Rep. Anthony Weiner Teaches Lieberman To Spell

In his own special way:

Sharp-eyed Ben was reading my story when he noticed something I had missed:

Lieberman managed to misspell the name of Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.), who, I swear, has uttered the phrase "As long as you spell my name right" in my presence.

Wrote Lieberman: "I fear the people who are advocating the Medicare buy-in are doing so not because they think it will give more help to these Americans than the subsidies and exchanges, but because they see it as a big step toward a single payer system as Congressman Anthony Wiener [sic] and others have explicitly said."

Ben quickly contacted Weiner, who has become one of the most outspoken progressives on health reform.

Quipped Weiner: "Maybe he couldn't spell 'flip-flop' or 'back-stab,' either."

Zing.... More recently? Weiner had this to say about Harold Ford trying to get into the NY Senate race:

"I don't think we need another Joe Lieberman"

Single Payer Activists Arrested at Lieberman's DC office

They came, they sat, they chanted:

8 Protesters backing a universal health care system briefly occupied Sen. Joe Lieberman's office this morning.

Protesters were arrested, one by one, and dragged out of his office amid chants of "Everyone in and noone out, universal healthcare now!" and "Represent Connecticut, not AETNA!"

Activists hopefully moving the Overton Window - in our case leftward - because too many Democratic party politicians were too stupid to do that on their own at the start of the healthcare debate.

Many in the Blogosphere had already set the long term strategy table for using Single Payer as a focus to keep dragging a compromise leftward. Part of why it made no sense to push single payer aside and settle on the compromise out of the gates.

Many in the Blogosphere had already set the long term strategy table for using Single Payer as a focus to keep dragging a compromise leftward. Part of why it made no sense to push single payer aside and settle on the compromise out of the gates.

The strategy was left there unused to the detriment of the entire cause.

8 people are sitting-in the office of Sen. Lieberman!

8 people are sitting-in the office of Sen. Joseph Lieberman demanding that he stop taking money from the insurance industry. The massive campaign donations and lobbying spending of the insurance industry is blocking real reform that would provide everyone in America with access to health care. When 45,000 people are dying annually due to lack of health care it is a moral imperative that America act now to provide health care to all. We are able to do this for senior citizens, why not for all Americans?

Please take the following steps:

1. Call Lieberman and tell him to stop taking insurance money. His numbers are: (202) 224-4041and (860) 549-8463.

2. Sign the petition urging Lieberman to stop taking insurance money. Click here to sign the petition now. Urge everyone you know to sign the petition.

3. Make a donation to support the Mobilization. Donate for bail money for those sitting in Lieberman’s office.

Since beginning just over one month ago thousands have signed up to participate in “Patients before Profits” sit-ins and over 920 have signed up willing to risk arrest. By the end of this week the Mobilization will have held 32 sit-ins in 28 different cities with more than 150 arrests and over 220 risking arrest. We started out wanting 100 people to risk arrest at “patients before profits” sit-ins and now more than 920 have done so. The Mobilization needs to continue to grow in order to achieve health care for all.

There is anger growing in the country at the failure of Congress to put forward a national health care plan that provides health care to everyone in the United States. It is important that people speak out now to push Congress and the president to achieve this urgent moral imperative. When President Obama ran for office he raised hopes in Americans that health policy would be reformed so that no one would go without health care. When the reform process began he talked about universal coverage now millions will go without health care access ten years from after the reform bill is passed. That is unacceptable. We need to demand that health care reform achieve the basic goal – that no one go without health care in a country as wealthy as America. We can achieve that goal if we speak up now and demand action. The United States has been effectively providing health care to senior citizens for 40 years through Medicare, we can do the same for everyone.

Thank you for your support. Please take action now.

Windsock Joe

We really want to know which way the wind blows, Joe? The other day you were dead set against the Public Option, much to the chagrin of Connecticut voters. And now?

Sen. Joe Lieberman has reached a private understanding with Majority Leader Harry Reid that he will not block a final vote on healthcare reform, according to two sources briefed on the matter.

The unpredictable Democrat-turned-Independent last week publicly stated he would join Republicans in filibustering the Democratic legislation after Reid (D-Nev.) announced he had included a government-run health insurance plan in the bill.

But sources said Reid’s staff is telling liberal interest groups that Lieberman (Conn.) has assured Reid he will vote with Democrats in the necessary procedural vote to end debate, perhaps with intentions to change the bill.

Careful or you'll end up with whiplash if you keep this up, Joe.

We Apologize For Being Correct, Yet Again

Those of us in the left Blogosphere of Connecticut and the nation that have a nasty habit of being right so often that it is truly embarrassing to the political elite, the media, the voters and activists that don't read and pay attention to the warnings we give you would like to apologize to all of you for, yet again, being proven correct.

Via Paul Bass at the New Haven Independent:

Three years ago the state AFL-CIO convened in New Haven and embraced U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman’s reelection. Thursday the AFL-CIO reconvened here — and made Lieberman its target.

The occasion was the state labor movement’s biennial convention at the Omni Hotel. The convention runs through Friday. A central theme of this year’s convention: Push politicians in Washington to pass universal health care with a “public option” — government-backed insurance.

Support For Public Option In Connecticut By District

Nate Silver at FiveThirtyEight.com did a great job of breaking down some poll numbers for the Public Option on a district by district level and across the nation. I did a quick cut and paste of the numbers just for Connecticut:

The results beg the question of why some more of Connecticut's Congress critters are not leading the charge for the Public Option? They know the people want it and they have to know that it is the right thing to do.

It is an all around political winner and just plain old common sense good public policy.

