Sen. Joe Lieberman says ...

8 Words of Stupidity for 2/5/2009 #6

We had hoped Vice President Cheney would be here tonight. I hope it's not his back injury that's keeping him away. Apparently, he hurt it moving some things out of his office. Personally, I had no idea that waterboards were so heavy.

- Sen. Joe Lieberman (R - CT) at the Alfalfa dinner.

Some of his jokes weren't so bad, but the fact that we all seem to view torture as something that should be laughed about shows why this was allowed to happen. Sometimes, it's hard to keep faith in the American idea, especially when people like Joe Lieberman are allowed to serve.

Oldie but Goodie

8 Random Items for 11/20/2008 #1

Traitor Joe says ...

NAPOLITANO: Hey Sen. Lieberman, you know Barack Obama, is he a Marxist as Bill Kristol says might be the case in today’s New York Times? Is he an elitist like your colleague Hillary Clinton says he is?

LIEBERMAN: Well, you know, I must say that’s a good question. I know him now for a little more than three years since he came into the Senate and he’s obviously very smart and he’s a good guy. I will tell ya that during this campaign, I’ve learned some things about him, about the kind of environment from which he came ideologically.

Traitor Joe, Barack Obama is about as close to being a Marxist as you are to being a decent human being. Of course, you're no dummy so you know that. "I’d hesitate to say he’s a Marxist." What a convincing denial of an idiotic accusation. Please retire and go home you worthless warmonger.

Sorry, More on Joe LIberman

8 Random Items for 11/19/2008 #1

Well ... the outrage has passed. Don't get me wrong, it's a bad decision and I guarantee that at some point it will come back to bite Obama in the ass.

Through our collective disgust with Lieberman, we have given him more power than he deserves. Lieberman is an increasingly irrelevant Senator in almost every regard. He will be surrounded by an increasing Democratic majority. Best of all, he won't be able to hold onto his own Senate seat next time he's up for reelection. I know it isn't realistic to expect him to just head off into the dark night quietly, but he's heading off none the less. Soon, he won't be our problem anymore.

That's change I can believe in.

Pardon the Vulgarity

8 Random Items for 11/18/2008 #8

I'm proud to be a Democrat because of the people who make up the party. I'm proud to be a Democrat because it was Democrats that gave America the New Deal. I'm proud to be a Democrat because it was Democrats that defeated fascism. I'm proud to be a Democrat because it was Democrats who passed landmark civil rights legislation. I'm proud to be a Democrat because of the party's support for labor. I could go on and on. Nothing I'm about to say should cause any doubt that I am anything but the loyal, loud partisan I've always been. I'm proud to be a Democrat but it is a crying shame that our elected officials don't always live up to the ideals of our party, to our party's history or to the people they represent.

Joe Lieberman has been removed from a committee seat where he supports the party line and allowed to remain as the Chairman of the Homeland Security committee. How did this happen?

Many of our elected officials are really quiet stupid. They worship at the alter of bi-partisanship. They might even fancy themselves independents. (Independents are the dumbest people in the American electorate. Bar none.) This is the fault of Barack Obama who sent the signal that he wants Lieberman to keep his and to every one of the Democratic senators who voted to allow it to happen.

Here's my message to them. F**k you Barack Obama. F**k you Harry Reid. F**k you Dick Durbin. F**k you Ken Salazar. F**k you Chris Dodd. F**k you Tom Carper. F**k you Bill Nelson. F**k you to every one of the 42 Democratic Senators who hid behind an anonymous vote to support the bastard Lieberman. F**k you to Howard Dean for defending the deal. F**k you to every Republican and independent who likes and supports Joe Lieberman. Actually, f**k you to every Republican anyway. F**k you to every television pundit that talks about bi-partisanship as if its a good thing. And a hearty f**k you to Joe Lieberman, a miserable piece of dog sh**.

I'm still optimistic about this administration and this Congress, but do not forget for one second that for all their promise, these are politicians. They will only do what needs to be done if we make them. MAKE THEM.

Oh yeah. They also passed a resolution condemning Lieberman for his attacks against Obama. It's good to see they attack with teeth.

Ain't Got No Home

The Case Against Joe Lieberman #8

dday ...

Lieberman would end up being a headache on either side of the aisle - a mole on the Democratic side, a Judas on the increasingly extremist Republican side. What's more, Republicans don't have any committee chairmanships to hand out, either. And nobody's going to put their seniority aside for him.

He Can Be Their Headache

The Case Against Joe Lieberman #7

Josh Marshall ...

