Joe Lieberman said yesterday that he respected the people's right to disagree with him on Iraq. We're pending $250 million dollars per day on the Iraq war. A war that has cost thousands of lives, left tens of thousands aimed, with the turmoil now spreading out across the Middle East in the form of a Shia crescent shadow that reaches from Iran to Baghdad to Lebanon. So yesterday Mr. Lieberman tried to explain himself on Iraq. He also took time out to whine on ABC's "This Week" that he'd been "scapegoated" on Iraq. If he'd only looked up once in a while he would have seen this coming.
Joe Lieberman has simply been thrust into a humility tour. It happens to people when their ego gets out in front of reality. But Joe Lieberman isn't alone. The entire Democratic Party is experiencing a similar catharsis, all at the hands of ordinary people. Republicans could be next, when tens of thousands of voters simply stay home in disgust. But reality is the dish of the day, being served up on a plate of Iraq.
Just ask Hillary Clinton. I know I keep harping on this but getting booed at Take Back America was the tipping point for her. Everything has changed since that speech, because the people in the room let her have it. She could no longer deny the push back.
Last week on "Hardball," Christopher Dodd was on to talk about Joe Lieberman. However, he spent more time talking about how he disagreed with Joe in Iraq and that we should bring troops home now. He said it more than once.
John Edwards wants to bring 40,000 troops home now.
When Senators Kerry and Feingold offered their amendment it was met with collective silence, but that was a few weeks ago. At the time Hillary signed on to the Levin amendment, which moved many hawks over to the let's redeploy column. Now Joseph Biden has signed on to the letter sent to the president about Iraq.
The analysts have it wrong about Connecticut. But no one is more misinformed than Joe Lieberman. He has blamed the bloggers. He has blamed misinformation. He has blamed everyone, finishing with a flourish about how he "refused to sell out to the haters."
It's unfathomable that anyone who says he wants to represent the people can be so out of touch with how we feel.
Most politicians don't have the stuff of John F. Kennedy or Bobby Kennedy. They aren't moved from within to make rhetorical flourishes of great import, impact and passion. They live lives filled with great dreams, which their actions seldom let them cash, because it takes real courage to break out and actually lead. Regular politicians need cover, so when the people are afraid to stand up, speak out and push back, the politician rarely is willing to rock the boat. To do that they need the people behind them, backing them, pushing them on.
The most important decision our leaders in Washington do is decide whether to keep the peace or to make war. There is nothing more deadly serious. Our country has made many military mistakes. The American people are a forgiving group. But we long ago reached the end game on Iraq. It's just that we had no outlet through which to express and embolden our thoughts, opinions and demands, let alone a cause that galvanized our imaginations so that we once again believed we can make a difference, make a vote really count, send a message that is unmistakable.
It's really simple. The people of Connecticut, through the candidacy and voice of Ned Lamont, have found a way to stand up and push back. They're doing it with their voices, their blogs and on Tuesday they will be doing it with their votes. But they're not simply doing it for themselves. It's for all of us, every American who has had it with George W. Bush, the rubber stamping Republican incompetence, the Democrats who still can't say this war was wrong, and everyone in between who refuses to change course and do it now. Mind you, it's heartbreaking to think of withdrawal and the aftermath of this defeat. But the time has come for this great nation to admit her mistakes, make amends and begin repairing the incomprehensible losses this war of choice has cost. Unfortunately for Joe Lieberman, he is one of the mistakes we are attempting to make right, because he didn't have the courage to do it for himself.
Many of us have been behind the people of Connecticut and Ned Lamont, with blogs like DailyKos, MyDD and Firedoglake, as well as many local Connecticut blogs, leading the way, but we've all been behind this anti Iraq war whoop meant to get the job done because the politicians refused to correct the course themselves. We've tried to give the people of Connecticut whatever national megaphone we can to raise the entire country's collective voice about the Iraq war, so the voters and Ned Lamont would know they were not alone. That even though it was their state and their Senate seat we all had a stake in this shot. A shot to stop this war of choice in its tracks; a war that has plunged this country and the people of the Middle East into a political hurricane of uncertainty and carnage that has worldwide implications that could last for decades.
There are many issues, but life and death comes first. It's represented in the Iraq war. Connecticut is America this week. The country's great debate is in their hands.