Thursday, August 10, 2006

Here's To Your Health, Connecticut

It is not easy to compile a list of politicians with less understanding of the forces that move our great nation and the world at large, then our own president Georgw W. But you can add to the list the self serving, obnoxious and completely misguided (Soon-to-be-Ex) Senator Joe Lieberman. What's the matter Joe? Too busy kissing the president, and extolling his virtues as he misfired on the war on terrorism by pushing the nation's youth into Iraq, to notice that your constituency stilll had morals and values that you had somehow left in Connecticut while leaving your heart in Iraq? You want to blame your loss on the old politics of partisan polarization and you think you need to save your state, country and party? Yeah, you do, from yourself and guys like you. You should do your party a favor and do what you have all but done, become a Republican. You already cannot accept your mistakes. You cannot take responsibility. You know very well how to mislead. You could be President! Or perhaps your friend W. could make you Iraq's ambassador to Afghanistan. Or Afghanistan's ambassador to Iraq. It doesn't really matter which. You'll be safe in either place because, after all, Mission Accomplished! Maybe you should be Iraq's ambassador to Lebanon, as your keen insight and thoughts about how well things were going in Iraq after your visit there, should help you sort out the mess in the rest of the middle east. Between you and George W. you could really make a difference in the middle east and improve the economy (that's the middle east oil producing nations economies) by ushering in $5.00 a gallon gasoline prices with your $100. a barrel oil. They have term limits in Connecticut Joe, they call them elections, and they limit you to the number of terms your electorate thinks you deserve. I am sure you will get a couple of votes as an independent Joe, (yours and Haddasah's) but if you are counting on the Republicans to sweep you in, take note of this: One thing the conservatives are good at is unity. They stick together in the face of lies, stupidity and outrageous deficits. It isn't good for the nation, but it sure does wonders for FOX's ratings. And except for the few conservative alcoholics who haven't been born again, you might not see much in the way of right wing votes. But that's okay. Your acceptance speech, oh I'm sorry, that was supposed to be a concession speech, was a brilliant kick off to helping everyone forget the implosion you began with your support of the war, by creating the mother of all wars on sanity and decorum. You will have lost all respect and voters, and you will not prove a spoiler, or much of anything in this election. You were not the worst politician, but you made your mistakes, and even though you seem unwilling, you are already paying for them. You are, however, a terrible loser. You chose to ignore the voice and conscience of your constituency, so now you are in search of a new constituency. Independents rarely achieve that goal in numbers large enough to win elections. If you do win, it will say more about the people of Connecticut, and the poor candidates fielded by the Republicans. You may be able to paint Lamont as too liberal, and scare an electorate that benefits disproportionately well from this administration's tax cuts. But you will be a senator in limbo, supported by no one, except maybe by a few diehards from Ross Perot's old runs. But your desperation is understandable as you painted yourself into a corner you should never have walked into, and found no doorway to get out. You are a candidate bereft of a moral core, certainly of one shared even vaguely by the voters that gave you your job in the first place. Let us see if the Connecticut voters have what it takes to make a statement about where this country is, and where they would like to see it going.
Uh-oh HA (Hypocrite Alert!). It has just been reported that Lieberman has called for Donald Rumsfeld to resign. He claims he actually said this would be a good thing back in 2003. I guess he is trying to remind us of this so he won't seem like a hypocrite. But perhaps Rumsfeld and the rest of us were lulled into believing he rescinded that opinion when he returned from Iraq in the fall of 2005 and said he "saw real progress there". Give 'em Hell Joe, or Heaven, or whatever you think will work today! But here's the part that shows you that it isn't easy being Joe Lieberman these days. He is no doubt doing this to distance himself from his lovefest with the Bush administration, but it is just after it has been reported that Republicans are getting behind him instead of their perceived unelectable Republican candidate. Wouldn't it be funny if this pissed off the Republicans and they threw their support behind their own, or, more hysterically, Lamont? The Right Wing is too busy these days with misleading and damage control to be ironic, but it would be an interesting twist, no?

1 comment:

Bruce said...

A party which makes no room for it's center/right, is not a healthy party.

While your critique of Joe is obviously passionate and heartfelt, the Dems without Joe leaves the party without a prominent foreign policy hawk...and more likely to lose the next set of national elections.

Careful what you wish for.