I’m considering the possibility that Lieberman is not actually a human. I suspect he is a golem created by the insurance industry to terrorize the general public. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Jewish lore, a golem is a zombie created from clay during times of peril to defend persecuted Jews from Nazis, the Czar, etc. More on this below.

After telling Harry Reid that he would consider supporting a health care reform compromise including an expansion of Medicare, our favorite Senator decided to throw a wrench in the works on the Sunday morning talk circuit by announcing his plan to scuttle health care reform. According to the New York Times Lieberman said:

You’ve got to take out the Medicare buy-in. You’ve got to forget about the public option. You probably have to take out the Class Act, which was a whole new entitlement program that will, in future years, put us further into deficit.

It goes without saying that Lieberman would oppose a Class Act. In this instance he is referring to an insurance policy covering long term care: the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports Act. In other words, if Reid eliminates every last vestige of reform from the Health Care Reform bill, Lieberman will support it.

There are a number of actions progressives can take to combat Lieberman’s most recent assault on the Democratic Party while saving the health care bill. Senator Olympia Snowe currently objects to the Medicare buy-in because Medicare’s reimbursement rates to hospitals and doctors are disproportionately lower in rural areas, a perfectly reasonable objection for a senator from a rural state. Perhaps it is time to fix this problem.

Next, progressives can sign the 8,868 individuals who have signed a CREDO petition informing Senate leadership that today is a good day to strip Lieberman of his committee chairmanship. Such a move would likely force him into the Republican party which would not go over well with his constituency in Connecticut.

Then we can tune into a Daily Kos diary posted last night by Hlinko to collect pledges for donations to a Lieberman opponent in the next election if he fillibusters HCR. So far, Hlinko has collected $1.6 million in pledges from $30,000 people through facebook.

(You can pledge, too by becoming a fan and leaving your pledge in the comment section. To do this, follow the facebook link in the preceeding paragraph, and sign up for a facebook account by clicking the green tab at the top left hand corner. Tthen follow the link to the pledge page one more time and this time click the blue tab on the top right hand side of the page. Write your pledge into the empty comment bar in the center at the top of the page. Click the share tab below the comment bar and you’ve succeeded! If Lieberman persists in his threat to fillibuster, donate the pledged amount directly to his opponent when the time comes.)

However, there is a particularly Jewish protest Tikkun readers can engage in as well…one that might actually mean something to Lieberman. (Thank you to reader Laura S. for emailing your suggestion!) You can send him a golem of his very own.

For those of you who don’t know, a golem is a gigantic clay monster. According to Jewish lore, Rabbi Judah Loew ben Azalel, Chief Rabbi of Prague in the late 16th century, created a golem to defend his people from vicious anti-semitic pogroms. If you are feeling especially ambitious and are a pious practitioner of Judaism, you can create your own golem to send to Joe Lieberman by fashioning a giant man (at least three stories tall) out of clay and imprinting the name of G-d on his forehead (the clay man’s forehead, not Lieberman’s). Then tell him to go visit Joe. Complete instructions are available at this site. Or, if you are feeling lazy and you may work from the comfort of your own home.

Finally, for readers who do not want to risk dabbling in the occult, send him a pre-formed golem via video. (To do this, copy and paste the URL to the right of the video into an email message. You can reach soon to be ex-Senator Lieberman here.)

Finally, for your own enjoyment, here is a link to an entertaining one minute musical golem video that can’t be embedded. Another good but longer animated video is embedded below. Happy Hanukkah!