Today Lieberman Endorsed McCain. I’m not surprised that Lieberman endorsed a Republican. Lieberman has been siding with the Republicans for years now. He lost the primary in his own state because of it, and then had to run as an independent to keep his job. (Why on Earth the people of Connecticut voted for him I don’t know. Habit?) I was surprised that it was McCain and not Giuliani. Supposably McCain asked for the endorsement after the two of them visited Iraq.
But let’s get to the meat of the endorsement. That McCain can bring the country together. McCain is someone I used to respect. I liked 2000 McCain. 2008 McCain is a disappointment. In 2000, McCain famously said this about the religious zealots of the GOP:
Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, and a few Washington leaders of the pro-life movement call me an unacceptable presidential candidate [...]They distort my pro-life positions and smear the reputations of my supporters. Why? Because I don’t pander to them. [...] I am a Reagan Republican who will defeat Al Gore. Unfortunately, Gov. Bush is a Pat Robertson Republican who will lose to Al Gore.
Of course, he was right, but more importantly McCain learned that the zealots are what make up the party. McCain wants to be president, and since 2006 or so, he’s begun to pander to them. He speaks at “agent of intollerance” Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University. He hits the war drum, saying everything is going swell in Iraq. If only he could put his experiences in Vietnam behind him, he might be able to even say he supports torture. It’s this disappointing panderer that Lieberman has endorsed.
Lieberman says that we need to “break through the reflexive partisanship that is poisoning our politics today and stopping us from getting anything done in Washington.” I agree. 2000 McCain might have been able to do that. 2008 McCain would like to, but can’t without alienating the GOP base.
I’d like to think Obama could bring the country together, but in my heart of hearts I don’t think he’ll be able to. Obama will be sabotaged from the beginning. Already we have the Republicans playing the Southern Strategy saying “Barack HUSSEIN Obama” at ever opportunity in an effort to:
- Imply that he’s a Muslim
- Imply that he’s some sort of Islamic terrorist sleeper agent
- Conflate “Obama” and “Osama” and him with Saddam Hussein
- Tap into some well of latent racism
If Obama became president, or any Democrat, I fully expect the Republicans to pull the same tricks they’ve pulled for 15 years, filibuster every Democratic sponsored bill, clamor for investigations into minor “issues.” It’s sabotage and slash and burn all over again.
Now under Clinton, the GOP got exactly what they wanted out the “scandals.” The expiration of the independent counsel statute. The Republicans never liked that law. It has the unfortunate problem of not allowing the president to investigate himself. So the GOP call for an special prosecutor to investigate everything Clinton did, including whether or not he washed his hands after going to the bathroom. Then when the independent counsel law is set for renewal, they say, “Oh man. Look. This law is really used for political witch hunts. We should get rid of it,” and of course the Democrats agreed because it was used by the Republicans for witch hunts. The law expires, and now we have widespread criminal activity in the White House and no way to investigate it.
Bravo. Bravo.
But who am I kidding. Even if the independent counsel statute still existed, the Dems wouldn’t call for it. They’re too busy not wanting to look soft on torture.
