I detest Lieberman. He is not a Democrat. He is a self-serving political opportunist who sucks up to power and screws over those out of power to make himself look good. Right now those out of power are the Democrats and Lieberman is happy to screw them over. Joe Lieberman has done more to damage the image of the national Democratic Party than any ten Republicans (not counting Karl Rove.) Digby points out that the New York Times states that the Democratic opposition to Joe Lieberman is because of his position on the war in Iraq.
Frankly, in 2003 I decided that, based on the information I was getting from the main stream media (and sourced almost entirely from the Bush administration - especially Dick Cheney, though I did not then realize that) there was valid reason to invade Iraq. I didn't understand the timing and I had my share of questions, but I would have voted to give the administration the power to invade Iraq if Saddam failed to respond to the U.N. demands. I never held it against Kerry or Edwards that they voted for the war. It was the wrong decision, but the available information did not make a clear yes or no decision possible. But Digby makes the case against Joe Lieberman today better than I can.
"the reason the netroots are taking on Joe Lieberman is because he enables Republicans on a host of issues and consistently shows disloyalty to the party in a hyper-partisan era. Alone among Democrats at the time, he went on the floor of the Senate and excoriated Bill Clinton for personal failures (that's what the speech was about) and gave support to the hypocritical Republican witch-hunters. Then, once again, alone among Democrats, he stood up for George Bush as it became obvious that the justification for the war in Iraq was based upon lies and hype. These are just two telling examples of where Lieberman tends to come out on issues that mean something to the Democratic party in a larger sense.I didn't care for Lieberman's sanctimonious speech on the Senate floor against Clinton, but I was very unhappy with Clinton's stupid behavior, too. Joe was a bit out of line then. But he seems to have learned the wrong lesson. He has become the Republican's favorite Democrat, with an automatic role in every one of FOX News' Democratic bashing events. He publicly supports Bush more than most Republican House members do today. And he does not seem to learn.
He comes from Connecticut. There is no excuse that he's in a Red State and has to pander to conservatives. He does this completely for its own sake. And inevitably, he gets the highest accolades from Republicans for doing so; he actually seems to revel in his position as George Bush's favorite Democrat. It is understandable that a Democratic senator lauded constantly by the right wing noise machine is going to be suspect among Democratic partisans.
There was a time when a vital center coalition existed in the Senate, where there was room on both sides for trading votes across party lines. The Republicans destroyed that coalition and Lieberman, inexplicably, doesn't seem to get that. Even worse, when the shit comes down, he inevitably sides with them. Many Democrats took a long time to learn the harsh lessons of GOP political hardball and had to lose to a bunch of thuggish right-wingers before they began to recognize what they were up against. Lieberman still refuses to accept the fact that his high minded centrism is a weapon in the hands of the radical Republicans.
The netroots are bringing some heat from the partisans and even if Lamont loses maybe this will move Lieberman's ass a little bit back to the party that brung him. That is not illegitimate politics. It is the only way to educate him apparently. He certainly has not listened to anything else."
He has told Harry Reid and Hillary Clinton that he will not run as an independent if he loses the Democratic primary, yet he tells the New Hampshire voters that he will run as an independent. He'll lie to Democrats sooner than fight Republicans. Since the Republicans have the national power, he sucks up to them and cuts down the Democrats.
It's a damned shame that a man who went into the South to get Blacks to register to vote in the 60's should have failed to understand America today so badly.
And he still will not admit to rethinking the Iraq war, even thought many Republicans have done so. This is a rather minor thing, though. He has frankly ceased to be a Democrat. So a Democrat needs to replace him.
It's really that simple.
1 comment:
It seems to me that Lieberman is actually the politician all others say they are. He reached across party lines and made decisions that were unpopular in his own party. But he made those decisions only after investigating the facts himself. I wouldn't saay he was a Bush supporter or a republican. He's what we call in the south a blue dog democrat. A centrist with conservative foreign policy and liberal domestic policy.
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