Some important notes on this from Nate Silver:

We can systematize these results by means of a regression analysis that accounts for the Obama vote share and the poverty level in each district. (Technically, we'll be using a logistic regession, treating each of the voters included in one of these surveys as a separate data point.) This analysis finds that support for the public option nationwide is about 55 percent, against 36 percent opposed, similar results to what I believe to be the most reliable polls on the subject.

What's more interesting, though, is where we project the public option in individual districts. We find that:

-- The public option is estimated to have plurality support in 291 of the 435 Congressional Districts nationwide, or almost exactly two-thirds.
-- The public option is estimated to have plurality support in 235 of 257 Democratic-held districts.
-- The public option is estimated to have plurality support in 34 of 52 Blue Dog - held districts, and has overall popularity of 51 percent in these districts versus 39 percent opposed.

Obviously, there is a margin of error inherent to this analysis when applied to any individual district. The polls that inform this analysis themselves have a margin of error, and there is an additional layer of error introduced by the statistical process that we apply to the data.

There is some pretty good reasoning behind this data to tell the few Blue Dogs trying to stand in the way of the Public Option to suck it up and do the right thing, as well. Go and take a look at the data yourself. The information is a real eye opener as to where there is some really strong support for the Public Option even in some supposedly "conservative" districts.

The only thing between us and the terrorists?

Is the neoconservative echo-chamber between Joe Lieberman's ears:

"I don't think anybody who has any fairness or is in their right mind would think the president or the secretary of homeland security would raise an alert level and scare people for political reasons... That's outrageous." - Joe Lieberman (August 1, 2004)

Yes! That was the terrorist threat assessment of the man who now sits as head of the Department of Homeland Security. Given what we now know:

Ridge: Rumsfeld and Ashcroft wanted to raise terror threat level because it helped Bush’s approval rating.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette pours through Tom Ridge’s new book and offers the relevant passages where the former Homeland Security chief discusses the Bush administration’s desire to increase the terror threat level for political reasons. Ridge reveals that Attorney General John Ashcroft and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld argued in favor of raising the threat level by noting the correlation it had with Bush’s approval rating:

Osama bin Laden had released a videotape with one more ominous sounding but unspecific threat against the United States. Neither Mr. Ridge nor any of the department’s security experts thought the message warranted any change in the nation’s alert status.

“…at this point there was nothing to indicate a specific threat and no reason to cause undue public alarm,” he writes.

But that view met resistance in a tense conference call with members of the intelligence community and several other Cabinet officers including Attorney General John Ashcroft and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

“A vigorous, some might say dramatic, discussion ensured. Ashcroft strongly urged an increase in the threat level and was supported by Rumsfeld.”

Noting the correlation found between increases in the threat level and the president’s approval rating, Mr. Ridge writes, “I wondered, ‘Is this about security or politics?’”

Through all of this commotion about politicizing and terrorizing Americans with a lever that was theoretically  meant to provide a certain measure of security... I have yet to hear one person mention the fact that they illegally aimed propaganda directly at  the American people.

Anyways... I feel so good knowing that Joe Lieberman has proved over and over again to be incapable doing the job of dog catcher so I believe this old post has earned a well deserved repeat:

Previously brewed in New Milford:

Help Wanted: Prestigious Senate Career Opportunity A prestigious opportunity for career advancement in the Senate:

The Democratic party is in search of a new Chairman (or chairwoman/chairperson) for the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. Moderate Senators need only apply.(1)

The Chairman's responsibilities and Jurisdictions will include real oversight concerning failures of the Bush administration in providing security to our nation during times of war, illegal invasions, ongoing occupations, and natural disasters, as well as overseeing the bloated budget and operations of the largest branch of government ever to be created in the US governments' history through legislation authored under the Republican controlled Senate and House, and signed by the Republican pResident of the time.

Your main and immediate responsibilities will include holding the needed hearings, directing sub-commitees and legislation needed to avoid repeating the previous disasters, corrupt practices, and failures that will be found with the proper direction and oversight of a NON-PARTISAN and ETHICAL Senate leader.

Send all applications to Senator Harry Reid(2)

(1)Minorities such as moderate Republicans having no ties to far-right-wing radical organizations like the Neoconservative movement, the American Enterprise Institute, The Heritage Foundation, Energy Corporations,Teabagging, Birthers and Deathers or any of the Bush and Reagan administration policies that caused so much economic and military failure, are encouraged to apply to Senator Harry Reid for any consideration concerning this soon to be available position.

(2)Note to applicants: Please mark the subject of the Email as "Homeland Security" and refer to this x-posted Blog diary in the opening paragragh of the application. You will be contacted shortly before I post an "I told you so!" diary covering the flawed positions, election statement lies, and propaganda of the far-right-wing radical Neoconservative Joe Lieberman.

ReReReReBlogged Since this position
has yet to be filled by a qualified,
ethical or sane candidate.  

The qualifications of the much needed applicant may have moved even more to the left yet again.... :)

Enjoy...

Hey Joe...

Where ya goin' with that healthcare lobbyist's money in your hand?

Nice ad... Joe needs a nice warm cup of shut the buck up.

Hey, Joe! Where Ya Goin'...

With That Smoking Gun In Your Hand?

AN SUSTEREN: Even if it's -- first of all, is waterboarding torture?

LIEBERMAN: Well, I take a minority position on this. Most people think it's definitely torture. The truth is, it has mostly a psychological impact on people. It's a terrible thing to do...

Why do I think it was a mistake to give it out? I wasn't necessary. It just helps our enemies. It doesn't really help us.

Again, the president can decide what tactics he wants the CIA or the military to use on people we capture, suspects of terrorism. But to let our enemies know what we are going to do or not do, that's not a good idea.

