Pals Reid and Lieberman in Spat Over Trash Talk

Majority leader cries 'double-cross' on health care, doesn't quite take it back
By Harry Kimball,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 15, 2010 9:22 AM CST
Pals Reid and Lieberman in Spat Over Trash Talk
Reid and Lieberman appear together.   (AP Photo)

Harry Reid can't get a break this week. Just as the flap over his use of the radioactive word "negro" was beginning to fade, the New York Times quoted him, in a preview of an upcoming magazine story, as trash-talking his supposed pal Joe Lieberman. The Times cited an unnamed source quoting a furious Reid saying Lieberman had “double-crossed” him on health care reform. Reid and Lieberman, who have a "one of the more unusual symbiotic relationships in a chamber defined by odd couples," have been issuing awkward fence-mending statements ever since, reports Politico.

Yesterday, Reid released a statement saying Lieberman “has always been straightforward with me.” But then Lieberman couldn't resist going farther: “As Sen. Reid indicated in his statement, he believes, as do I, that we have always been honest with each other, and any suggestion otherwise is simply false and contrary to the truth,” he said, suggesting a retraction of the Times statement Reid had pointedly not made. Add it to the list of reasons liberals don't understand why Reid has protected Lieberman, despite many slights to the Democratic Party. (More New York Times Magazine stories.)

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