without Manchin, none of that shit would have happened.
To keep this thread on topic: Joe Lieberman can go fuck himself.
I think absolutely everyone understands that.
If there’s and afterlife I hope he gets no healthcare.
My condolences to Mr. Lieberman’s family and friends.
That said, he was a conniving bastard who chose power over policy multiple times and played a large role in two of the most disastrous political decisions in the past 25 years: leading America into the Iraq/Afghanistan 20-year conflict based on false information AND killing the chance for single payer as part of the ACA when Dems might have actually had a chance to get it passed.