Yesterday, the New York Times sniffed at a new web site, LiebermanMustGo.com, writing that it "catalogues Mr. Lieberman's perceived sins," as if the turncoat Connecticut Senator's betrayal of Democratic Party principles is only a matter of "perception." Well, 43,000 people have "perceived" the need to sign a petition calling for the Democratic leadership to dump him as chair of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committees.
Senator Joseph Lieberman changed his party affiliation from Democratic to "Independent" after Ned Lamont trounced him in the 2006 primary as the anti-war candidate. He has been a shill for the Bush/McCain Republicans ever since.
Lieberman is a hard-line warrior who's never been in so much as a fistfight. He votes with the party that denies global warming while claiming to care about the environment. He's been a grand enabler of the Republican class war while pretending to be a friend of working people.
Lieberman has not only endorsed the Republican presidential nominee, John McCain, but he is McCain's constant traveling companion, water-carrier, and high-profile media booster. Rumor has it that the Republican Party has given Lieberman a prime time speaking slot at their convention this September in Minneapolis. He'll be the Zell Miller of 2008 denigrating and castigating everything the Democratic Party stands for while claiming to do so "as a former Democrat."
Lieberman caucuses with the Democrats inside the Senate, but his colleagues shouldn't say anything in front of him they wouldn't be willing to say directly to Karl Rove.
Over at Fox News, Lieberman was Sean Hannity's favorite Democrat; now he's Hannity's favorite "Independent." He's on "The O'Reilly Factor" so often he might as well be a co-host. Lieberman plays the same role in national politics that Alan Colmes plays on Fox: A willing accomplice who aids and abets right-wing fire-breathers in their framing of all issues for the benefit of the GOP. (Colmes, I recently learned, is married to the older sister of the right-wing spokesmodel and Hannity stand-in, Monica Crowley. Keep it in the family I always say!)
Lieberman is a traitor, a Quisling, a Benedict Arnold. He helped Bush and Co. sell the Iraq War to the American people based on lies and fear, and now he wants the Iraq occupation to continue for a hundred years more even though the Iraqis themselves are now calling for a timetable for an American troop withdrawal.
And who could forget "Joe-Mentum?"
Lieberman says that a Barack Obama presidency would be "bad for Israel" even though Obama's speech to AIPAC was every bit as "pro-Israel" as any other presidential candidate in recent American history. Lieberman is consciously misrepresenting Obama's record on Israel to try to drive a wedge between the Democratic nominee and Jewish voters. In so doing, he's revealed himself to be just another divide-and-conquer political hack.
Lieberman has thrown his lot in with right-wing Southern Christians because they pretend to care about Israel. You can see him on television joined at the hip with South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham. Yesterday the Republicans were heaping high praise on the "legacy" of their own Jesse Helms, a life-long bigot who disliked Jews as much as he disliked blacks. And Lieberman's love-fest with the GOP continues.
But Lieberman is at his worst when he's saber rattling against Iran. He gets amped up over the threat of American or Israeli air strikes against Iran. You can see his adrenalin pumping when he talks "tough" about "all options" being on the table. Standing by McCain's side makes him feel really macho. The prospect of taking unprovoked aggressive military action against a nation of 70 million people really seems to get him off. And this same Lieberman railed against the make-believe "violence" in video games, especially "Grand Theft Auto." Perhaps a game can be customized for Lieberman where he can pick up a Wii wand and launch virtual cruise missiles and air attacks against a fictitious country. Then he might be able to get his rocks off without killing or maiming actual people. But apparently he likes real violence a lot more than the virtual kind.
I think it's time to sign the petition over at LiebermanMustGo.com.