Joe Lieberman: His Kingdom for a Kiss Posted by Lorelei Kelly

I'll bet Senator Lieberman wishes he'd sat somewhere else in the last January at the State of the Union....in a back row where POTUS GW couldn't smooch  him.

Suzanne and David's post yesterday on the Lieberman loss is a good one. I'd also point readers to a classy statement  about the Connecticut election written by Representative John Conyers.  It looks for now like the Senator will forge ahead with his Independent bid--a saga that will both undermine and divide the left. Whether he intends to or not, the neo-conservative sound machine  will snatch Senator Lieberman's every utterance and twist it to their own ends. And they will get some help from Democrats. I'm convinced now  that the New Republic's Marty Peretz has lost it . Like a phantom limb, he keeps chasing some scary and powerful "left wing".  Please, Mr. Peretz, show me where these folks are!

Peretz might be drinking the Kool Aid, but the Bush White House is mixing a whole new toxic batch. Here's what spinmeister Tony Snow claimed on TV today: that last night's Connecticut Senate primary gave voters the chance to answer the question, "Do you take the war on terror seriously?" Snow said that voters in Connecticut who supported Ned Lamont (and the 57 percent of Americans  who support his position on Iraq) were choosing to "ignore the difficulties and walk away." That is the same approach, he said, that led Osama bin Laden to the conclusion "that Americans were weak and wouldn't stay the course and that led to September 11th."

But of course this White House never lets the facts get in the way of a good soundbite. Apparently, a more significant factor than the Iraq war was  opposition to President Bush Fifty-nine percent of all voters said that Lieberman "was too close to the President," and although no exact numbers are provided, it was that group which "voted overwhelmingly for Lamont." The most reliable factor in the Lamont win seems to have been not opposition to the war specifically, but a more generalized disapproval of President Bush and of Lieberman's support for the president.

There's even some politically motivated slander making the rounds-- accusing the anti-Lieberman crowd of being anti-semitic. That's more than a cheap shot. It's a stab in the heart of our democracy. This religious exploitation could become worse given the backdrop of the Israel/Hezbollah/Lebanon conflict. Danny Schechter at media channel  has a very thoughtful post on this. And Salon has a good list  of where this insidious tactic is raising its head.

So please gentlemen, where are these crazy lefties? Well, if you followed Snow or Peretz's advice, you might look at the top progressive Members of Congress--I selected  these three from the National Journal's yearly ranking. Although you might not agree with everything,  these folks have hit the bullseye on national security many times. There are no Osama cheerleaders here. Who is Mr. Snow talking about? Could it be Air Force veteran Pete Stark ? Daughter of a veteran and the only Member to vote against the use of force resolution that our President has exploited to justify both domestic surveillance and war without end--Barbara Lee ? Psychiatrist in the VietNam era Naval Corps Jim McDermott ? The list goes on and on.   I guess the  conservative talking points factory doesn't do research. Too many pesky facts. Much more gratifying to dive headfirst into the gutter.

Comments

[Cal]

Whether he intends to or not, the neo-conservative sound machine will snatch Senator Lieberman's every utterance and twist it to their own ends.

Why aren't the Dems playing this game too -- using the words of Senator Hagel and Bill Buckley to split the Republicans? Are the Republicans the only ones who know how to play offense?

Right now Rush Limbaugh is on the radio saying that Bush isn't a conservative. The Dems should be repeating Rush's words to sow confusion. If Bush isn't really a conservative, then what is he really? What's his agenda, and whose interests does he really serve? Can we trust a non-conservative with all this power that the Republican congress has so meekly handed him?

Right now the Republican positions aren't popular, and they are much more vulnerable to wedge tactics than we are. Dems should be hammering on these wedges.

Pointing out that Peter Stark is a veteran isn't nearly enough.

[Craig]

It takes some nerve for Tony Snow to ask Americans if they take terrorism seriously. When's the last time a Republican member of Congress has publicly asked the president where Osama bin Laden is, or why hasn't he been captured? Who was the president who refused to take Osama bin Laden seriously in the first place when terrorist experts tracked him down in Crawford to explain the seriousness of the situation?

The question Americans should be asking is this: does George W. Bush know what he's doing? And do we currently have a Congress that will demand action when the Bush Administration commits a blunder? I think we all know the answer.

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