(Diarist's note: Satire ... so far.)
WASHINGTON — An aide to Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., responded with unusual frankness to comments by Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., regarding the independent senator's views on a public option for health care.
"Frankly, I thought Joe had already left the party. ... Oh, wait, he did leave the party! He lost his party primary, ran as an independent and then campaigned against our president throughout 2008," the aide said.
"Why any Democrat is looking to Joe Lieberman for leadership on anything the Democratic Party wants is beyond me."
Schumer declined to comment on the specifics of the aide's words, saying only, "Joe Lieberman needs to remember what the American people voted for in November and what promises he made to the people of Connecticut in 2006. I'm sure his constituents will let him know how they feel about his position on this incredibly critical issue."
Lieberman dismissed the aide's remarks, saying he was "concerned with the many hardworking families of Connecticut, not partisan infighting in Washington."
The senator declined to clarify or discuss specifically his remarks on health care, saying only that the "issue is of great national importance, and we need to be prepared as a nation to accept that there's a good argument against health care reform that includes a public option."
Lieberman referred questions about an argument against a public option to a previous statement he made on the issue. He said the notion that he was making a 180-degree turn from a stance he adopted during the primary season in 2006 was a mischaracterization of his comments, though he wouldn't say which comments he was referring to or how he believed they were being taken incorrectly.
The senator on June 24 came out against a public option, saying, "We are at a time when the federal deficit is going out of sight. I don’t think we want to start another government program that is going to end up costing the taxpayers a lot of money. Besides, there’s a lot of competition in insurance now and people therefore can benefit from it without us getting into another government-run health program (besides Medicare and Medicaid)."
He wouldn't speculate on how his stance on health care might affect his re-election chances in 2012.
An aide for fellow Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd, a Democrat, said the senator was "committed to fighting for a public option for health care for all Americans, for reducing cost, for increasing quality and generally for the health and well-being of all of his constituents."
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Lieberman's comments show that there is "bipartisan support for not instituting a plan run by Washington bureaucrats who plan to tax and spend like typical Democrat Party liberals in a way that will draw us into complete socialism."
"Senate Republicans will continue to oppose any effort to institute a nationalized, socialist health care system. It's not what America needs, and as such, Republicans will fight it every step of the way, including a filibuster," McConnell said.
"In all sincerity," the senior Schumer aide added, "I have no idea why anyone is paying attention to anything Joe Lieberman has said since he lost his party's primary. Let me repeat: Connecticut Democrats didn't want him. And poll after poll after poll has shown that Connecticut Democrats want him less now than they did then. The only residents of Connecticut that want Joe Lieberman in the Senate are the Republicans, and they're a dwindling minority.
"In Joe Lieberman, you're talking about a senator who left his party after he lost his primary, who campaigned against President Obama's candidacy, who traveled extensively with Lindsey Graham and John McCain supporting the Republican nominee, who said he didn't think Obama was ready to be president, who said he was worried about our national security if Obama was president. It was only because Obama wanted him to keep caucusing with the Democrats that Lieberman even has a seat at our table anymore -- which was an improvement from when Reid kicked him out of high-level party talks.
"If you asked me, a number of other senior aides or a number of Democratic senators what Joe Lieberman will be doing in 2013, privately a lot of us think he'll be a lobbyist, a FOX News analyst or ambassador to Israel. After that come-to-Jesus meeting he had with the president, and now this, I'd say he overestimates how effective he can be taking health care industry money and flooding the airwaves defending his complete reversal on health care and his opposition to a very popular president. And bear in mind, that president will be up for re-election in 2012. Anyone running against Lieberman would do very well to press him on why he opposed the presidential nominee of the party he was caucusing with. It was a political calculation on his part, and he came out with the wrong answer."
The aide said he was speaking frankly because "Dodd can't say this stuff about Lieberman. He's got his own re-election issues coming up, and his ties to the banking industry and the financial crisis don't endear him to too many people. That he came out in favor of gay marriage, and with such an apologetic tone about it, tells you he's really worried about keeping his job."
Dodd on June 22 released a statement reversing his stand on gay marriage, saying in part, "And, really, that's what marriage should be. It's about rights and responsibilities and, most of all, love.
I believe that, when my daughters grow up, barriers to marriage equality for same-sex couples will seem as archaic, and as unfair, as the laws we once had against inter-racial marriage.
And I hope this will endear me to the Daily Kos community, which has been standing strong for marriage equality and health care for all Americans since long before Joe Lieberman became a political punchline."