Bullshit, Joe!

The President of the United States of America is subject to every single law and treaty that every single other American citizen is subject to. If his decisions are not legal within the framework of the law then he should be tried and found guilty of the crimes.

And those of you that participated in engineering these decisions to carry out these crimes of torture and rendition and/or participated in the cover up of these crimes are accomplices and just as guilty as the CIA officers, contractors and soldiers and prison guards that did your dirty deeds.

And it is no longer some BS debate about whether or not it was torture.

It was torture.

• There are guilty people in both political parties.
  
  
• There are guilty people in the military, the CIA and many other government agencies.
  
  
• There are guilty people on the civilian side.
  
  
• And there are even guilty people in other countries.
  

And you will all be served your just desserts at the end of the criminal investigations.

The one and only way to ensure that this never happens again is to prosecute every single one of the criminals and to ensure that they all do their time in jail.

And moving forward is impossible without looking back.

And Obama, the media and others can stop lying to yourself about bullshit catchphrases of "enhanced interrogations." This was torture.

Clearly torture. There is no rose on your bloomin' piles of BS.

Modern History - Lieberman's Betrayal of Progressives

Think Progress has provided an in depth study of Lieberman's betrayal of progressives. The information will not come as a shock to anyone on the left that has followed him closely and recognized this unholy alliance early on as Lieberman pledged his allegiance to the warmongering neoconservative whack jobs and their likudnik/AIPAC allies. Lieberman's story is a bizarre combination of apologist for their neoconservative failures and an accomplice in covering up their crimes.

For those of you that are unfamiliar with Lieberman's self-propelled decent to this hellish low, please adjust your internal thermostat in order to keep your cool as you read because, in reality, this is not simply a chronicle of the betrayal of progressives, and the left in general, but of Joseph I. Lieberman's betrayal of America and some of the most basic principles she was founded upon.

“I’m a Democrat with a 35-year record of fighting for progressive causes, for the middle class, for civil rights, for women’s rights, for human rights and a lot more. I voted with my Senate Democratic colleagues 90 percent of the time.” — Joe Lieberman, 7/6/06

“I want Democrats to be back in the majority in Washington and elect a Democratic president in 2008.” — Joe Lieberman, 7/7/06

While Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) has fought for progressive policies in the past — such as protecting the environment and expanding civil rights — his recent record demonstrates that he’s a progressive no more. As this report documents, Lieberman has embraced the right wing on far more than foreign policy. In fact, he has betrayed progressive principles on a variety of domestic issues. As he has lurched to the right, Lieberman has actively worked to undermine the progressive agenda.

CONTENTS

– Undermined Progressives

– Domestic Policy

– On Leading The Homeland Security Committee: ‘We Don’t Like Investigating.’

– On Energy: Drill Baby, Drill

– On Taxes: ‘I Think It’s Wrong To Raise Any Taxes Now’


– On Health Care: Supported McCain’s Tax On Employer Health Care

– On Social Security: ‘Individual Control…Has To Happen.’

– On Alberto Gonzales: He ‘Deserves Our Appreciation’

– On The Christian-Right: Defended Pastor Hagee

– Campaigned Against Progressive Candidates

– National Security

– On Torture: ‘The Person Is In No Real Danger.’

– On Terrorism: Fear-mongering With The Radical Right.

– On Iran: Bomb Iran

– On Syria: Bomb Syria?

– On Iraq: U.S. ‘Did The Right Thing’

Read the entire piece here...

Have I Got A Fish Story To Tell You...

Is anyone biting on Joe's line concerning what he said about Barack Obama during the campaign?



Anyone figure that, as time goes by, Joe's lies will get even bigger? The fish story that will be Joe Lieberman's future campaign:



What would you expect from someone that rode John McCain's whopper express right off the rails...

Senator Pat Leahy Makes Me Miss Vermont

Only because if I still lived there I would not have a Neoconservative piece of Lieberjunk as a Senator:

Today, Daily Kos diarist terjeanderson caught an interview on Vermont Public Radio with Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT), during which the senator broke from the pack and said that Lieberman deserved to lose his chairmanship of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee:

I’m one who does not feel that somebody should be rewarded with a major chairmanship after doing what he did. … I felt that some of the attacks that he was involved in against Sen. Obama, whom I did support — I was one of the first in the Congress to support him — I thought they went way beyond the pale. I thought that they were not fair. I thought they were not legitimate. I thought that they perpetuated some of these horrible myths that were being run about Sen. Obama.

I would feel that, had I done something similar, I would not be chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee in the next Congress.

Listen here:

A new Research 2000/DailyKos poll shows that Lieberman is increasingly unpopular among his constituents. Sixty-one percent disapprove of his Senate performance. Among his Democratic constituents, Lieberman’s approval rating stands at just 22 percent.

It seems like Senator Bernie Sanders agrees:

"Appointing someone to a major post who led the opposition to everything we are fighting for is not 'change we can believe in,'" Sanders continued. "I very much hope that Senator Lieberman stays in the Democratic caucus and is successful in regaining the confidence of those whom he has disappointed. This is not a time, however, in which he should be rewarded with a major committee chairmanship."

Nutmeggers seem to agree with this, as evidenced by the most recent poll numbers:

Research 2000 for Daily Kos. 11/11-13. Likely voters. MoE 4% (6/30-7/2 results)

Do you approve or disapprove of the job Joe Lieberman is doing as U.S. senator?

Approve 36 (45)
Disapprove 61 (43)

If the 2012 election for U.S. Senate were held today would you to reelect Joe Lieberman would you consider voting for another candidate or would you vote to replace Lieberman?

