Anyone who watched Face The Nation on Sunday morning knew what was going down on health care reform in the Senate this week. It's one of the reasons many of us tune in during the early morning hours to check on what's happening with Bob Schieffer or David Gregory or George Stephanopoulos. Yep, it's not always scintillating at that hour, but it is good journalism with bagels without all the fanfare of Anderson Cooper or Larry King on evening CNN.
So this Sunday there was Senator Joseph Lieberman cohering with fellow Democrat turncoat, Senator Ben Nelson. They were dancing the hokey pokey as correspondent Bob Schieffer and Senator Jay Rockefeller stared in amazement. Once again Nelson, with his pompadour hair, was grandstanding on prohibiting the use of federal funds for abortion even though it was defeated earlier in the week and it is not 1968; and dear Joe announced he was NOT going to support the extension of Medicare -- perhaps one of the most brilliant and innovative strategies to come out of the Senate on health care reform in many years.
By gosh, if they couldn't have what they wanted no one was getting anything! And so it goes, two white, middle aged old men representing states with less than 5% of the US population who may get to dictate the fate of health care reform for millions in the United States.
And it gets worse when the progressives mount their campaigns on Monday morning to remove Lieberman from office. In fact, they played directly into the hands of the Senator, and the national media machine. Go figure, Lieberman is now center stage on a national platform, and the Republicans didn't have to lift a finger. In fact, they look quite sane which isn't easy.
We've done it to ourselves one more time because there is precedent for extortion among the Democrats on health care reform. This is evidenced by the actions of both Senator Mary Landrieu and Senator Blanche Lincoln in the past weeks. And these are only the deals that we know about. One wonders what really has transpired behind closed doors and in the back alleys.
Frankly, we Democrats look like a bunch of nincompoops who can't even all march in the same direction. Admittedly, this is tough road to navigate against the enormous insurance lobbies, and prejudices that have risen to the surface on wedge issues (aka abortion). The mid term elections will be a train wreck if we don't get on message.
The average American is disgusted with Congress, Larry Summers who says the Recession is over again and again, unemployment rates, the lack of money in their pockets, and the war in Afghanistan