Imus to Esteemed Senator Joseph Lieberman: "Lose the Number"
As a result of reaching a busy signal for a few minutes, Senator Joe Lieberman phoned in late this morning, though he said he didn’t take the tied-up line personally. That is, until Imus informed him, “You should have.”
Lieberman, an Independent from Connecticut, will retire at the end of his next term, in January 2013. Until then he has no choice but to give a crap about whether the U.S. federal government can avoid a shutdown. “It’s close,” he said. “I’d say it’s about 52-48 in favor of an agreement today.”
The process of reaching such harmony is tricky, he noted, “because it’s basically three people in the room: it’s the President, it’s John Boehner, and its Harry Reid.”
Which sounded, at least to Imus, like the beginning of a bad joke. Except that nothing about the potential shutdown of numerous government agencies—including the one that pays American soldiers—is a laughing matter.
“The money gap is down to about a fraction of one percent of the federal budget,” Lieberman said, citing the shrinking differential as evidence of why he believes a deal will be struck sooner than later. That, and because a shutdown benefits no one politically. “Everybody has an interest in getting it done.”
Former Rep. John LeBoutillier observed earlier today that the Tea Party’s goals and its agenda are driving the call for budget cuts in this country, regardless of how many people identify themselves as members.
“I think the Tea Party is not the cause, but is the effect,” Lieberman said. He explained, “People who are not Tea Party people, who don’t buy into the whole Tea Party or the details of its platform, nonetheless voted for candidates that the Tea Party said were okay, because they had a single goal, and they wanted members of Congress to stop the spending and bring the government into balance.”
The battle over the budget is, as Lieberman put it, “kind of the first labor pains of an attempt to give birth to a different kind of government.” Hokey, but probably accurate.
Lieberman agreed with LeBoutillier comparing the current sentiment in the country to the feeling in 1992, when third-party Presidential candidate Ross Perot brought the issue of balancing the budget to the forefront. “It took some years, but in 1997 a bipartisan balanced budget was adopted, and when Clinton left office we had a significant surplus,” Lieberman said. “Of course now, we’re trillions in debt.”
Ever the pragmatist, Lieberman firmly believes President Obama was born in the United States, unlike four in ten Americans and a very loud Donald Trump. “It puzzles me,” he said. “Part of it is conspiracy theory, part of it is people who don’t like the President.”
And even though he could not immediately get through on the phone lines this morning, Lieberman decided against the conspiracy theory that Imus was trying to avoid having this conversation. For proof, he wondered if he’d still be able to appear on this program after he retires from the Senate.
“Of course not,” Imus said, laughing. “Lose the number!”
-Julie Kanfer
Reader Comments (1)
CANADA HELD HOSTAGE BY IMUS SHOW
Day 1
Show refuse's to use Canadian emails despite saying "and Fox Business..probably heard all around the world"!
Hey EYE man
When the white Al Sharpton and his angry mob come for Dagen after her "racist hillbilly" Meth-head comments Friday
Will you stand behind her.....or fold like a CHEAP SUIT
Any wonder why she's not allowed near kids????
Doug
Or Two
Please tell Donald Trump.....Oboma has been "rulin" your country for two years
Yeah think...maybe...its a bit late to worry bout his birth certificate
Col Gadaffy Duck seems fine with it
or Three
Larry King replacement Piers Morgan had Jesse-all questions-Ventura ,thinking he had been called a coward
Why...Crazy old Jesse thinks somebody blew up the World Trade Centre
seems like a natural for your show