Article by Guest Blogger BobbiV

I know a lot of people out there are just as mad at Joe LIEberman as I am.  It looks like he single handedly is on a tear to kill any meaningful health care reform and for those of us who really need reform of the health system he seems to be perfectly content to sign death sentences .

Yet, there he sits in charge of the powerful Homeland Security Committee and his only response to whether he was willing to lose his Chairmanship because of his stance on the health care bill was “Oh, God no”.  So that is how much of a moral stand he is taking and how much he really believes in what he is doing.  He is not willing to lose personally for it.  That is for us to do.

This whole thing is payback, pure and simple.  He is playing political games against liberals and progressive Democrats.  I think it is because we stood against him in a primary and forced him to become an Independent to retain his seat.

A few months ago I would not have believed this pettiness from Joe LIEberman.  But as time goes on it looks more and more like payback is what he is playing.  Well, that along with the fact that his wife made her living from big pharma corporations and he is a wholly owned subsidiary of Aetna which, of course, plays a part as well.  But I get the feeling that Joe is really enjoying the limelight and the power he is wielding.

All of that said, Now it is time for some payback of our own.  Let’s take Joe Liberman’s committee chairmanship away from him.  We know he doesn’t want to lose it, but then we really don’t want to lose any more lives either.

I received the following email from Bold Progressives dot Org.  It contains a link where you can sign a petition to strip Joe of his chairmanship.  I have already signed it and if you feel the same about this guy I hope you will too.  The petition will be delivered to Senate Democrats.

Here is the email:

Sen. Joe Lieberman announced Sunday that he will join Republicans in blocking a vote on any real health care reform bill — including any public option and even the fake “compromise” floated last week.

The Washington Post’s Ezra Klein writes, “At this point, Lieberman is just torturing liberals. That is to say, he’s willing to directly cause the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people in order to settle an old electoral score.”

Enough is enough. Can you join 145,000 others in telling Democratic leaders to punish Joe Lieberman by taking his committee chairmanship? Click here.

Then, please ask others you know to take action.

Lieberman was asked if he’d accept losing his powerful committee chairmanship as a consequence of blocking reform, and he answered, “Oh, God no.” Our message to Sen. Harry Reid and other Democratic leaders says:

“Any Democratic senators — including Joe Lieberman — who support a Republican attempt to block a vote on health care reform should be stripped of their leadership titles. Americans deserve a clean up-or-down vote on health care reform that includes a public option.”

Sign the petition here – we’ll deliver it to Senate Democrats.

Then, please ask others you know to take action.

Today, we are releasing a new poll with Howard Dean’s Democracy for America that shows wide support for our petition:

• Democratic voters think Senate Democrats should take away Lieberman’s chairmanship by 81% to 10%. Independents also support it by 13 points.
• Democratic voters want Senate Democrats to use “reconciliation” by 73% to 13%. This requires just 51 votes to pass reform instead of 60, bypassing Lieberman.
• Voters favor Howard Dean’s “We Can Do Both” proposal (a public option PLUS a Medicare buy-in for ages 55-64) by 57% to 32%. Among Independents, it’s 56% to 28% (2 to 1).
• 84% of Democratic voters want progressive primary challengers to congressional Democrats who oppose a public option.

This poll is being reported by many news outlets. Now, we need to back it up with grassroots action.

Can you join 145,000 others in telling Democratic leaders to punish Joe Lieberman? Click here.

Thanks for being a bold progressive.