Maybe Bernie Sanders should do a Joe Lieberman

One of the fundamental problems in this whole Health Care Reform debacle is the so much power is given to the ConservaDems or to possible wayward republicans like Olympia Snowe, because of this perception of the need to get 60 votes. In a tight situation like that, the Senators perceived as being "on the fence" acquire disproportionate power because their vote may "make or break" a fillabuster.

Therefore, it keeps getting watered down and twisted like a pretzel to placate them.

The latest "star" to emerge from this is Joe "Dog in the manger" Lieberman, who is now threatening to go with the GOP in stopping health care reform by filabuster if it has a public option.

Welll...Maybe it's time to turn the tables.

Bernie Sanders of Vermont is in the exact same ;position as Lieberman. He is an independent who caucuses with the Democrats. Unlike Lieberman, Bernie has a conscience, is an unabashed proghressive and is not owned by anyone.

Although he has been pushing for single payer universal coverage for years, Bernie's support for whatever the Democrats propose is taken for granted. They assume that no matter how bad their final bill is, no matter how much a public option is weakened, that Bernie will go along with the lesser of evils.

Welll, maybe it's time Bernie flex his own muscles. Maybe he ought to threaten to scuttle reform by defecting on a fillabuster....He doesn't necessarily have to hold out for a real single player plan. But at least to draw a line in the sand for a strong public option that actually would make a difference.

Okay, i realize that Bernie going with the GOP is not a likely scenerio. But he is, at least, in a position to flex some muscles from the left to counteract the muscle flexing of the Blue Dogs and Corporate ConservaDems.