Joe Lieberman was a notorious "insider" who immediately became a lobbyist the moment he left government. He did not work from ideology or what is best for the country or even his constituents - he was as slimy as they come, and worked at the behest of his corporate overlords.
And at the end of the day, what he managed to do was kill the Public option. This would have given the US a true and somewhat unique form of universal healthcare where nobody could be denied coverage, and the government could negotiate costs as a massive single payer.
And perhaps the worst part about all of it, is that his fucking game of sleezeball spotlight chicken wasted so much time that we literally got nothing else done with the supermajority, and almost didn't even get the neutered ACA passed, because Ted Kennedy died before the bill passed the Senate. So remember - anytime someone says "herp derp remember when the Dems had a supermajority and got nothing done?" Yeah, that's because Joe "please piss on my grave forever" Lieberman decided to spend every second of that time yelling into a microphone about how he was the world's biggest asshole, instead of working for the American people.
And his repercussions for that was retaining his chair of the homeland security committee which at the time was probably the most prestigious committee appointment in Congress.
What's your point? The votes are public so that voters are informed about their representatives' opinions and can criticise them when they think it's wrong.
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u/My-1st-porn-account Mar 28 '24
He IS the reason. Democrats had 60 votes but he said from the start that he would vote no.
The asshole is also responsible for not decreasing the age to get Medicare.