Reelect 35
Consider Someone Else 18
Replace 48

Brutal. It seems that the people of Connecticut don't like the Republican version of Lieberman, the one that trashed Democrats on the campaign trail with John McCain, the one that spoke at the RNC convention, the one that failed to hold the Bush Administration accountable in Congress, and the one that pretended Katrina never happened.

Are you getting that, Joe? Et tu, Chris Dodd? Connecticut overwhelmingly disapproves of Joe Lieberman's warmongering and Neoconservative ways.

If I were a bankrupt Neoconservative

Not just morally bankrupt, but having lost all reigns of power...

Staring down the likelihood of losing my last well placed chickenhawk, Liebercon, at a point in time when all of my pitiful warmongering ideals were being shunned by anyone that wanted to be viewed as respectable...

Desperate to keep the fear alive for the sake of power...

What if Syria never had any nuclear program? What if my bestest warmongering friends forever gave me an ace in the hole to pull out at just the right time?

If I were a bankrupt Neoconservative I would never let the fear end. Because that would be the end of my reign of terror. I want you to think about this:

Lynching is sometimes justified by its supporters as the administration of justice (in a social-moral sense, not in law) without the delays and inefficiencies inherent to the legal system; in this way it echoes the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution, which was justified by the claim:

"Terror is nothing other than
prompt, severe, inflexible justice."

Hey! It's not like anyone in our government would ever encourage this kind of terrorizing behavior with its own actions. Especially during an election... Right? And it is not like anyone in our government would find ways to demonize impotent pawns in order to create their own wars of choice... Right?

Fear has always been their tool. Lies and deception are their only game. These modern day Jacobins, the Neoconservatives, know no other way.

The "traditional" conservative Claes G. Ryn has argued that neoconservatives are "a variety of neo-Jacobins." Ryn maintains that true conservatives deny the existence of a universal political and economic philosophy and model that is suitable for all societies and cultures, and believe that a society's institutions should be adjusted to suit its culture, while Neo-Jacobins

are attached in the end to ahistorical, supranational principles that they believe should supplant the traditions of particular societies. The new Jacobins see themselves as on the side of right and fighting evil and are not prone to respecting or looking for common ground with countries that do not share their democratic preferences. (Ryn 2003: 387)

Further examining the relationship between Neoconservatism and moral rhetoric, Ryn argues that

Neo-Jacobinism regards America as founded on universal principles and assigns to the United States the role of supervising the remaking of the world. Its adherents have the intense dogmatic commitment of true believers and are highly prone to moralistic rhetoric. They demand, among other things, "moral clarity" in dealing with regimes that stand in the way of America's universal purpose. They see themselves as champions of "virtue." (p. 384).

Thus, according to Ryn, neoconservatism is analogous to Bolshevism: in the same way that the Bolsheviks wanted to destroy established ways of life throughout the world to replace them with communism, the neoconservatives want to do the same, only imposing free-market capitalism and American-style liberal democracy instead of socialism.

Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, former chief of staff to U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, had the following to say in a December, 2005 interview with the German weekly Der Spiegel:

"They are not new conservatives. They're Jacobins. Their predecessor is French Revolution leader Maximilien Robespierre."

I, for one, do not trust the media to be a fair arbiter of this kind of information. They have been prone to do the bidding of these Neoconservatives time and time again. The Neoconservatives have known this day was coming. The day when they would be cornered with nothing left to do but lash out at anyone and everyone.

So... If I were a bankrupt Neoconservative, would I ask my Likudnik brothers in everlasting wars to deliver a dirty bomb, one that would leave uranium traces on a target of my choice, to an impotent enemy in order to keep the fear alive?

Deep down you already know my answer!

And I would be laughing at you as you coward in fear, yet again, and were lead like lambs to the slaughter in my newest, greatest war for freedumb.

The Cover-Ups -The Reason Lieberman is Desperate

Via Steve Benen at the Washington Monthly, It is the biggest reason that traitor Joe must go from the Homeland Security Committee:

Let's cut the nonsense. Reid offered Lieberman a chance to stay in the Democratic caucus, keep his seniority, and become the chairman of some other committee. Lieberman thinks that's "unacceptable" and reportedly "begged" to stay on as chairman of Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.

Bayh thinks this is about "revenge or retribution." It's not. For that matter, it's only partly about holding Lieberman accountable for his betrayals. This is actually about a specific power Lieberman is intent on keeping for a specific reason.

This seems to be routinely overlooked, but take a moment to consider what the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs actually does: it's the committee principally responsible for oversight of the executive branch. It's an accountability committee, charged with investigating the conduct of the White House and the president's administration.

As chairman of this committee for the last two years, Lieberman decided not to pursue any accusations of wrongdoing against the Bush administration. Lieberman's House counterpart -- Rep. Henry Waxman's Oversight Committee -- was a vigilant watchdog, holding hearings, issuing subpoenas, and launching multiple investigations. Lieberman preferred to let his committee do no real work at all. It was arguably the most pathetic display of this Congress.

This country can not afford any more of his cover-ups for the Bush administration, nor can it afford the hyper-partisan attacks that will come from a Lieberman committee tasked with providing oversight to an Obama administration.

Joe Lieberman's partisan inaction there has already endangered the United States of America. Domestically he has failed to protect The Constitution by refusing to investigate Bush crimes. And, by refusing to do his job, Lieberman has left Bush to continue his disastrous foreign policy and, at times, even cheerleaded that failed foreign policy that has endangered the USA even more.`

Just get out of politics altogether NOW, Joe, because if you thought we were pains in the asses before... Wait until we really start to shove. Right.Down.Your.Partisan.Throat.

