Lieberman Jumps Shark: Says Obama Doesn’t Put Country First
As a former Connecticut resident, it’s truly sad to see the utter transformation of Senator Joe Lieberman — and not in terms of party loyalty. It’s hard to imagine the 2000 Joe Lieberman accusing a political opponent of not putting his country first –which he has now done as he has totally jumped the shark:
One of the McCain campaign’s new themes, that Senator John McCain has always put his country first, has been seen by some analysts as a subtle suggestion that his opponent, Senator Barack Obama, has not.
But as he introduced Mr. McCain at a campaign event here on Tuesday, Senator Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut made the attack a lot more explicit, calling the election a choice “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.’’
UPDATE: The McCain campaign apparently agrees with Lieberman’s quote. See UPDATE below.
And so Joe Lieberman (who my mother in Connecticut met many years ago since Lieberman was associated in business with the son of a family friend) now takes the McCain insinuations to a higher level. McCain’s new problem: if Lieberman is truly on his short list for Veep to show that he can reach across party lines, Lieberman will now become a more polarizing choice than ever…less a former Democrat than a hot-button-got-to-vote-against for many Democrats some independents due to his demonizing rhetoric.
Mr. Lieberman, the Connecticut Independent who was the Democratic vice presidential nominee in 2000, made the remark as he used his introduction of Mr. McCain to deliver a harsh assessment of Mr. Obama without mentioning his name.
“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.’’
Earlier, TMV Asst. Editor Pete Abel said that as much as he’d like to, he can’t support McCain right now. In my case, I was a 2000 McCain supporter. Over the past four years a theme of this site has been the need to move away from Karl Rove-style demonization politics. But it is now clear that the McCain campaign is in the hands of Karl Rove (informal advisor) & Friends (Rove’s proteges) and that this will continue because this kind of campaigning works.
With some voters.
There will be some Democrats and independents who could will be turned off by it. Some independents will stay home or vote against McCain. It’s likely to especially chase away those who have longed and argued for higher level Presidential campaigns.
Lieberman has jumped the Jaws fish because he is saying without actually saying it that Obama is potentially a traitor, if not one already. A patriot puts his country first. So who is craven enough to put his country second?
The fact is this:
The old Joe Lieberman and the old John McCain wouldn’t suggest or come close to calling Obama unpatriotic because he disagrees with them. They would have aggressively challenged him on his positions but never questioned his bona fides as someone who cared for his country.
And Joe Lieberman? With this statement Lieberman is no longer a symbol of reaching across party lines but, rather, of crossing (his old party) and tossing (away his former political values). He no longer can be pointed to as a symbol of bipartisanship.
Today’s Joe Lieberman is to bipartisanship what pizza with extra cheese is to weight control.
UPDATE: And the McCain campaign apparently agrees with Lieberman. Talking Points Memo:
Just moments ago, the McCain campaign emailed out the same Lieberman quote to its full press list — putting its official stamp of approval on Lieberman’s assertion.
This is effectively an abandonment of the campaign’s quasi-official position, which used to be that the McCain camp saw questioning Obama’s patriotism as off limits. Last month, senior McCain adviser Charlie Black said explicitly that “we don’t want to talk about his patriotism and character. We concede that he’s a patriot and person of good character.”
That no longer appears to be operative.
27 Responses to “Lieberman Jumps Shark: Says Obama Doesn’t Put Country First”
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You are overreacting. It's amusing to see a Dem act Carterish in reverse.
And we know what's next for Lieberman, the “traitor,” “heretic,” “apostate” idiocy from the peanut gallery, followed by a clone-like copy of the rare truly-far-right Samuel Francis treatment of Lieberman (“agent of a foreign country”) from the same libs and Dems.
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Lieberman would be a logical choice for VP by McCain, but while the play-pen leftie crowd would throw tantrums, the rest of us would simply yawn. It wouldn't really be much different than if McCain picked a government-establishment type or a RINO. Normal people have yawned at McCain all along and will continue to do so.
And you know (based on his participation in McCain's campaign) that Lieberman is a top-of-the-list VP choice.
[good reader remarks in addition to photograph that lays it all before everyone]
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/08/12/l…
As a former Connecticut resident, it’s truly sad to see the utter transformation of Senator Joe Lieberman — and not in terms of party loyalty.
Nobody believes that sentence coming from a partisan left-winger who calls himself a “moderate.”
My own take on this “transformation” is hilarious, because last Christmas I had cocktails with the Republican Party Chmn of Palm Beach Cty. In the course of the conversation, he told me that in Florida, almost 50% of the Jewish voters are registered Republicans or lean right strongly. When I asked about 2000, he told me that his Jewish donors said that “almost all” the Jewish Republicans voted for Gore/Lieberman because “blood is thicker than water.”
