Joe Leiberman Must Go

8 Thoughts About the 2008 Election #5

The time has come to remove Joe Lieberman from his chairmanship of the Homeland Security committee. If I thought long and hard about it, I could find a million reasons to do this I'm sure, but I'll just run down a few. Then, this weekend, I'll show you some of the best criticism of Lieberman I can find around the web.

• Joe Lieberman is not a Democrat. When he lost his primary to Ned Lamont, he was effectively removed from the Democratic party by the voters of Connecticut. He chose to run as an independent, and he won his seat back because he promised to continue to caucus with the Democrats. Why should someone who is no longer in the party continue reap the benefits of the party's victory on Nov. 4th? How can the party allow someone who questioned the patriotism of our candidate to reap the benefits of the victory he fought against?
  
• Joe Lieberman has made poor use of his chairmanship. Despite the many disasters of the Bush administration on the Homeland Security front, there have been no hearings by Lieberman's committee. There were no hearings after Katrina. There have been no hearings about the failure to secure our ports. There have been no hearings about the no-bid contracts handed out by the Dept. of Homeland Security.
  

And ultimately, in the reason that ties this all back to the election ...

• We don't need him anymore. He was politically useful to have in the caucus when it gave us 51 and control of the Senate. Well, we now have a large lead in the Senate and it's time to send him packing. I don't really care if he stays in the caucus or not. If, as he claims, he still supports the Democratic Party on the majority of issues, then he won't leave the caucus. To do so would expose him as little more than a crass political opportunist who will sell his soul to whoever shows him the most appreciation.
  
• Additionally, with Begich pulling ahead, Franken closing in on Coleman, and a Martin victory over Chambliss, you might think we would need Lieberman in the caucus to hit the magic number of 60. However, he's said he won't be a reliable vote to bust Republican filibusters, so again, what use is he to the Democrats?
  

It's time to toss him aside and move on with the business of fixing this country.

The Magnanimous Fraud

8 Thoughts About the 2008 Election #4

One of the aspects of American politics that always gets to me is the concession speech. This is the chance for a loser, like say John McCain, to pretend to be magnanimous and conciliatory at the end of a long, hard battle. It's not designed out of respect for the system. It's not designed out of respect for the voters. It's not designed out of respect for their opponent. It is intended to rehabilitate the image of the loser. Nothing less, nothing more.

John McCain's speech was especially galling. At the end of a long campaign which saw him fail to reign in the most viciously racist political attacks seen in a Presidential campaign, John McCain said that he recognized "the special significance (the election of Barack Obama) has for African-Americans and for the special pride that must be theirs tonight." Does he get to have it both ways? Are you allowed to condone a racist campaign and then hail the result that rejected that racism?

John McCain is a very fortunate man. There are few groups of people as willing to forgive as the American people. He can choose to live up to the ideas that many believed he stood for in 2000. He can choose to make his concession speech the true version of himself. He has to make the choice, and then he has to govern as the maverick he claims to be. He can't rehabilitate himself with words alone; he has to act on the principles that he espouses. He has to show us that what we saw in this campaign is not the real McCain. Will he?

It doesn't look like it. It appears that John McCain will campaign for Saxby Chambliss in that hot bed of racism and homophobia, Cobb County. I'm forced to conclude that John McCain has learned nothing from his defeat. McCain has not chosen to be the man of his 2000 campaign or the man of his 2008 concession speech. He's chosen to be the loyal Republican, principles be damned.

That's why he's a loser.

Obama Ran to the Right?

8 Thoughts About the 2008 Election #3

The conventional wisdom inside the mainstream media is that the U.S. is a Center-Right nation, and that Barack Obama has better be careful about governing too progressively. Now, it's expected that Bay Buchanan and Karl Rove would espouse this view, but even Tom Brokaw is getting into the act. (Brokaw's evidence? At the county level, McCain won more land area than Obama. Can land vote?)

Does Obama's large electoral victory bring the Center-Right theory into disrepute? No! Does his large victory in the popular vote? Of course not! What about his winning such traditional Red states as Indiana and North Carolina? I don't think so! As usual, once the right has a theory, all evidence supports that theory. It's almost like magic. Kinda cool really.