J'Accuse!

You have aided and abetted George W. Bush in his crimes, Joe, by refusing to investigate. Because of that you have endangered the security of the USA and the rest of the world. You and your Neoconservative cabal are Domestic Terrorists. The rest of the world classifies you as Foreign Terrorists for your crimes against humanity.

Don't just leave Homeland Security. Don't just leave the Democratic party. Leave politics completely.

Help Wanted: Prestigious Senate Career Opportunity

Previously brewed in New Milford:

Help Wanted: Prestigious Senate Career Opportunity

A prestigious opportunity for career advancement in the Senate:

The Democratic party is in search of a new Chairman (or chairwoman/chairperson) for the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. Moderate Senators need only apply.(1)

The Chairman's responsibilities and Jurisdictions will include real oversight concerning failures of the Bush administration in providing security to our nation during times of war, illegal invasions, ongoing occupations, and natural disasters, as well as overseeing the bloated budget and operations of the largest branch of government ever to be created in the US governments' history through legislation authored under the Republican controlled Senate and House, and signed by the Republican pResident of the time.

Your main and immediate responsibilities will include holding the needed hearings, directing sub-commitees and legislation needed to avoid repeating the previous disasters, corrupt practices, and failures that will be found with the proper direction and oversight of a NON-PARTISAN and ETHICAL Senate leader.

Send all applications to Senator Harry Reid(2)

(1)Minorities such as moderate Republicans having no ties to far-right-wing radical organizations like the Neoconservative movement, the American Enterprise Institute, The Heritage Foundation, Energy Corporations, or the Bush administrations most recent policy proposals that are doomed to failure, are encouraged to apply to Senator Harry Reid for any consideration concerning this soon to be available position.

(2)Note to applicants: Please mark the subject of the Email as "Homeland Security" and refer to this x-posted Blog diary in the opening paragragh of the application. You will be contacted shortly before I post an "I told you so!" diary covering the flawed positions, election statement lies, and propaganda of the far-right-wing radical Neoconservative Joe Lieberman.

ReReReBlogged Since this position
has yet to be filled by a qualified,
ethical or sane candidate.

The qualifications of the much needed applicant may have moved a little to the left since Tuesday.... :)

Enjoy...

McCain Playing Hide The VP Candidate

John McCain's poorly devised campaign plan to keep Sarah Palin hidden from the press and out of the debates revealed:

John McCain, his stepping stone wife
and Chris Shays with their pet neocon and
foreign policy poodle Joe Lieberman

try to hide the new Palin crap here...

Go here and get a mixed bag of the best the Blogosphere has to offer as the real news breaks.

Dems Dumping Joe Neocon Lieberman?

They are talking about kicking Connecticut Junior Senator Joe neocon Lieberman to the curb tonight:

Connecticut Democrats are considering a bid to force Sen. Joe Lieberman out of the party for speaking at the Republicans' convention and backing GOP presidential nominee John McCain.

The party scheduled a debate Wednesday night on a resolution that would censure Lieberman and ask the veteran politician to resign from the Democratic Party.

Lieberman was re-elected to the Senate as an independent after losing the Democratic primary in 2006 to businessman Ned Lamont, but while he calls himself an "independent Democrat" in the Senate he remains a registered Democrat and has said he has no plans to change his affiliation.

According to the AP:

The state Democratic party has scheduled a debate tonight on a resolution that would censure Lieberman and ask him to resign from the Democratic Party.

One supporter of the resolution says Lieberman's GOP convention speech, in which he praised McCain and criticized Barack Obama, convinced her that state Democrats need to take a stand.

It is unclear if there is enough support to finally oust the neoconservative bush boot licker but at least they are finally talking about straightening out the Connecticut Democratic party.

John McCain, his stepping stone wife
and Chris Shays with their pet neocon and
foreign policy poodle Joe Lieberman

[update] CT News Junkie has more on this... And CT Local Politics has nothing to say. (JK Genghis)

[update deux] Via the hard working CT News Junkie, it appears they left it at a "Censure" for now. Wasted opportunity to do the right thing.

“Good politics is not about me, it’s about we,” Blondin said explaining her decision to table the resolution.

Lieberman's Latest McCain Flack on Iraq

Via Think Progress:

The Senate will likely vote Tuesday on an amendment offered by Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) “that includes language touting the success of the troop buildup that began last year.” Sens. Carl Levin (D-MI) and Jack Reed (D-RI) have offered an alternative “that would offer a more nuanced assessment of the security situation in Iraq.”

It is rumored that Joe neocon Lieberman's next move will be to try and get a Constitutional amendment stating that John McCain is unquestionably the most heroic man on earth.

Considering even the Generals agree that some in Washington are talking out their asses with their bush-like rosy-colored-views and happy talk caricatures of what is really a "fragile" situation on the ground in Iraq... Well... What more do you need to know?

Just shut up already, Joe.

The Failing Media Ain't My Cup of Zell, er, Joe

Over at the Danbury NewsTimes they have a story on Joe being the typical warmongering neocon stooge that he is in his support for McCain the endless war candidate... But they don't have the balls to actually write the truth about that. Anyways. I get down to the comments and find a comment from the insane GOP side of the aisle trying to pose a Democratic party type:

"It is too bad that few if any of the members of my party ever mention the firefighters and others who died on 9/11. All that Pelosi, Reed, Murphy, Biden and the others seemed to be concerned about are the civil liberties of the terrorists."