If McCain did pick a left-wing Independent [though a righty on foreign policy] like Lieberman or even Cantor…..the Jewish vote & Jewish money would go to McCain in a pretty big way…..
Of course, I don't expect the sock puppet to agree with me, but it's something for McCain to consider. He gets Florida automatically if he does pick Lieberman, who is very popular down here.
And McCain is going to need a lot of help from the 527s since Obama broke his public funding pledge, something never mentioned on this “moderate” site.
Gore chose Lieberman as his running mate in 2000, but didn't “get Florida automatically”.
About the only thing you can say honestly about Lieberman is that he has defied his party (particularly the left-wing more-foolish Dems) as has Lieberman often, and it may or may not be motivated for the desire for attention as is the case with McCain.
Lieberman definitely is a top-of-the-list VP choice for McCain and everyone knows it.
Dave in Boca : Lieberman or Crist — “fellow maverick” or establishmentarian, either way a natural McCain choice. Lieberman is the more interesting of the two, and in either case, I still believe McCain is going to lose this year, though by less than I may suspect (bolstered by what I overhead today when discussing this in Detroit metro, a blue not red place).
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So essentially Daveinboca attacks Joe personally instead of simply disagreeing with his post by putting a label on him instead of criticizing the idea, and then DLS claims that Lieberman is somehow a victim of childish Dems who will soon call him a traitor when the post is about Lieberman essentially already saying that Obama is a traitor. Got it.
Interestingly, the Lieberman camp literally begged Obama to endorse him during his primary battle with Ned Lamont. Obama obliged. These days I'm guessing he'd like to have that decision back. According to recent polls, many CT voters would like to have their vote back too.
Lieberman lost the primary. But as luck would have it, the Republican candidate was a worthless reprobate. So most Republicans backed him in the general instead. Some center Dems did too. After all, Lieberman had a pretty good track record of bringing home the pork. In fact, pork was one of the primary pillars of his campaign. Obama did not campaign for Lieberman during the general, by the way. He didn't campaign for Lamont either, but he did contribute something like $2500.
Speaking of money, Lieberman has donated generously to fellow Dems this cycle — something like $250,000, versus something like $30,000 to GOP interests.
How all of this impacts on the question at hand I'm not sure. However, if you were to ask me if I'd be comfortable with Lieberman taking over should something happen to McCain, I'd have to say, resoundingly, NO!
“DLS claims that Lieberman is somehow a victim of childish Dems who will soon call him a traitor when the post is about Lieberman essentially already saying that Obama is a traitor”
You confuse or misuse various meanings of the word “traitor,” whereas those of us who follow public discourse know that I'm being generous because Lieberman has already been treated at a traitor by partisan and liberal Dems for the past several months.
Dave in Boca: This my final warning. I have asked you repeatedly to refrain from personal attacks. You seem to do this under many of my posts. If you want to write long comments specifying why you think I'm wrong, go ahead. If you want to put up some links in your comment to other opinions, no problem. We've had people who disagree ask about doing Guest Voices and I've run them, including someone who responded to a specific post. But you need to read our commenting policy below. I've written now at least three comments like this in response to you. It''s getting old and this is not going to continue.
Dave,
Your PB County GOP head is a liar. Period. 50% of Palm Beach County Jews do NOT vote Republican or lean hard right. And I'm quite certain that that holds true for Jews elsewhere in Florida (mostly in Broward and Dade). Election after election shows heavily Jewish precincts going strongly Democratic (and not just 2000). And if anecdotes count for anything, my Jewish grandmother who lives in Palm Chase off Military Trail in Boynton Beach believes at least 75% of her Jewish neighbors are voting for Obama. She talks politics with her neighbors quite often and has only found one who won't vote for Obama. In fact, she was shocked that I even asked her if neighbors would go for McCain or Obama. And most of them (including my grandmother) voted for Clinton in the primary.
Mind you, these aren't Orthodox Jews who have more in common with Christian fundamentalists than they do the rest of the Jewish population. These are Reform and Conservative Jews.
Oh, and a recent poll of Jews nationwide shows Obama much more popular than Joe Lieberman.
I understand Lieberman has his defenders. My problem with Lieberman is not his pro-war position but his utter unwillingness throughout the conflict to even consider that things had ever gone wrong. He supported Bush more than most Republicans on Iraq and looked like a fool for doing so.
DLS: My guess is that Lieberman could for several reasons give the Dem females who are looking for an excuse to desert Obama cover to vote for McCain. If McCain can win FL & OH & just one blue state like WI, he could squeak over the line as GWB did over the Gore-bot in 2000.
Methinks it may be more as Obama's weaknesses away from a teleprompter & set-piece situations will assert themselves—-he is absolutely fumble-tongued in situations where he has to ad-lib.
