In Three Years, I Could Support The Plan That Doesn't Start For Four Years

Here's what's actually crazy about what Joe Lieberman is saying here.

The Democratic-turned-independent senator said he knows his opposition to the government-run option will probably foil the Democrats' efforts to pass the bill.

"There will be no shot at 60 votes, because I'm not the only one," he said.

But he added: "If we start this out and three years from now a case can be made that the private market is not working effectively, I would support the public option."

The public option, in the plans on offer, wouldn't start until 2013, FOUR years from now.

Of course, the way a trigger would be set up would be to ensure that the insurance industry cleared whatever arbitrary marker they needed to in order to stave off competition. So the notion of a public option coming into being somehow in the future would be a fantasy.

That's how it works. But Lieberman, who knows this, is being completely disingenuous here.