Of course, it was just a few days ago that Barack Obama was a socialist, intent on destroying the American way of life. He ran on a platform that called for raising taxes on the rich. He called for health insurance to be made available to all. Yet now, it is said that he ran a Center-Right campaign, by the losers.

This is such a self serving opinion on their part. I suppose when both your party and your ideology have been soundly rejected at the polls, you have to come up with an excuse. This is good news for our side. Nobody is going to buy Barack Obama as the middle of the road, slightly conservative Democrat. Sure, nobody enjoys a little hypocrisy more than a conservative, but you can't really get away with yelling "Socialist!!!" at every news organization that will listen one day, and then claiming Obama ran as a Republican the next.

While I'm certain that the United States is not a Center-Right country, I'm also not convinced we are a Center-Left one as well. I tend to think we are all these things. There is something that I do know for sure though. Barack Obama and the Democratic party ran to the left nationally and took control of the executive branch, and solidified control of the legislative branch of our government. After the disaster of rule by the right, the people decided it's time to give the left a shot. Let's make sure they don't regret it.

Bigot

8 Thoughts About the 2008 Election #2

UPDATED to remove the constant use of the word stupid.

The excitement of Obama's election is tempered somewhat by the passage of Proposition 8 in California. This amendment to the California state constitution eliminates the right of same-sex couples to marry. Why is this necessary?

Look, if you don't believe in homosexual marriage, don't marry someone of the same gender. It really is that simple. How can something that will have ZERO effect on the life of anyone who is not involved in the marriage cause such consternation? Oh yeah. Religion.

Here's the thing: I don't believe churches have any right to tell the government who can or cannot marry anymore than the government has the right to tell a church who it does or does not have to marry within its walls. It's called the separation of church and state and it is one of the bedrock principals on which this nation was founded. If your pastor, priest, rabbi, shaman or reverend tells you otherwise, then he or she is ignorant and should be given a US History textbook at your earliest convenience.

Let's take this one step further. If the invisible person you worship through your religion gives you permission to deny rights to someone because of their sexual orientation, then your religion seems cruel, your god seems cruel and you seem cruel. (As for the argument that these people are distorting the real meaning of Christianity, I could care less. Religion is what the people believe it is. Whether it has a legitimate basis in religious texts is irrelevant to someone who is a non-believer.)

Contrary to what many think, the first amendment does not mean I have to respect your religion or your religious beliefs. I have to respect your right to your religion, but that is as far as I can go. In fact, the first amendment gives me the right to say whatever I want about your religion.

At a time that our nation is rightfully celebrating the election of our first black President, we have many people who supported Barack Obama voting in favor of Proposition 8. Appalling. Homophobia is no worse than racism.

Do you support Proposition 8? Then you are a bigot.

I Can Scarcely Believe It

8 Thoughts About the 2008 Election #1

Obama won.

He was born to a woman from Kansas and a man from Kenya. His name sounds Muslim. His middle name is the same as the last name of the man many consider to be America's worst enemy of the past 20 years. He does not look like any man who has been our President. He is an African-American in a country that has never come close to placing a black man in the role of President. Yet, still ...

Obama won.

He has only been a national figure for the four years since he was elected to the Senate and he's been a household name for even less than that. He ran against one of the most popular politicians in his party in the primary and defeated her and then faced one of the most popular politicians in our country in the general election. Yet, still ...

Obama won.

He ran his campaign as an unabashed progressive. He has promised to raise taxes on the wealthy and eliminate loopholes in the tax code. He has promised to give every American the opportunity for health insurance. He has promised to protect Social Security rather than turn it over to Wall Street. He has bucked the conventional wisdom and run to what the media perceives as left of center. Yet, still ...

Obama Won.

He faced the dirtiest campaign we have ever witnessed. He has been accused of being friends with a known terrorist. He attended a church whose pastor allegedly hated America and he never spoke up and against it. He has been accused of hating Israel. They questioned his patriotism. They questioned his allegiance. They even questioned his religion. Some have even go so far as to call him the Antichrist. Yet, still ...

Obama won.

America decided to stand up for the little guy. America decided that it wanted to live up to those ideas upon which our founding was based. America decided to reject 8 years that attempted to redefine America as something less than noble. America has chosen to reject the politics of hate and the politics of fear. America has decided to rise up and reclaim our government from those who have trashed it and left it for ruin. In short ...

America won.