Joe Lieberman supports John McCain, and causes friction

[Kablooie]

Source: Los Angeles Times

Despite his ties to Democrats -- he was their 2000 vice presidential nominee -- the Connecticut senator, an independent, favors the GOP presidential candidate. He knows his choice is 'unconventional.'

In fact, he's become a key Republican Party asset.
Lieberman was in that role Wednesday, defending McCain against Democratic charges that he undervalued the importance of bringing U.S. troops home. And Lieberman took a swipe at Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama for being "consistently wrong" on Iraq.

In the interview, Lieberman said he was backing McCain because they agree "almost totally" on national security issues such as the war in Iraq, and he sees the Arizona senator as more able to work across party lines to get things done.

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-na-lieberman12-2008jun12,0,7289621.story

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Lieberman is going to be a popular guy.

[graegoyle]

1. "Going to be"?

Um...welcome to the interwebs?

[Frank Cannon]

2. Oh, please, PLEASE let us pick up enough Senate seats next time...

so that the Dems can strip this motherfucker of his committee chairmanships and put him in charge of cleaning the Capitol restrooms.

[against all enemies]

3. That jobs too good for him.

[silverojo]

32. I know one way we could make the job suit him

Make him clean out said restrooms with his freakin' TONGUE!!

[Zachstar]

4. Amen!

[knixphan]

24. seconded.

[opihimoimoi]

5. The dude is a TRAITOR....he should be BANNED from the USA

[Earth_First]

7. A little extreme don't you think? n/t

[SergeyDovlatov]

30. The guy is likely a foreign agent.. Trying to subvert US foreign policy ...

to the detriment of the american people and to the benefit of a certain foreign country.

Seems like a good grounds for the deportation.

[LeftishBrit]

9. The problem with that...

is that then soon everyone can decide that their political opponents are traitors and should be banned from their country. I'm sure Bush would like to ban all liberals from the USA!

[Virginia Dare]

16. Perhaps the OP meant traitor to the country, not the party...n/t

[LeftishBrit]

20. Politicians do tend to regard their major opponents as traitors to the country...

And all sorts of undemocratic practices result from that.

Having spent 10 years being ruled by someone who had a lot in common with Lieberman, I have NO sympathy with the type; but once one starts regarding bad politicians as traitors (unless they've actually sold state secrets or planted bombs), all sorts of erosions of civil liberties will result.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

22. no he is not. i find the use of the word traitor when you disagree with someone to be very dangerous

[silverojo]

33. Joe-mentum is a traitor to the Democratic Party

How about we leave it at that?

[lark]

27. Can't get behind that

I remember too well during the Vietnam war having the people I worked with all turn on me and tell me I was not American and should just get the *ell out of this country since I didn't support our military. Dems, as intelligent, thoughtful people, should not use that line - smacks too much of the dark side.

[0rganism]

6. I wonder how much pull he still has in Connecticut...

Could he actually throw the state to McCain in November?

Holy Joe is a dangerous nuisance.

[Tuttle]

8. We have an active KKK in CT...

maybe Joe can mobilize them?

Tut-tut

[JerseygirlCT]

11. Nope. Not a chance.

Even those who foolishly voted for him last time around regret it. He's not exactly loved. He's also not very good at constituent service. Write him on an issue; get back a lecture on paper about why he's right and you're wrong.

He's a jerk, and I think enough people see that now.

McCain will probably still appeal to many of the state's GOP. Especially if we don't successfully burst the media's carefully nurtured "maverick" and "moderate" image of him. But the Dems will go Obama - as will a number of GOP voters I've heard about.

[wmbrew0206]

18. According to the lastest polls in Conn. from www.electoral-vote.com

McCain is within the margin of error.

http://www.electoral-vote.com/

[JerseygirlCT]

10. Guess he can always hope

Most of the people who foolishly voted for him here are now regretting it terribly. Of course, many of us were smart enough not to do so in the first place!

[BrklynLib at work]

12. I was truly stunned when that man held his seat in CT after all the crap he pulled.

[JerseygirlCT]

13. Well, the Republicans basically didn't run a candidate

so Lieberman got almost all the GOP votes. That and some Dems who felt loyal to him somehow was enough to give him the win. But I haven't spoken to anyone who voted for him who's happy about it now.

Had the GOP actually run a viable candidate against him (something they haven't done in a long time, if ever... well, there was Weicker when he was being challenged by Lieberman the first time out, but that sort of switched the usual votes. Weicker was far more liberal than Lieberman ever was) he would have lost. People also just didn't know enough about Lamont to feel secure. And his sort of light-hearted tv campaign made them think he wasn't serious.

And so, we're stuck with Joe for a few more years. But after this election, he can be pushed to the back and ignored - as he so thoroughly deserves.

[BrklynLib at work]

14. Sounds like a good analysis. Thanks.

[knixphan]

25. THOROUGHLY!

:toast:

[lark]

28. He should be relegated to the smallest closet

in the lowest level of the basement, where it will take him all day just to walk up, so maybe we won't have to see him so much. Stripping his chairmanship would be the cake and the horrible, smelly cramped office the icing.

[JerseygirlCT]

29. LOL. I like the way you think! nt

[mnhtnbb]

15. I hope the Dems pick up enough Senate seats to give Lieberman a new office--

maybe a janitor's closet?

[silverojo]

34. How about a room in the Gitmo Hotel?

Since he likes Bush/McCain's foreign policies so much...?

[dbonds]

17. Speaking of the VP nominee in 2000 - anyone know the story why Gore picked him.

Surely Gore knew what he was. I don't know much about traitor joe before then though. Was his actions during the recount the first act or part of a long history? Did he get corrupted at that time?

[tblue37]

19. My guess is that the DLC forced Lieberman on Gore.

Certainly Gore has shown no particular affection or admiration for Lieberman since the election.

[PassingFair]

26. DLC run election all the way.

I wasn't watching very closely at the time....

[SharonAnn]

21. After the Clinton impeachment, Gore felt he needed a "morality" based VP.

Lieberman had excoriated President Clinton in a speech in the Senate and so was presumed to be "moral".

[La Lioness Priyanka]

23. to distance himself from bill clinton. stupid move though.

[silverojo]

35. Gore was a "conservative Democrat"

He wanted another "conservative Democrat" as his running mate.

Be careful what you ask for....

[high density]

31. Key Republican Party Asset

If LIEberman is a "key asset" then that certainly shows us what shitty shape the GOP is in. That's great news.

[saltpoint]

36. Lieberman had his moment of glory on Gore's ticket. I would have

preferred that Gore had chosen Kerry, but our phone didn't ring, or else we were out seeing one of those decadent Hollywood films Holy Joe was ranting against at the time.

Connecticut Democrats chose Ned Lamont as their candidate for the 06 Senate nomination. Without Republican crossovers, Lieberman would not be in that seat today, and i think his time has come and gone.

He'll grandstand a few more months on the Sunday news shows and it's even possible he'll play a heightened role in McCain's campaign, but McCain's train is headed for a deep-gully bridge that's been washed out a long time ago.

His hour of glory is just about up.

Say nitey-nite to the nice people, Joe.

[sarcasmo]

37. Why would this cause friction, he has always been a Republican even if he had the D by his name.