Sure FDR... Funny - because it is the republican side of the aisle that tries to turn any remembrance of 9/11 into a military parade. Why, in New Milford, do they even bother to have Veterans show up in uniform to talk at the 9/11 remembrance ceremonies every year that I have seen it? The right has tried to do this to all of the September 11th memorial ceremonies everywhere across the country and it is pure frickin' propaganda.

It is the GOP trying to inject the military and politics into a ceremony where they have no reason to be. If you don't recognize this then I truly pity your ignorance on what has happened in America, and particularly to the the far right GOP. The party of endless failed wars.

McCain has so little respect for soldiers that he lies about his own service.

And meanwhile you had the left fighting to get real medical issues recognized and treated for everyone that survived working on the scene of ground zero. Ya know... Fighting for the firemen, the police and their families to be treated in a manner respectful of their heroism on that day. Sadly we have to fight tooth and nail against the same warmongering GOP roadblocks every single day to get them to treat Veterans coming home from Afghanistan and Iraq with the health care that they deserve for their service.

Over the years neocon warmongering, lies and utter and complete failure to be fiscally and morally competent , responsible or even, simply, humane has resulted in boatloads of traditional and sane conservatives like Susan Eisenhower walking away from the GOP and their insane policies. They know for certain that they can no longer beat the idiot neocons in their own party.

I have decided I can no longer be a registered Republican. For the first time in my life I announced my support for a Democratic candidate for the presidency, in February of this year. This was not an endorsement of the Democratic platform, nor was it a slap in the face to the Republican Party. It was an expression of support specifically for Senator Barack Obama.

I had always intended to go back to party ranks after the election and work with my many dedicated friends and colleagues to help reshape the GOP, especially in the foreign-policy arena. But I now know I will be more effective focusing on our national and international problems than I will be in trying to reinvigorate a political organization that has already consumed nearly all of its moderate "seed corn."

And now, as the party threatens to trivialize what promised to be a serious debate on our future direction, it will alienate many young people who might have come into party ranks.

The disgruntled republican voter? Shock! Awe! They are real. They are better off becoming indies, like Eisenhower did, and supporting more sane candidates that they can pick and chose from any party but the GOP.

And still, to this day, the far right wing in control of the GOP continues to be stupid and the media refuses to call them on it.

We told you that Joe Lieberman was a neocon and a supporter of bush's failed policies to his core. We told you that long before it became politically popular to tell the truth about Joe. McCain is no different in his support of endless wars and fiscal insanity.

This from the NewsTimes article:

In 2006, Greenwich Democrat Ned Lamont -- backed by a youthful group of Internet-savvy anti-war Democrats -- took on Lieberman for his support of Bush's Iraq war. Lieberman lost the Democratic primary but got a reprieve through a loophole in Connecticut election law that allowed him to form his own party and petition his way onto the November ballot.

Those of you who talk about the internet savvy of Ned Lamont supporters would do well to realize that we are also politically savvy, as well as being well informed in our policy opinions. We are always well ahead of the media in recognizing the failures of policies and politicians.

And, more often than the media or the right wing echo chamber ever is, we are proven correct.

Relegating us to a notion of only being "internet savvy" and simply "anti-war" (a bold faced lie) is a pitiful attempt to diminish that which we do so much better than 99% of you failures in the media these days.

Tell your readers the truth: Sure... some of us are anti-war. A reasonable position if you are really pro-life. BUT we are, for the most part, anti-ILLEGAL INVASION AND OCCUPATION. We are anti-ILLEGAL SPYING ON AMERICANS. We are anti-NEOCON-REPUBLICAN... Yep. Even the conservative and libertarian republicans that walk among us now.

But that doesn't fit your media agenda, does it? That would be the truth. And that would not belittle our position. I know it pains you to actually have to admit we exist, but do you have to be so oblivious as to why dead tree media is dying and Blogging is on the rise? It is your fucking job on the line you hack journalists.

While I was at the NewsTimes I decided to go take a look at Eugene's Driscoll's movie Blog because I was drawn to a post title on the front page:

"OBAMA BIDEN MILEY CYRUS SCANDAL"

Yep... The media pushing the "Black man coming after your white women!" meme straight out Rove and Luntz's playbook. Absolutely nothing in there that has anything to do with the title.

Just a Blaring title to catch people's roving eyes.

Being somewhat more responsible, timely and ethical in my writings, here, I take the time to point out the obvious in his first part of the story over there as well as question his misleading choice of title.

Anyone with half a brain didn't have to wait for the text message to find out Biden was the VP choice since the Secret Service were dispatched to protect Biden the night before.

And if you really wanted to get the internet's attention, Eugene, you would simply start posting the truth about gigolo McCain's (the guy with the sugar mama Cindy...) warmongering campaign to continue corrupt bush administration failures instead of misleading titles to insinuate scandals on the left side when there aren't any and raising the bigot factor up a notch.

While the rest of America is busy trying to figure out how many homes McCain can't remember he owns OR if he paid his taxes on all of them... Feel free to continue to be well behind the curve. It only continues to make real Bloggers look more competent and you, well, not so much.

Here is Eugene's underwhelming response to my comment:

Uh, this is blog about movies . . . but thanks for the wacky rant!

Wow! He sure told me... He writes something that is linked prominently on the front page of a news paper site that is a blatant fabrication and my rant is wacky.

Nice try Eugene but:

"OBAMA BIDEN MILEY CYRUS SCANDAL"
"Fox 61’s Rick Hancock says he received the Obama text at 3:28 a.m. He posted the news on his blog at 3:33 a.m., according to CTWeblogs.

Just before his head hit the pillow (I assume) Rick raised an interesting point:

“Media coverage of all of these people getting the text would have been a great PR move. Essentially, Obama made a 3:30 a.m. booty call to his supporters.”"