In the debates, I predict he will appear condescending to McCain & get the Reagan Democrats voting Republican again, even if they tell pollsters they will vote for Obama. Tom Bradley & Gov. Wilder found this out the hard way.
Elrod, this guy knows PBCounty better than your relative. There are large areas south of Boynton Beach which are Republican & all the Jewish neighbors of mine are Republican, including a rabbi. To be exact, my neighbor said “at least 40% of PB Cty Jewish voters usually vote Republican. Boca Raton until recently had a Republican Jewish mayor. Delray Beach the same. Cong. Klein's law partner Peter Sachs is one of the most influential Republicans in PB Cty. Your “Jewish Grandmother” may live in an area with New York Jewish residents, but Boynton Beach is infra dig compared to the rich Jews of Boca, Delray, Palm Beach, W. Palm Beach and other areas with a large Republican Jewish majority.
Miami-Dade & Broward Jews may be more Democrat, but Palm Beach Cty Jews are 40% Republican and at least 15% more are Independent, according to my neighbor who was County Chairman for over a decade. All politics is local, according to Tip O'Neill.
I'll take his word over anecdotal chatter from someone who lives in BBeach.
“And we know what's next for Lieberman, the “traitor,” “heretic,” “apostate” idiocy from the peanut gallery, followed by a clone-like copy of the rare truly-far-right Samuel Francis treatment of Lieberman (“agent of a foreign country”) from the same libs and Dems.”
DLS- Um, and how does the right treat its heretics? Chuck Hagel was just about disowned by the GOP for having the temerity to voice his conscience on the Iraq War. Even McCain was viewed by many Republicans as a traitor because he worked with Democrats in the Senate on major bills,and favored amnesty for illegal immigrants.
I agree with DLS on Lieberman and kritt on McCain and Hagel.
I agree that Hagel and Lieberman are doing whats in their hearts and not politically acceptable to their parties.
That should make them both heroes in this nation. Not pariahs who dont tow the party line and vote lockstep in tune with what the party demands.
Thats been the problem with this country too long. Both sides are so desperately trying to get their man elected that the instant someone says something then posts like this spring up proving so and so is evil and the campaign is smut driven because he or she says something that can be construed as negative.
Both sides are saying negative things about the others. Lieberman is still a democrat and Hagel is still a Republican. They just both have serious personal beliefs about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. That does not make either one of them evil or less of a party man. No matter how people want to try and make them that way.
One good outcome of the Gore 2000 loss is that Lieberman isn't the annoited one for Democratic POTUS. Lieberman's done(toast) in 2012.
I wonder how much of an opportunistic suck up Lieberman will be if Obama gets elected.
Lieberman didn't jump the shark, he's the parasitic remora underneath it.
Anyone hear from Zel Miller lately?
If PB county is so heavily Jewish and Republican, why are Liberal Jewish Democrats like Wexler, Wasserman-Schultz and Klein US Representatives in the county.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/…
http://blogs.tampabay.com/buzz/2008/05/obama-an…
http://nationalatlas.gov/printable/congress.htm…
http://nationalatlas.gov/printable/images/pdf/c…
http://nationalatlas.gov/printable/images/pdf/c…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida's_16th_con…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida's_17th_con…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida's_18th_con…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida's_19th_con…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida's_20th_con…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida's_21st_con…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida's_22nd_con…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida's_23rd_con…
DaveinBoca
“Of course, I don't expect the sock puppet to agree with me, but it's something for McCain to consider. He gets Florida automatically if he does pick Lieberman, who is very popular down here. “
Nobody believes that sentence coming from a partisan left-winger who calls himself a “moderate.”
I would amend that nobody believes this sentence coming from a lock-step neocon from Boca Raton. You have done nothing but insult and launch ad hominem attacks against him without merit. Sock puppet indeed- that's a cheap shot to his day job…
are you getting points trolling for McNasty?
Daveinboca's prediction about Obama appearing condescending and driving voters to McCain is something Obama should worry about – he should also worry about looking like a whiner when he complains about New Yorker satire and Lieberman's sales pitches. The man needs to learn to relax and laugh it off.
Okay, now it's getting to the point that if you stress your candidate's strengths (bipartisanship, leadership, sacrifice for country, etc.) the Dems scream foul. Lieberman is calling Obama a traitor?? What, Lieberman's remark can't be misconstrued as being 'racist' so now you will have to substitute the word 'traitor'? This is so ridiculous, it's pathetic.
Lieberman did not merely act as his conscience dictated. He is actively campaigning for the other party's candidate, and has cast aspersions upon Obama's patriotism. He promised voters he would investigate Bush's role in Katrina, then declared he had decided not to, once he became committee chair of Homeland Security. Also, he berated his own party members for not supporting the administration's war policy.