Lieberman finally goes off the deep end
As much as I've bristled at Lieberman's frequent forays onto Fox News and other right-wing forums, seemingly for the sole purpose of undercutting his own party, I've given him a pass on being a generally decent Democrat in terms of his voting record.
But I'd say he's just crossed the line into persona non grata territory with his latest stupefying proclamation. Maybe those rumors of him being tapped as the next Secretary of Defense are more credible than I thought. Maybe his devotion to Israel really does come before every other position.
WASHINGTON -- Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, increasingly isolated in his own Democratic party because of his strong support for the Iraq war, today called on the White House and congressional leaders to form a special "war cabinet" to provide advice and direction for the war effort.
The Connecticut Democrat's "Bipartisan Victory in Iraq Administrative Group," designed to take some of the political edge off the war debate, would be modeled after similar panels during the Vietnam War and World War II.
Lieberman, whom the Bush administration has praised repeatedly for his war stance, defended the president. "It's time for Democrats who distrust President Bush to acknowledge he'll be commander-in-chief for three more years," the senator said. "We undermine the president's credibility at our nation's peril."
There was no immediate response from the White House or congressional leaders.
Lieberman made his comments to an audience at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, a sympathetic Washington research group. The war debate, Lieberman said, is being too poisoned by partisanship.
There's no word for this but mystifying. A party with no real power in any branch of the federal government of somehow sabotaged an entire war effort? Democrats aren't the ones crafting the policies that have caused the war to go totally FUBAR. They aren't the ones who've given corrupt contractors a license to steal billions of dollars given for the war effort. And they certainly haven't led the rest of the world to resent our arrogance and unilateralism.
In fact, Lieberman's statements parallel those Republicans have been making from day one-- dissent and criticism is anti-American. Republicans have increasingly shied away from that stance as the war spins out of control and the public turns against it, leaving the likes of Bill O'Reilly and Rush Limbaugh to push that line. Who would've guessed that a Democrat would join their ranks?
But I'd say he's just crossed the line into persona non grata territory with his latest stupefying proclamation. Maybe those rumors of him being tapped as the next Secretary of Defense are more credible than I thought. Maybe his devotion to Israel really does come before every other position.
WASHINGTON -- Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, increasingly isolated in his own Democratic party because of his strong support for the Iraq war, today called on the White House and congressional leaders to form a special "war cabinet" to provide advice and direction for the war effort.
The Connecticut Democrat's "Bipartisan Victory in Iraq Administrative Group," designed to take some of the political edge off the war debate, would be modeled after similar panels during the Vietnam War and World War II.
Lieberman, whom the Bush administration has praised repeatedly for his war stance, defended the president. "It's time for Democrats who distrust President Bush to acknowledge he'll be commander-in-chief for three more years," the senator said. "We undermine the president's credibility at our nation's peril."
There was no immediate response from the White House or congressional leaders.
Lieberman made his comments to an audience at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, a sympathetic Washington research group. The war debate, Lieberman said, is being too poisoned by partisanship.
There's no word for this but mystifying. A party with no real power in any branch of the federal government of somehow sabotaged an entire war effort? Democrats aren't the ones crafting the policies that have caused the war to go totally FUBAR. They aren't the ones who've given corrupt contractors a license to steal billions of dollars given for the war effort. And they certainly haven't led the rest of the world to resent our arrogance and unilateralism.
In fact, Lieberman's statements parallel those Republicans have been making from day one-- dissent and criticism is anti-American. Republicans have increasingly shied away from that stance as the war spins out of control and the public turns against it, leaving the likes of Bill O'Reilly and Rush Limbaugh to push that line. Who would've guessed that a Democrat would join their ranks?
posted by Matt Sandwich | 4:05 AM
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