Joe Lieberman is putting out word that if the Democrats don't allow him to keep his chairmanship, he'll take up Mitch McConnell's invitation to join the Republican caucus. I think the answer has to be, go for it.

What Digby Said

The Case Against Joe Lieberman #6

digby ...

Joe Lieberman is a sanctimonious egomaniac who has no sense of loyalty or gratitude and he will stab Obama in the back as often as possible.

digby again ...

This whole discussion is ridiculous. Joe Lieberman was repudiated by Democrats in his state, he campaigned for the Republican candidate for president. In what sense is this guy a Democrat?

Out of His Own Mouth

The Case Against Joe Lieberman #5

Joe makes the case against himself in this awesome video of campaign low lights put together by Jed at The Daily Kos ...

It's Called Democracy

The Case Against Joe Lieberman #4

kos ...

Of course, committee assignments generally go to those who helped the party gain its majorities. ... Why? Because to the victor go the spoils. It's called democracy, and the people have made their preferences felt at the ballot box. If they wanted the Lieberman version of DC, they would've voted for McCain.

Good Governance

The Case Against Joe Lieberman #3

Fire Dog Lake's Jane Hamsher makes the case ...

Good governance is going to be about more than passing new legislation, it's going to be about cleaning up the mess that has been made over the past 8 years. It's going to be about weeding out the graft and greed and corruption that has caused American taxpayers to foot the bill for outrageous deficits.

...

Not only is Joe Lieberman not doing that job, as Chairman of the Department of Homeland Security Committee he's keeping anyone else from doing it.

"Fox News of the Senate"

The Case Against Joe Lieberman #2

MyDD's Josh Orton would like to see Obama take a stronger stand on the issue ...

Lieberman is the Fox News of the Senate. Enable him now, and it'll just bite you in the rear later. Obama might as well recognize Joe's bad faith early and save himself the headache.

Party Loyalty

The Case Against Joe Lieberman #1

Ed Kilgore of The Democratic Strategist, no loony lefty, says ...

Make no mistake: if Lieberman is allowed to retain his seniority and current committee chairmanship, Senate Democrats will be setting an entirely new and incredibly low standard for party loyalty. This would set a precedent that is offensive not only to "activists" or "the base," but to those with heterodox views who felt enough moral obligation to the Donkey Party to at least keep their mouths shut and stay away from Republican campaign rallies and the Republican convention. Lieberman made his own choices, and that's fine; it's a free country and all. But the idea that it's Democrats who are offending him by insisting that his choices have consequences, particularly when they are bending over backwards to keep him in the Caucus when they no longer need his vote to control the Senate, is simply bizarre.

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.

Quick 8: Did You Notice?

1. During Obama's infomercial last night, he didn't mention John McCain once. Do you think it would be possible for John McCain to talk 30 minutes without mentioning Obama? 15 minutes? 30 seconds?
2. Sarah Palin appears to be looking ahead to a Presidential run in 2012. How do you think it makes John McCain feel to know that his running mate is already planning her future, a future that won't include the White House?
3. Elizabeth Dole has run the most despicable ad of the election campaign. The ad, called "Godless" is a near inhuman attack on Kay Fagan, Dole's opponent for her seat in the Senate from North Carolina. Fagan is a Sunday school teacher and is a deacon in her church. Even the Republican on this CNN panel finds this attack to be despicable. I think we can all look forward to Dole's forced retirement courtesy of the good people of North Carolina.
4. John McCain admitted on Larry King last night that Barack Obama is not a socialist. His supporters must be so disappointed!
   
5. The NRSC has gone after Al Franken with, quiet possibly, the dumbest ad I've ever seen. It's a group of C list celebrities. It's funny that the Republicans regularly attack any actor that expresses a liberal political opinion because no one should care what an actor thinks. Then they trot out every celebrity they can find that supports their party. They even elect them into office. This has been another edition of Republican hypocrisy.
6. Wendy Button, a former speechwriter for John Edwards, Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama, has decided to support John McCain. Why should you care? I'm stumped.
7. The Daily Kos, on their Act Blue page, has raised over 2 million dollars from over 21,000 people. That's the power of the blogosphere. They are now trying to get to 30,000 donors by this Friday. Help them out!
8. It appears that Democratic Senate leadership may have grown a pair. They appear to be ready to strip Joe Lieberman of his only committee chairmanship. Seems fair considering that Lieberman is NOT a member of the Democratic Party anymore and has supported the Republican candidate for President.