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Wednesday, December 16th, 2009 | Posted by Editor - Blog News Service

The Buzz on Joe Lieberman

Health Care Overhaul

Senator Joe Lieberman has never been one to shy away from controversy. The Connecticut lawmaker and former Democratic vice presidential candidate-turned-Independent caused a huge stir when he spoke on John McCain’s behalf at the Republican National Convention in 2008. Now Sen. Lieberman is back in the political spotlight, thanks to his opposition to some health care reform proposals.

Until very recently, Sen. Lieberman was on board for a clause that would extend Medicare benefits to Americans aged 55-64. Now, he’s not. The apparent change of heart has caused a lot of his rivals and allies to speak out. One angry Democrat is even calling for a Lieberman recall. Not surprisingly, the attention and comments, both good and bad, have led to a boom of Web searches on the senator.

For his part, Sen. Lieberman has explained that he is for health care reform, as long as it excludes Medicare expansion and a public option. The senator explained that in 2000, when he ran as Al Gore’s running mate, he was in favor of expanding Medicare, but that a lot of things have changed, among them the country’s national debt and the “imminent bankruptcy” of Medicare. In his opinion, we just can’t afford it.

But there are others who think the senator’s motivations are different. An article from the New York Times explains that in a recent interview Sen. Lieberman said, “he was particularly troubled by the overly enthusiastic reaction to the proposal by some liberals.” A blogger from the Washington Post argues that the senator “seems primarily motivated by torturing liberals.” All of this has led to a slew of Web searches. Online lookups for “senator lieberman,” “joe lieberman health care,” and “is joe lieberman a democrat or republican” all surged to triple digit gains.

Also gaining ground in the Search box are lookups on the Senator’s wife, Hadassah Lieberman. The New York Daily News reports that “liberal activists want to see Hadassah Lieberman booted from her position as “Global Ambassador” for the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation.” Whether her husband’s position on health care reform should in any way affect her own professional role as a spokesperson for cancer research is in and of itself a controversial question.

Of course, this is Washington, and a politician’s position can change. Vice President Joe Biden has gone on record as saying that he believes Sen. Lieberman will “see the light” on health care reform, “but there’s an awful lot of gamesmanship going on right now.” A fired-up President Obama recently held a press conference updating the public on the state of the proceedings. He said he was “cautiously optimistic” that the reform “has to pass on our watch.” Stay tuned.

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