Funny how last night we have a little press party at the white house, then today

[deminks]

all the press is ganging up on the voice of progressives, Dr. Dean. Poor Lieberman, Bad Dean. Dean is a progressive, Dean bad. Dean made Lieberman angry. Dean made white house angry. Dean bad.
Dean made Mary Landrieu angry. Bad Dean.


Funny how that works. Morning Jerk, Mika Mouse, unnamed sources, Savannah never left the party.

http://fdlaction.firedoglake.com/2009/12/16/white-house-irritated-with-howard-dean-not-joe-lieberman/

(video at the link)

Last night there was a big party for the press at the White House, and this morning Mika Brzezinski and Savannah Guthrie report back on what was being said by White House officials about Howard Dean and Joe Lieberman:

Mika Brzezinski I won’t name names, but I heard it from several people in the Administration: Howard Dean, very not pleased, with Dr. Dean speaking out about health care reform and this plan.

Savannah Guthrie: Yeah, very irritated. Yes, isn’t it fascinating they don’t seem to be too angry at Lieberman, they’re reserving their fervor for Howard Dean, but actually, one senior official who I talked to this morning paid the highest insult which was to call him irrelevant to the entire health care debate. You know he kind of had his moment in the sun in the last week when this Medicare expansion looked like it was going to be the thing that broke the logjam between the progressives in the party and the moderates, but, of course, because of Lieberman, the Medicare expansion is gone, and now Dean is having what one official called “a tantrum.”

(end snip)

Oh, Look who's pulling our strings again. Something stinks, and it starts with Me and ends with dia. The corporatists centrists are so afraid of a little grass roots action that they can't see straight. .

And Dr. Dean still speaks for me. Reconciliation. Here's a little holiday reconciliation for you, Mr. Lieberman, topped off with a little librul populism. Boo.

[liberalmuse]

1. I might get irritated with Krugman...

even though I really respect the guy, but don't fucking touch Dean. I sincerely believe the Republicans would have been able to steal the election again if it weren't for him (well..okay, little good that did). The man has a proven record of fighting for OUR rights, and I think it's foolish for any liberal to demonize him. I don't get Rahm's disdain for him.

[Marr]

2. I don't think it's very bright to attack Dean and defend Lieberman.

Joe Lieberman is not popular with Democrats. I think these DLC dipshits are living in 1996, and they don't realize these tactics are going to bite them in the ass.

[liberalmuse]

4. Oh they will, on the day after the 2010 election.

I'll be voting for my reps, since they almost always do the right thing, but most people aren't so lucky.

[Jane Austin]

3. Yeah, that makes for good TV.

I wonder what the unquoted administration staffers said? And why weren't any of them quoted?

A fight between Dean and the White House would be just dandy for cable teevee.

MSM will do anything to find another way to take shots at Obama.

[msongs]

6. gee, unamed sources were worshipped when they were critic al of Bushco. nt

[flyarm]

5. Obama has to protect Lieberman..it was all part of the plan!!

this was all planned long ago..it is all a dog and pony show!



Remember Joe Lieberman was Obama’s Mentor in the Senate

By: fflambeau Monday December 14, 2009 10:05 pm

Those who are up in arms over Sen. Joe Lieberman’s "veto" of the extension of Medicare should remember this. When Sen. Barack Obama arrived in Washington, D.C. in 2005, he selected as his mentor none other than: Joe Lieberman.

Here’s David Sirota writing about this, after discussing Obama’s stab in the back of the progressive Lamont in Connecticut and his stab in the back of the progressive Christine Cegelis (Obama backed Duckworth) way back in 2006:

snip:

Other sources, including the Hartford Courant, reported that Obama chose Lieberman as his mentor.]

http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/18929

[Jane Austin]

7. Oh, sure. Obama lets himself get humiliated for the sake of

a man who campaigned against him?

Time to put down the egg nog.

[saracat]

9. Oh, please. Obama doesn't give a rats ass about HCR.He and his buddy Joe are

fighting for the Ins Cos and Big phrma. He made a deal with Big Pharma not to reimport drugs so they would lay off HCR. The HCR is stripped down to nothing but a Health Ins. freebie.As Feingold says, Obama is using Lieberman to hide behind. Didn't you even wonder when obama asked that Liberman keep his chairmanship? Take off the blinders and put down the koolaid.

[Meldread]

8. ...and people here think it's a lie?

Seriously? If people can't see why the White House is acting the way they are then they need to take off the blinders.

First, they need to kiss Lieberman's ass. No, it's worse than that. They have to give him a rimjob after he's taken a big shit. They need his vote. They're also pissed off at Harry Reid because he could have passed this months ago, but instead wanted to keep fighting for the Public Option. The White House was more than happy to dump the Public Option and have been for some time. They just want something on their desk. Having Lieberman demand the death of the Public Option is good in a way (from their view), because it could guarantee the votes of the Republican Senators from Maine.... and more or less what they wanted months ago.

Second, in the White House's view Howard Dean is stirring the shit. The activist base of the Democratic Party loves Dean. If he says 'kill the bill' then the activist base will go after progressive Senators that might be inclined to agree, and urge - even force if necessary - them to kill the bill. So from the White House's prospective what Dean did could allow progressives to do the same thing Lieberman is doing - threaten to kill the bill unless they get what they want.

Of course, that angers the White House because they want whatever Congress can pass.... and they wanted it yesterday. They don't care if it's a steaming shit sandwich; they just want a bill so they can declare victory and move on.