The Old Eighteen

Lieberman pushes Republican smear connecting Obama with Hamas

Harry Reid, were you paying attention when this interview appeared on CNN?

After being reminded by Wolf Blitzer that Obama has repudiated Hamas as a terrorist organization, Lieberman begrudgingly acknowledged that Obama "clearly doesn't support any of the values and goals of Hamas."  But then he couhged up this incredible statement:

But the fact that the spokesperson for Hamas would say they would welcome the election of Senator Obama really does raise the question, "Why?"

And it suggests the difference between these two candidates.

Fair enough.  By the same twisted logic, I'm sure Bootless Joe will agree that the fact that John McCain has been endorsed by John Hagee, who referred to the Catholic Church as the "great whore" of Revelations and blamed the Holocaust on the judgment of god as punishment for "the disobedience and rebellion of the Jews," likewise raises the question "Why?"  As in, "why did John McCain actively seek out Hagee's endorsement?"  As for the difference it suggests betwen him and Obama, well, you be the judge.

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(via Crooks and Liars)

Turn your head and cough, Sen. McCain

For those of you who were worried about John McCain's (ahem) bearings, Joe Lieberman assured us yesterday that he has (ahem) personally inspected them, and they're in great shape.  I guess he checked them out while they were resting on his chin.  I wonder if he gave Grandpa John a prostate exam while he was down there?

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(via Atrios)

Lieberman willing to give keynote address at Republican convention

Because no depth is too low for Joementum to sink to:

McCain has yet to ask Lieberman to speak, either in primetime or elsewhere, at the convention. But if McCain thinks it will help make his case for the White House, as some of his allies suspect, Lieberman would be willing to speak on his behalf.

“If Sen. McCain, who I support so strongly, asked me to do it, if he thinks it will help him, I will,” Lieberman said in a brief interview.

Lieberman said he doubts McCain will ask him to give a keynote address, but acknowledges the subject has yet to come up in the two senators’ discussions.

A Lieberman aide said even though there are no plans for the Independent to give a speech at the convention, it is a “likely possibility” he will address the Republican audience in some form.

Now, if Lieberman were a Republican, and he had endorsed the Democratic nominee and talked about giving the keynote address at their convention, after ignoring the results of his own party's primary and running as an independent, you can bet your ass that they would be stripping him of any committee seats he had, his seniority, and probably his skin.  But thatkfully for Joe, he's not having to deal with the Republicans.  He's just dealing with the same bunch of cowards who have allowed Bush to wipe his ass with the Constitution for most of the last 7 years:

Lieberman has had a long leash this Congress because his decision to caucus with Democrats — despite losing Connecticut’s 2006 Democratic primary — allows them to hold their narrow 51-49 majority. If Democrats pick up more seats as expected in November, and Lieberman angers Democrats along the campaign trail, some privately expect there might be an attempt to deny him his bid to retain his chairmanship.

One Democratic leadership aide said losing his chairmanship could happen in that scenario, but “the bar would have to be very high.”

Jesus Christ, how much higher does the bar have to be?  Does he literally have to strangle an infant to death on the floor of the Senate before these guys will take any sort of action against him?

When asked Tuesday if Lieberman’s chairmanship was at risk next Congress, Reid said succinctly: “No.”

“We have one difference of opinion, maybe two with Sen. Lieberman,” said Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), a prominent supporter of Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-Ill.) presidential candidacy. “As a whip, I can tell you time and again, he’s been there when we’ve needed him.”

"One difference of opinion, maybe two."  Yeah, DIck.  He thinks that a Republican should be our president, and he doesn't think that he should have to respect the results of Democratic primaries.  But other than that, he's a great Democrat!

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(via Daily Kos)

Joe Lieberman thinks it's a "good question" to ask if Obama is a "Marxist"

Remind me again why this guy hasn't been stripped of his committee chair and seniority:

NAPOLITANO: Hey Sen. Lieberman, you know Barack Obama, is he a Marxist as Bill Kristol says might be the case in today’s New York Times? Is he an elitist like your colleague Hillary Clinton says he is?

LIEBERMAN: Well, you know, I must say that’s a good question. I know him now for a little more than three years since he came into the Senate and he’s obviously very smart and he’s a good guy. I will tell ya that during this campaign, I’ve learned some things about him, about the kind of environment from which he came ideologically. And I wouldn’t…I’d hesitate to say he’s a Marxist, but he’s got some positions that are far to the left of me and I think mainstream America.

Is Joe Lieberman a child molester?  That's a good question too.  I mean, I'd hesitate to say he's a child molester, but he does kind of look like one.

Harry Reid promises Lieberman he'll keep his committee chairmanship in 2009

Let's review: Joe Lieberman ignores the results of a Democratic primary and runs as an independent, constantly undercuts Democratic positions on Iraq, the War against Terrorism, FISA, telecom immunity, etc., has his nose firmly inserted between George Bush's buttcheeks, and has even endorsed and campaigned for the Republican nominee for president this year.  He's all but caucused with the Republicans, and he might as well do that too, since he votes with them so often.  After all that, you'd think that once Democrats have a safe majority in the Senate, which is a strong probability after this November, Joementum would be losing his committee chairmanship and seniority.  You'd think that, but you wouldn't be Senate Majority leader Harry Reid, who apparently has his head so far up his ass that it has actually come out of his mouth, creating a causality loop and a rift in the time-space continuum:

Lieberman's constant presence at McCain's side fuels speculation that he would join a McCain administration. Yet he already has talked with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid about his future in the caucus.

Would Lieberman, 66, a four-term Connecticut senator, be stripped of his committee chairmanship and seniority if Democrats no longer had to rely on a self-described "Independent Democrat" for their one-vote majority?

"I can tell you Sen. Reid had talked to me a few times and said he knows there will be talk if we get more than 51 Democrats next year," Lieberman said. "As far as he is concerned, I will retain my seniority, etc., no matter how many Democrats there are next year."

Reid's spokesman, Jim Manley, confirmed Lieberman's account.

So in other words, Joe Lieberman gets to take a big steaming crap all over the Democratic party and many of its members, do basically everything he can to undermine its policy positions, and even campaign for Republicans, and he gets a free pass for it, thus giving a big fat green light to any other Democrats-in-name-only who might be inclined to do the same.  In what universe does this make sense?  Maybe in some parallel universe that was created in Reid's anally induced time-space rift, but certainly not in this one.

It needs to be made perfectly clear to Harry Reid by leading Democrats, in no uncertain terms, that either Joe Lieberman loses his seniority and committee chair, or Harry Reid loses his job as Senate Majority Leader.  And we as Democratic constituents need to scream like bloody hell until it is.

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(via ek hornbeck at Daily Kos)