In threatening a boycott of Connecticut-made products if Joe Lieberman doesn't change his mind about health care reform, filmmaker and social activist Michael Moore is completely missing the point. Sen. Lieberman simply doesn't care about the people of Connecticut or what happens to us. He couldn't care less if every business in the state shuttered its doors, except for maybe the insurance companies. If Lieberman cared about people, he would have been reasonable about health care reform.
Lieberman is all about power and revenge right now. The sad little man wakes up each day with a burning pain in his stomach and a heart filled with anger. The only way he can gain even temporary relief from his torment is to make himself the center of attention and do as much damage to the people he feels "did him wrong" several years ago when he was defeated in the primary.
A few months ago, when it looked like it would never come to it, Lieberman said he was in favor of a Medicare buy-in. He ONLY said that to give the Democrats hope that a compromise was possible. When the issue was raised recently, of course Lieberman changed his mind! He doesn't want to be any part of a Democratic health care bill, and he'll continue to work against it until it goes away completely.
Which may happen sometime soon.
This is why you HAVE to hold people accountable for their actions. The president and Senate leadership had a golden opportunity to punish Lieberman for campaigning for McCain and supporting Bush all those years. Nobody would have complained if they stripped him of his beloved Homeland Security chair back in January. But they missed their chance.
If they do it now as a direct result of his health care stance, Lieberman will likely become a martyr to the conservatives, and he might actually succeed in getting people to feel sorry for him!
Well, we are where we are right now mostly due to our weak leadership. I really don't want to get off on another rant right now, so I'll go back to what I was originally talking about: Michael Moore.
For a guy who claims to be a friend to the working man, I think punishing those very people for the actions of a rogue politician is ridiculous. We're already in deep shit here Michael, maybe not as bad as Michigan, but it's plenty bad anyway. We're not all wealthy country-club millionaires in this state. Hitting business in Connecticut will only cause hardship to the working class. The corporatists only worry if their high-priced sports endorsement guy is caught banging cocktail waitresses two at a time!
My wife and I have owned nothing but American cars all our lives, Michael. We currently drive a Jeep and a Chevy. Every single vehicle we've owned has been Detroit steel. I'm not crazy about you right now Michael, but I'll still keep buying good ol' American vehicles. Because I feel it's the right thing to do. I just wish you'd rethink your strategy here. I'm thankful for the fact that your call for a boycott probably won't have any effect on our local economy, but you really should consider the real victims of Lieberman's stance; the working class and the poor. Giving them less opportunity for employment isn't a good idea.
14 comments:
I think Moore is well-intentioned but, as you write, likely off base on this one. He has real but limited influence and is trying what he can.
But talking about "influence"....
All Mr. Obama has to do is pick up his phone, get Mr. Lieberman on the line, and tell him to vote the Obama way on health care or else Lieberman loses his chairmanship of that Homeland Security Committee that is his pride and joy.
And Lieberman would cave like a stack of ConnectiCare claims denial forms in a stiff breeze.
So, what in the world is stopping the President?
Is it time for a Boycott of Illinois??
As with DeLauro so it is with Moore. Grandstanding, knowing that legally Lieberman can't be recalled.
The fat indoors hat wearing slob should run the hoover hose in from the exhaust in an effort to beautify Flint, MI
I think Michael Moore and Al Franken should shut their liberal pieholes.
Rcih Michael Moore got what he wanted. Rich Michael Moore got face time. Sadly for rich Michael Moore the only ones who even noticed his boycott call would be the handful who think his movies are fair and even handed.
So...is he rich?
Norton said: "tell him to vote the Obama way on health care."
This bill is the Obama way on health care.
If Obama wanted single payer, he could have it. If he even wanted the public option, he could have it.
He is fronting for corporate profit interests. How else do you explain a bill forcing 9% of our individual gross incomes to insurance companies?
I think that there is a gross misunderstanding of how much power a President has over a Senator. Always remember, the President is limited to two terms, eight years total. A Senator starts with a six year term and can go on for life. They see Presidents as ephemera, temporary occupants of the White House, soon gone. A few recent examples, as of next January:
Robert Byrd - 51 years
Daniel Inouye - 47 years (he's been Senator since Hawaii became a state)
Patrick Leahy - 35 years
See Longest Serving Senators for more.
Maybe after eight years of watching W getting whatever he wanted, younger voters expect that is what is normal for a President.
Not so.
oldswede
The irony is that if the Senate had a health care plan like most poor or middle-income people, they'd probably die off much sooner.
Obama and the Senate leadership, working together, could certainly take Lieberman's committee chair -- IF effective health care reform mattered enough...
Lyndon Johnson would have done it months ago.
Howard Dean is the only politician I trust these days. The current plan the "progressive" Dems are trying to pass is bogus. It should not pass. Time to show some gonads and bring back the house bill as Dr. Dean suggested.
Yeah, one time I compared Obama to LBJ. I now completely regret that.
And if Howard Dean decides to run for anything in the future, I'll work fucking overtime for him!
I agree. Lieberman should have his committee chair yanked out. This is something that can and should be done now.
Here is what I do not get. The last time I checked it takes 51 votes to pass a bill in the senate. The 60 number is to break a filibuster up. Why not put everything in (public option, etc) the bill and go for it. Let the conservatives filibuster until they are blue in the face. The American public will NOT stand for this obstruction. In my opinion a filibuster action will destroy the political careers of the conservatives (mostly Lieberman and other leadership).
A good old fashion filibuster makes for great political theater especially after the filibuster fails.
The problem is, they don't have "good old fashion" filibusters anymore. They amended the Senate rules some years ago to agree that if the bill doesn't have 60 votes, it's as if you have senators standing up there reading the phone book like they used to so nothing else gets done.
They did this so that the filibuster wouldn't bring all business to a standstill. Me, I think those fuckers should be forced to stand there and talk until they develop polyps on their vocal cords! I don't care if government stops in its tracks; if we can't pass meaningful health care reform, it just shows that government doesn't work anyway.
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