Joe Lieberman's Former College Roommate on the Senator's Journey 'to the Dark Side'

There are a lot of wild theories about what is driving Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) to oppose healthcare reform. Why would a man who has recently expressed support for health insurance reform, universal healthcare, expanding Medicare and SCHIP turn around and oppose those things once they had a chance at becoming law?

Many think he's been bought off by Big Pharma and the powerful health insurance companies in his home state. Others point to his bitterness over being abandoned by the Democratic Party in his 2006 bid to keep his Senate seat, or just to his ego. Some of the wilder theories revolve around Israel, blackmail and White House involvement.

Honestly, I don't know what to think. So when I got a chance to talk to Lieberman's former roommate at Yale, writer David Wyles, I had to ask.

"I wish I knew. I think there are aspects of those theories that are true," Wyles told me (though he agreed with me that the Israel motive is far-fetched). "Certainly he holds a grudge against the Democratic Party."

And though the idea of Lieberman taking a job in the insurance or pharmaceutical industries amounts to the type of quid pro quo that would repel most of us, Wyles is pretty certain of that possibility.

"They can offer him a big job as a lobbyist or as an executive," he said. And Lieberman will take it: "He has become shameless."

Wyles remembers Lieberman as a different kind of person. He was always a politician -- Wyles said one of Lieberman's nicknames in college was "Senator" -- but he used to have scruples.

"He was always a Scoop Jackson kind of Democrat," Wyles explained. Still, he's puzzled at how Lieberman could have "gone over to the dark side."

They haven't spoken for years now, and Wyles said he's "sorry to see that Joe has become such a shallow husk of a man."

"I see the same kind of gestures, soft voice and smiles, and that's Joe," he said. "And yet, when I see it now, it infuriates me."

Though Lieberman's current transgressions against healthcare are on the top of most minds contemplating the senator, Wyles has a longer view. He supported Lieberman's political ambitions all the way through his vice presidential run in 2000, but the two finally broke over Lieberman's support for the Iraq war.

"Joe almost reached the number of deferments that 'five-deferment Cheney' did," Wyles said. "He's for wars, but he's not for sending his kids" to fight in the conflicts that "he's so hot to make."