Joe Lieberman: The Best Senator Money Can Buy?

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Connecticut Senator Joseph Lieberman has long been an advocate for universal health care. In August, 2000 he signed on to the Hyde Park Declaration, a policy agenda that promoted Americans' universal access to health care. As recently as September, 2009, Lieberman gave an interview to a Connecticut newspaper in which he was recorded on video clearly saying that he supported allowing Americans 55-64 years old to buy into Medicare and Medicaid programs. This is leading many people to wonder why Senator Lieberman is working so hard to block the health care reform legislation now under consideration, which included the very same policies he has so strongly supported in the past. One of his motives might include revenge against Connecticut Democrats for rejecting him in 2006 (after which time he gained re-election as an Independent). Some think he may trying to appeal to Republicans, who could prove key to his re-election bid in 2012. But the main reason could be that, over his political career, Senator Lieberman has accepted more than $1 million from large, Connectucut-based health insurance companies, a figure which led the New York Times to dub him the "Million Dollar Man." In his 2006 re-election campaign, Lieberman ranked second in the Senate in accepting insurance industry contributions.