If Joe Lieberman won’t vote for a reasonable health care bill, it really makes more sense to just use the budget reconciliation process, even though that will mean that we can’t move on to other things like jobs and climate legislation. You can only appease so much before you look ridiculous. And passing Lieberman’s version of health care reform would be impossible to sell to the Democratic base. So, don’t worry about it and just change the strategy. Pass a package of insurance reforms, and then do the rest under reconciliation rules. Make sure to blame Lieberman. And take away his chairs and kick him out of the caucus after next year’s elections. He’s a Republican now.