This post is a pitiful attempt to plant misleading BS in the media in the hopes of tainting Obama with innuendo in the public mind. And even if this was done unintentionally, then you have still failed the public.

He even took the time to add the "booty call" comment for extra effect in the "black man coming for the white women" BS. Pure Willie Horton there. Not the fake stuff the media distracts with, but real McCain campaign Willie Horton material.

What he really told me, yet again, was why the media is failing. He may not know it, but we do. This is right up there with Fox or CNN tactics:

"Is Obama the Antichrist?"

If someone in the media has to even ask this or uses it as the blaring title of their piece... Fire them. They are pumping pure propaganda as every part of any investigated story on this would show the real truth:

"Insane McCain Tries to Paint Obama as the Antichrist!"

That is a factual and supportable storyline. McCain and his surrogates played that ad to the lunatic fringe. The CNN fox like title was the one that ran. Fuckin' pitiful. They deserve to be scorned.

A disgrace to journalism.

The other day I wrote a quick note on the NY Times idiocy. Really, it was a question that readers everywhere deserve an honest answer to:

When will the NY Times arrive?

Because Bloggers weren't around at previous conventions, weren't there in the trenches for countless elections, primaries and issues. No, Bloggers haven't been doing what we have been doing and coalescing into one of the largest activist and information sharing networks, shaping the narrative of the news cycles in an effort to counterbalance failures in the older and compromised traditional media long before any of the more recent credentialed things started to happen...

The Year of the Political Blogger Has Arrived - NYTimes.com

Nope. According to the NY Times Bloggers have only arrived now. My question for the NY Times:

When do they plan on catching up to us?

Because we are still far ahead of the NY Times and other proven corporate and government media propaganda outlets in speaking truth to power, integrity and honesty in our coverage of the news. At least, the left side of the Blogosphere is.

Journalists are so far out of the mainstream that we really want to know. A couple of comments that underscore the perception of readers out there. First a comment from BeachBum (another Vet that Blogs about his life in South Carolina) on it:

I don't think they can catch up. Some of their mistakes lately seems to suggest they do worse than some of dedicated bloggers.

I think he is right... They seem to willfully remain mired in their dead tree ways while most people have long since moved on to better reading. They have moved on to Blogs. Another comment from someone that has fully embraced the reality of the new and obviously better media:

I have a degree in Communications and I am amazed at how slow the MSM has been in catching onto the incredible power of the internet. I wonder sometimes if they are in denial.

Part of the dead tree media problem is that they are so invested in the business model they created for ad revenue they have a hard time trying to keep up with those of us that have absolutely no budget beyond Google type ads and relatively no overhead beyond buying a digital camera or video cam and, if even, some bandwidth and domain name if we want to bother.

They are in denial.

They have a failed business model and refuse to give it up. Eventually smart advertisers will give up the dead tree media model as well. Most of them just haven't quite figured out they should. And the advertisers sure as hell don't want to support the Blogosphere (not the left side of it) because we have integrity and hold them accountable.

And the media tries to mock us as they fall further and further behind. Perhaps they are just acting out because they are ashamed of their own failings... More likely, they are hoping they won't lose that next fed up reader to the Blogs that are writing about the truth.

Then they make matters worse for themselves when they cut local content down to nil and wonder "why do more and more people turn to the internet?" And then you have the media take preposterous positions (like the Hartford Courant did) and ask Bloggers to provide them with free content after laying off many of their local staff.

Aside from Letters to the Editor, the Courant pays for every other word of editorial copy it prints. Shouldn't the paper at least pay a nominal fee to bloggers whose words they excerpt? The blogger who wants to remain pure can give permission to print without a fee, but the very idea that the Courant hasn't made the offer is exploitative.

They've been in the business for a long time, and they must surely understand that while the web is extraordinarily freewheeling when it comes to sharing and borrowing information, if you are a major media outlet, who makes money for your newspaper/website, then "borrowing" without pay is impolite, if not immoral.

Is the Courant frigin' nuts?

They will be the first to push the "FREE MARKET RULES AND ALL HAIL DEREGULATION!" talking points for the GOP corporate interests, like all of the ones that led to the housing crash, but they want Bloggers to dig them out of the hole they made for free?

I don't begrudge the few Bloggers that took them up on it and wanting to get at least some sane views in their news papers. In fact, I believe the few that are in there from the reality based community are ones that were there before the layoffs happened. If they don't continue those pages will be left to only the right wing nuts that we have already had to suffer from for years.

If we had a thriving and healthy local media they would still be making money. They are the cause of their own downfall through failed business decisions and failed editorial decisions.

Any media manager that would hire the likes of Judy propaganda Miller, Billy “I’m not right about anything, but I still get my regular TV gig to screw over the national discourse” Kristol, Karl Rove, or pay the AP services for Ron Fournier's GOP talking points, or present a dunderhead like Fred Lucas as a non-partisan contributor without any real opposing views is begging for failure.

I would like nothing more than to see the media succeed.

But they need to provide real hard news and investigative reporting that is fact checked and reality based, and they have do this both locally and nationally in order to succeed. At this point in time, more then ever before, they need to stand up for the little guys.

They don't and the citizens that used to rely on them for the truth suffer. And even more of them head to our Blogs. But Bloggers suffer too. Because now we have to not only fact check the media and political failures but we have to create content for ourselves in their absence.

What did you think? That I was doing this for my own pleasure? Fuck that!

I used to enjoy reading the news paper to keep up on everything. They used to provide a valuable service to their customers. Now they are just a marketing tool for corporations and partisan politics. Very few exceptions to that rule.

