Lieberman's Hypocritical Oath
First Do No Harm. That is what Joe Lieberman said on Face the Nation this weekend. Vowing to support a Republican filibuster to block passage of health care reform that contains the government administered program known as the public option, the Senator from Connecticut recited the familiar maxim. Mistakenly attributed as part of the Hippocratic oath, the remark must have been particularly galling to legions of medical professionals who have fought long and hard to create a system of health care in the United States that puts patients at the center of concern rather than insurance companies.
Senator Lieberman was clearly not paying attention to the poll that indicated 68% of voters in his state back the idea of a publicly supported, non-profit competitor to private health insurance. The more important number to Joe Lieberman would appear to be 2.6 million; that's the number of dollars he has received from the insurance lobby over the last ten years.
To those who have followed his career, Senator Lieberman's hypocritical oath is not surprising. The Connecticut lawmaker was a loyal member of the Democratic Party until a loss in the 2006 primary changed his stripes to those of an independent. During the '06 run against Democrat Ned Lamont, Lieberman repeatedly underscored his unequivocal support for health care reform and the compelling need for universal coverage. Now he threatens to single-handedly prevent meaningful reform from being enacted by vowing to deny Democrats the ability to shut down a promised Republican filibuster.
According to a recent study published by the American Journal of Public Health, nearly 45,000 Americans die every year as a result of lacking health care. Do no harm indeed.
First Do No Harm. That is what Joe Lieberman said on Face the Nation this weekend. Vowing to support a Republican filibuster to block passage of health care reform that contains the government administered program known as the public option, the Senator from Connecticut recited the familiar maxim. Mistakenly attributed as part of the Hippocratic oath, the remark must have been particularly galling to legions of medical professionals who have fought long and hard to create a system of health care in the United States that puts patients at the center of concern rather than insurance companies.
Senator Lieberman was clearly not paying attention to the poll that indicated 68% of voters in his state back the idea of a publicly supported, non-profit competitor to private health insurance. The more important number to Joe Lieberman would appear to be 2.6 million; that's the number of dollars he has received from the insurance lobby over the last ten years.
To those who have followed his career, Senator Lieberman's hypocritical oath is not surprising. The Connecticut lawmaker was a loyal member of the Democratic Party until a loss in the 2006 primary changed his stripes to those of an independent. During the '06 run against Democrat Ned Lamont, Lieberman repeatedly underscored his unequivocal support for health care reform and the compelling need for universal coverage. Now he threatens to single-handedly prevent meaningful reform from being enacted by vowing to deny Democrats the ability to shut down a promised Republican filibuster.
According to a recent study published by the American Journal of Public Health, nearly 45,000 Americans die every year as a result of lacking health care. Do no harm indeed.
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