# Health Care Reform & Lieberman **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 14, 2009, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/health-care-reform-lieberman/521232 "2009-12-14T17:06:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![MichaelQReilly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@MichaelQReilly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelQReilly)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2009, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/health-care-reform-lieberman/521232/21 "2009-12-14T21:54:22Z")
As a near lifelong resident of Connecticut, I can confidently report that I have never met ANYONE who likes Joe Lieberman. Who actually votes for this guy and how he keeps getting elected is a total mystery. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2009, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/health-care-reform-lieberman/521232/22 "2009-12-14T21:55:39Z")
> [@MichaelQReilly](#): > > As a near lifelong resident of Connecticut, I can confidently report that I have never met ANYONE who likes Joe Lieberman. Who actually votes for this guy and how he keeps getting elected is a total mystery. Jewish conspiracy, clearly! (D&R!) -Joe ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2009, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/health-care-reform-lieberman/521232/23 "2009-12-14T21:57:06Z")
[VIDEO: Watch Lieberman Endorse Medicare Buy-In Three Months Ago](http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/health-care/video-watch-lieberman-endorse-medicare-buy-in-three-months-ago/) ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2009, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/health-care-reform-lieberman/521232/24 "2009-12-14T22:21:26Z")
So, he couldn’t get himself a shabby _goy_? I mean, its not like we’re in short supply… ---
**Author:** ![Punoqllads](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d2c977/32.png) [@Punoqllads](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Punoqllads)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2009, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/health-care-reform-lieberman/521232/25 "2009-12-14T22:59:46Z")
> [@Mr\_Smashy](#): > > The guy stands up for his principles. This is a guy who walks several miles to the Capitol to cast votes on Saturday, since it’s his sabbath and he’s not allowed to drive, as an Orthodox Jew. > > Whether you agree or disagree with him on this stance, it’s tough not to respect him. An observant Jew should not walk extended distances on Shabbat. If there’s an important vote on a Saturday, he could cast an absentee ballot before sundown Friday, assuming that’s allowed under Senate rules. ---
**Author:** ![Punoqllads](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d2c977/32.png) [@Punoqllads](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Punoqllads)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2009, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/health-care-reform-lieberman/521232/26 "2009-12-14T23:07:13Z")
Whoops, my mistake, the restriction is on carrying any objects an extended distance. So as long as his keys, iPhone, etc. are being carried by an aide, it’s kosher. So to speak. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2009, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/health-care-reform-lieberman/521232/27 "2009-12-14T23:09:37Z")
Well, then, how about one of his minions? He’s supposed to have ten of those, right? ---
**Author:** ![Punoqllads](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d2c977/32.png) [@Punoqllads](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Punoqllads)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2009, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/health-care-reform-lieberman/521232/28 "2009-12-14T23:15:09Z")
That would be allowed for any non-Jewish minions. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2009, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/health-care-reform-lieberman/521232/29 "2009-12-14T23:30:14Z")
What the hell does the fact that he observes the Sabbath have to do with anything? ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2009, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/health-care-reform-lieberman/521232/30 "2009-12-14T23:45:22Z")
I believe **Mr Smashy’s** thesis is that strict adherence to ancient superstitions somehow makes a man worthy of great respect ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2009, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/health-care-reform-lieberman/521232/31 "2009-12-14T23:47:35Z")
> [@Mr\_Smashy](#): > > The guy stands up for his principles. This is a guy who walks several miles to the Capitol to cast votes on Saturday, since it’s his sabbath and he’s not allowed to drive, as an Orthodox Jew. > > Whether you agree or disagree with him on this stance, it’s tough not to respect him. LOL … the compromise he’s opposing now is one he supported three months ago. The only principle Joe Lieberman supports is the principle to have his dick sucked by the insurance industry. ---
**Author:** ![waterj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/858c86/32.png) [@waterj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waterj2)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/health-care-reform-lieberman/521232/32 "2009-12-15T00:05:11Z")
> [@The\_Hamster\_King](#): > > LOL … the compromise he’s opposing now is one he supported three months ago. The only principle Joe Lieberman supports is the principle to have his dick sucked by the insurance industry. It’s hard to say whether his motivation is to help his contributors in the insurance industry or to be a thorn in the side of the Democratic Party, who really ought to strip him of any power he has in the Senate. And start funding a real Democrat to run against him in 2012, since he was still planning on running for re-election, last I heard. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/health-care-reform-lieberman/521232/33 "2009-12-15T01:25:15Z")
> [@waterj2](#): > > [The Democratic Party] really ought to strip him of any power he has in the Senate. And start funding a real Democrat to run against him in 2012, since he was still planning on running for re-election, last I heard. This. It boggles the mind that this ass \*still \*has a leadership position. ---
**Author:** ![Maeglin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Maeglin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maeglin)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/health-care-reform-lieberman/521232/34 "2009-12-15T01:46:55Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > No. Work that’s forbidden on the Sabbath is “work,” in the sense of doing a job. Carrying things, making fire, washing, cooking… all these are forbidden. But unless it involved writing something, I would think voting would be permissible. (Even the writing, if it happens, is probably not done by the voting Senator but by a clerk tabulating the results; the clerk would be a sort of _Shabbos goy_, a non-Jew hired to perform acts that observant Jews cannot do on the Sabbath.) It’s a bit more complicated than this. I know this is the Pit, but… There are 39 classes of work prohibited on the Sabbath. These are extremely well-defined, all of which were required to build the temple. Any task that operates for the same purpose or as the prohibited categories is also prohibited. This is not to be understood generally as “work”. For the record, I concur that this is in fact an antique superstition that has little or no bearing whatsoever on whether or not an individual engenders respect. ---
**Author:** ![Trepa\_Mayfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/edb3f5/32.png) [@Trepa\_Mayfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trepa_Mayfield)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/health-care-reform-lieberman/521232/35 "2009-12-15T01:54:34Z")
> [@](#): > > A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds. That would be a lot more impressive (for a very broad definition of impressive) if I actually knew who said it. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/health-care-reform-lieberman/521232/36 "2009-12-15T02:10:24Z")
> [@pedescribe](#): > > That would be a lot more impressive (for a very broad definition of impressive) if I actually knew who said it. Ralph Waldo Emerson. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/health-care-reform-lieberman/521232/37 "2009-12-15T02:37:25Z")
A hobgoblin is bad, right? ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/health-care-reform-lieberman/521232/38 "2009-12-15T02:53:30Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > A hobgoblin is bad, right? Well, he killed Spider-Man’s girlfriend, so yeah. Which is kind of odd, because I always pictured Emerson as more of a DC fan than Marvel. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/health-care-reform-lieberman/521232/39 "2009-12-15T03:17:36Z")
> [@Maeglin](#): > > For the record, I concur that this is in fact an antique superstition that has little or no bearing whatsoever on whether or not an individual engenders respect. Wait a minute. A day spent in reflective contemplation once a week is worthy of the respect accorded keeping a discipline. It is the particular man here that is not worthy of respect because of his duplicity about so many of his principles. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/health-care-reform-lieberman/521232/40 "2009-12-15T03:23:44Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > Wait a minute. A day spent in reflective contemplation once a week is worthy of the respect accorded keeping a discipline. It is the particular man here that is not worthy of respect because of his duplicity about so many of his principles. Joe Liberman wouldn’t know _reflective contemplation_ if it flew into his house on the back of a dragon and raped his dog. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/health-care-reform-lieberman/521232.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/health-care-reform-lieberman/521232.md?page=3)