We're getting betrayed. Oh, yes, we're getting betrayed. And getting betrayed is the path to victory.
Once again, I have to ask people to read my diary of 15 days ago, where I made this case. Betrayal at this point, because we're one vote short (Ben Nelson would buckle on his own), was inevitable. We need to get a bill through the Senate and into conference. After that, we can create the "Hobson's Choice" bill that Nelson, and Lieberman, and LincolnLandrieu, and SnoweCollins, will have to vote upperdown. We may not win that vote, but if we don't, that's OK too.
Why is what's happening right now great? Not just because it's a necessary stage for the bill to go through, like an awkward puberty. No, it's because Joe Lieberman, in his petulant, arrogant, egomaniacal actions, has given us what we've really needed:
We have a colorful villain. And he's not a Democrat.
(We just need to make sure that everyone understands that last part!)
What's great about what's happening right now is that it was inevitable, and it's finally here, and Joe Lieberman has misplayed his hand so badly, with such obvious petulance and treachery, that he destroys his allies. (If you look back at 2000 and 2008, you'll see that this is a Lieberman specialty.)
Joe Lie's proxy interview with Howard Fineman, which appeared on Hardball today, is one of the stupidest things I've ever seen. It's stupid because it's a Kinsley gaffe -- it's true. We here on this site shot at the prince in 2006 and only wounded him; of course he's going to get his revenge. (Any regrets about trying to beat him? I have none.) But -- you smarmy, smug, political klutz, Joe -- you were never supposed to admit it. I am shocked that you are this much of an idiot. You could not resist trying to twist the knife -- and that's going to be the ruin of you.
Yep, we on this site are going to be blamed for the defeat of the public option because we did not -- well, frankly, we did not "teabag" Joe. Embrace that pain, people. That way too leads to salvation.
Here's the slogan of the day:
Joe Lieberman is NOT a Democrat.
He's pretty much proven it now. He is, in fact, a Republican agent. If he runs in 2012 -- and I will personally eat the head any Democratic candidate who gets in the way of the Democrat with the best chance to beat him -- it will largely be to suck up progressive money that could be used to beat other Republicans. He will, overtly or not, try to defeat Chris Dodd next November. Hell hath no fury like an egomaniacal momzer scorned.
So, now that Joe is the cartoon villain in the health care debate, now that he is the petulant whiny roadblock between us and the public option, we need to make sure that everyone knows it. We only have 59 Democrats and we have every one of their votes. There are 41 Republican votes. Had Jim Martin beaten Saxby Chambliss in the Georgia runoff, had Bruce Lunsford beaten Mitch McConnnell in Kentucky, had Tom Allen beaten Olympia Snowe in Maine, had Ronnie Musgrove beaten Roger Wicker in Mississippi, we would have health insurance with a public option right now. No one except Lieberman -- the Republican in our caucus -- would stand against us. Ben Nelson needs us if he's to stay in office, Landrieu can be bought, Lincoln can be stampeded, Bayh is still too hungry for the Vice-Presidency to stand in our way. We got that close.
We need to make sure that everyone knows it.
For this next stage, I agree with Rahm: let the betrayal go forward. Get us into conference, at which point we can work out a final bill. Do not despair, Kosters; it's a necessary betrayal -- and, if we play it right, only a temporary one. Read that old diary of mine.
Now, what happens then?
My preference is that we pass a good bill, even if we only get 59 votes for it. Maybe we'll be able to bring over another Republican, once things hit a fever pitch. (We can tell Snowe that if she doesn't relent now, she will never be welcomed into the Democratic Party. Stand with Lieberman, fall with Lieberman.) Maybe someone will die or resign. Maybe, once Charlie Crist is reduced to a smear by Marco Rubio in Florida's Senate primary, he'll direct his agent Sen. George LeMieux to vote for cloture in September. Maybe none of these -- in which event we can back off and pass the best bill we can next October.
What if we pass a bad bill. Then we need to let people know: this bill is only bad because the Republican, Joe Lieberman, would not let us make it better. Saul Alinsky taught that if you want to get people aroused politically, you have to personalize the villain, as Michael Moore did years ago in Roger and Me. Well, we didn't even have to send out a casting call: Lieberman volunteered for the role. Is the bill not what it should be? It's Lieberman's fault. Give us one more Senator in 2011 and we'll fix what's wrong with it.
Let's take that into the 2010 elections.
Meanwhile, if we pass only the parts of the bill that aren't as good, we need to introduce another bill with the good parts. (If we need to use reconciliation, so be it. I'd rather not -- a five-year bill that doesn't start until the fifth years ain't so hot.) We introduce that bill not necessarily because we think we can pass it as because we think we can campaign on it, and pass something better next time.
What else do we do? We need to tell the conservative Dems that if they follow Joe into Republican-allied hell, they will never get a good Chair or Subcommittee Chair position. Never. We tell them that we don't consider them to be villains, but if they want to prove otherwise we will act accordingly. Once Joe Lie has proven that he can't be trusted, Harry Reid has no more reason to curry his favor. He'll feel betrayed (I don't think he really understood the true depths of Joe), and his only way to win this year will be to reduce Lieberman to a bag of bone chips. Do you think he's incapable of it? Hey, I've worked two elections in Nevada: he's capable of it if he wants to.
So, we lose with 59 votes, because Joe has a grudge and wants to suck up to insurers. What then? Let me take you to next September. Keep aware of two dates: August 24 and September 18.
August 24 is the Florida Senate primary. Win or lose, Charlie Crist will then be able to move to the left -- out of either spite or political calculation. His agent George LeMieux then comes into play.
What's September 18? Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement.
The period between the Jewish High Holidays is a time of repentance and forgiveness. If we haven't passed health insurance by then, Joe has that long to atone.
If not: well, there's a third Jewish holiday that comes right after the High Holidays that fewer non-Jews know about. It's called Sukkot and it commemorates the 40 years in which the Jews, after leaving Egypt, wandered in the desert. You are supposed to celebrate Sukkot by building a temporary structure, called a Sukka (pronounced "soo-kuh) and eating and sleeping there.
That's right: on Sukkot, you are kicked out of your house. And Sukkot begins on September 23, 2010 -- a great time to make a statement in the lead-up to the elections.
On Sukkot, we kick Joe Lieberman out of the caucus.
We make a big deal over it. We rip him all sorts of new orifices. We explain what we would have had this year, had it not been for him, and we explain what we will have next year, if the voters in this nation give us our real 60th vote.
We make Joe Lieberman our villain. We want him to join the Republican Party before the election. We talk about his whining, his lying, his goalpost moving, his betrayal. We whip our base into a frenzy over hating Joe Lieberman.
Are you worried that Joe Lie might say that singling him out is anti-Semitic? Let me give you some names of people who can lead this charge. Bernie Sanders. Carl Levin. Al Franken. Russ Feingold. Barbara Boxer. Chuck Schumer. Each of them, I have little doubt, would be able to get into the task of excoriating Lieberman with gusto. Joe has singled himself out, as the most treacherous Democrat around. And now we will use him to whip up the base. Give us one more Senator to replace this human turd as our 60th vote and you will have your public option.
Are we worried about the base not turning out in 2010? Well, thanks to Joe Lieberman, we may be able to fix that.
It would be poetic justice if Joe Lieberman finally helped the Democratic Party win -- by leaving.
So, again, don't despair. We're still alive and kicking. In fact, we'll be kicking hard.