Frankly, I would like nothing more than to have more time to Blog about and do things that actually interest me - like hockey, gardening or sex... Anything but politics - So I am begging the intellectually lazy and incompetent media to do their job, to fire the liars, to cut the stenography and to start fact check again, to start doing your job the way you are supposed to so I don't have to anymore.

Yank The Disgruntled Republican Vote From McCain

Politics in the Zero's catches some interesting work in Virginia where a break off group from the Greens have put together a Rep. Ron Paul and New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg ticket:

Important. This is not the national Green Party but a splinter group that left the Green Party and allied themselves with the Independence Party in what no doubt was a spectacular frenzy of bad feelings and nasty schisms. However, they got way over the needed 10,000 sigs to put Bloomberg on the ballot, certainly quite an accomplishment.

However, did they do that via volunteers or are they bankrolled to the point where they can afford paid signature gatherers? If so, who are the donors?

HMMM? An antiwar right wing libertarian coupled with a more fiscally sane version of a republican party conservative than the GOP has to offer anywhere on any ticket?

After screwing over the Dems by bankrolling the Liebergoons imported from out of state to work Joe neocon Lieberman’s ground campaign in Connecticut, I don’t think that adding Bloomberg to any ticket, never mind one with Ron Paul, is intended to lure in votes from the Democratic party membership or the left in general.

Joe Lieberman hates people who buy elections, but that isn't stopping him from letting billionaire election buyer Michael Bloomberg buy one for him.

Joseph I. Lieberman is deploying a secret weapon in the race’s closing days: a sophisticated operation to identify and turn out voters, courtesy of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of New York City.

The Bloomberg group includes several top-level operatives who played key roles in the mayor’s decisive re-election last year or who are in the administration, and have taken leaves from their jobs to work on Mr. Lieberman’s campaign.

Since Mr. Lieberman lost the Democratic primary in Connecticut to Ned Lamont, they have helped open campaign offices, devised a strategy to reach voters and are corralling enough volunteers to cover 2,800 shifts at more than 700 polling sites on Election Day, Nov. 7.

As a former New Yorker, I can tell you that "coralling enough volunteers" is New Yorkese for "paying the ethically-challenged out of a slush fund."

Lieberman has made himself a marked man - targeted by Dems nationally for obsolescence - and everyone knows Bloomberg helped bankroll, man and co-ordinate his campaign.

Sounds more like something to give disgruntled republicans another option beyond the fiscally irresponsible and warmongeringly insane McCain, a candidate too many GOP voters do not like. I would call that money well spent if some Obama supporters payed the bills. That ticket on every state's ballot could do a lot of damage to the GOP, IMHO.

According to the Huffpo report:

"If it is an issue that a candidate is put forth, we assume that the internal communications have happened. But if we were to receive a letter from Mayor Bloomberg that he doesn't want his name on the ballot, we would have to look into the matter to see why the nominee for a party doesn't want to be that nominee," said Matthew J. Abell, the Assistant Manager at Virginia's State Board of Elections. "It is a free country and if chooses to not have his name on the ballot he has every right to do so."

Campbell acknowledged this possibility and said he would not feel slighted if the mayor, simply by asking for his name to be removed from the ballot, were to undermine months of efforts.

"Yes, Bloomberg must consent to this and it will be up to the Board of Elections," he told the Huffington Post. "But we made a promise and we wanted to keep it and we have."

UPDATE: Bloomberg's spokesman Stu Loeser emails: "He hasn't made any decisions and hasn't had a chance to speak with [party chairman Carey] Campbell yet... But this is a call for post-partisanship that Mayor Bloomberg hopes the major parties will hear."

LATE UPDATE: Turns out Liz Benjamin had this report up for the New York Daily News earlier today. We did our own reporting but she still deserves credit.

LewRockwell.com gives you some more:

The Independent Party of Virginia has collected 70,000 signatures - seven times as many as necessary - to nominate Ron as vice president and Michael Bloomberg as president. The wrong order, of course, but still very neat. Could this ticket actually carry Virginia, and turn a close election over to the House of Representatives? We can only hope. Then McCain can really become a Georgian. Note, unlike in most states, Ron and Mike stay on unless they ask to be taken off. Ron will not ask, and apparently, neither will Mike.

[update] Welcome to BuzzFlash readers... A reader driven news community worthy of everyone's support.

Pelosi Questions Lieberman's Leadership Position

Via scarce and Crooks and Liars, House Leader Nancy Pelosi wonders aloud in a radio interview - on San Fransisco KGO's Ronn Owens Show - about possible repercussions in the Senate for Joe neocon Lieberman's most recent republican regressions in his eternal warmongering quest:



Apparently, The Lieberman Limbo may result in his being banished to political limbo with the rest of the (R)idiots permanently:

It appears that Connecticut's junior Senator, Joe neocon Lieberman, can and will continue to try and set the bar lower:

"In my opinion, the choice could not be more clear: between one candidate, John McCain, who’s had experience, been tested in war and tried in peace, another candidate who has not," Mr. Lieberman said. "Between one candidate, John McCain, who has always put the country first, worked across party lines to get things done, and one candidate who has not. Between one candidate who’s a talker, and the other candidate who’s the leader America needs as our next candidate."

Just because Obama hasn't joined the neoconga line with you on the failed side of American party politics does not give you the right to question his patriotism.

Though I must admit that the pitiful desperation in your message suits you, Joe.

Kicking the warmonger, Joe neocon Lieberman, off of the Homeland Security Chair would do a lot towards securing our nation long into the future. Even better would be to get him off of the Homeland Security Committee altogether.

Hopefully Joe will retire after he becomes politically obsolete.