125,000 Signatures and Counting: Tell Harry Reid to Punish Joe 'Low-Blow' Lieberman

Progressives and liberal Democrats are united: Senator Joe 'Low-Blow' Lieberman should be stripped of his chairmanship of the Homeland Security Subcommittee if he reneges on his pledge to fellow caucus members to play a constructive role on key votes, meaning no filibuster of Democratic bills. Setting aside his open support for John McCain's presidential bid, this time Lieberman stabbed Democrats in the back at a critical juncture in the healthcare debate by crowing to FOX News he will filibuster any Senate healthcare reform bill with a public option, thus preventing an up-or-down vote.


With this open display of contempt for President Obama and the Party leadership, Lieberman -- the ostensible "Independent"-- gleefully thumbed his nose at 68% of his constituents. He further insulted their intelligence by claiming to take a principled position in order to keep healthcare costs down. This disgusting LIE by the senator from the corporate state of insurance companies is all the more outrageous because it flies in the face of CBO estimates that significant deficit reduction of more than $100 billion would result from a robust public option.

The arrogance of Democratic insurance company shills -- recipients of millions in campaign contributions from an industry that is spending $1.4 million daily to defeat healthcare reform -- senators like Landrieu and Lieberman, is breathtaking. Wallowing in their crass betrayal of the public interest, these senators are still living in the corrupt past, a familiar world of backslapping backroom deals with corporate lobbyists that so diminished the American people's faith in government.

As Lieberman reinforced his tone-deaf politics in yet another losing presidential bid, the people's faith renewed itself and crystallized around the candidate whose promise of "hope" and "change" swept him into office in what was a transformative, generational, paradigm-shifting election. Those fundamental facts have not changed, despite the hard reality of governing in the worst economic climate since the 1930s, amid an obstructionist Republican Party bereft of ideas other than defeating the President of the United States for political gain. To the contrary, pushback from a reactionary coalition of losers at the polls and corporations fearing their imminent loss of power and influence in Washington, makes the need for reform all the more compelling.

The old-style corrupt pols who are standing in the way of reform cannot look beyond the D.C. beltway to the new political paradigm that fueled the Obama victory. In their myopic view, the thousands of white proto-fascist screamers waving racist signs at town hall meetings and Tea Bagger rallies compare to, even supplant, the millions of committed Obama voters -- progressives, independents, and moderates -- that understand the urgent need for reform of our healthcare and financial institutions systems is an economic imperative central to our nation's future growth and prosperity. This reality has not yet sunk in for Lieberman, and never will unless he feels its lasting sting. As President Obama has so often said, change is hard and he cannot do it alone.

Let's send Joe 'Low-Blow' Lieberman a message. There is a grassroots, millions-strong digital network, in his state and around the country, that will not sit idly by while he derails healthcare. Our netroots of committed voters, 21st century activists that can shake out the obstructionists' lies and instantly broadcast them on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and the blogs, is ready to exact a political price from 'Low-Blow' Lieberman for his obstinate stance against the public interest.

Please sign the petition urging Harry Reid and the Democratic Party to punish Joe Lieberman should he stand in the way of healthcare reform. It's time to flex some badass progressive muscle.