by Patrick Appel

 TNC:

Joe Lieberman is neither manifesting long-held views or being brought to heel by the politics of his state. (Quite the contrary.) Still, Lieberman could make an argument against the current bill outlining his own thinking, and how it's changed. But Lieberman hasn't done that. Instead he's put forth the kind of logic that make you question either his understanding of the public option he so vociferously opposes, or his intellectual honesty.

What your left with is neither policy nor politics, but an ethic of fanatic spite.

He's not "being brought to heel by the politics of his state"? What about the Connecticut insurers? They make up a sizable part of contributions to his office. There is nothing necessarily wrong with Lieberman representing the interests in his state, and with DNC money no longer flowing to his office, it makes sense that Lieberman would be more careful about upsetting financiers. I also suspect Lieberman is preparing for life after politics. Megan has some sharp analysis:

No matter how furious Democrats are, they are not going to punish him as long as he can break a filibuster for them. But that's another year.  Then what?  It's highly unlikely that Democrats will keep exactly 58 seats plus Bernie Sanders.  At that point, one way or another, Joe Lieberman becomes largely superfluous.  And the Democrats are going to have their knives out.

Chait oversimplifies here:]]>