Last fall, nobody cared more about the troops than Joe Lieberman:
I know as well as anyone we have made a lot of mistakes in Iraq and we have suffered more casualties than we should have. Don’t think for a minute I do not grieve for every casualty of this war.
In fact, as someone who voted for the war, I feel a heavy responsibility to try to end it as quickly and successfully as possible.
I have been to the front lines four times. I have been to Walter Reed and visited the brave men and women who have suffered awful injuries and sacrificed for their country the way Max Cleland did. I have visited with the families who have been devastated by the death of a son or daughter, a husband or a wife.
The last thing I want to do is needlessly add to that kind of heartbreak. I want to get our troops home as fast as anyone, probably more than most, and as I have repeatedly said, I am against an open-ended commitment.
And how is Joe expressing his grief these days? Per TParty at MLN:![]()
Two weeks ago, on June 25th, U.S. Army Pfc. Andre Craig Jr. of New Haven was killed in Baghdad as the Humvee he was riding in was hit by an improvised explosive device, leaving behind a wife and a six-month old daughter who he had met for the first – and last – time just this past May.
The funeral was yesterday. And Sen. Lieberman, he who “grieves for every casualty of this war” so much that he is doing everything in his power to keep our soldiers in harm’s way, wasn’t there:
Among those not in attendance was U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman. He sent a representative in his place. That angered some of the mourners like the Rev. Anthony Brown Sr., as well as the curious who gathered in the small park across the street just in front of Dwight Elementary School.
“Sen. Lieberman voted for the war. But he wasn’t here to pay his respects to a young man who lost his life,” Brown said. “Lieberman should be ashamed of himself. But that’s what politicians do. They send someone else to do the job. They send someone else’s kids to die for their wars.”
Joe now seems to be developing his foriegn policy based on what will piss off the maximum number of his critics. He’s an angry, bitter little man who has no problem promoting mo’ war forevah and lying furiously about the success of the “surge” just to salve his own ego. There are consequences, though, to endless war and they’re no fun to clean up. Joe seems no more eager to face those consequences than he is in offering up his own kids to fight in Iraq. I guess the families of the fallen should just be happy that Joe cares so very much and leave it at that.
Photo by Autumn Pinette/Connecticut Post)
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JANE!
No Mo HoJo!
Rep. Don Young of Alaska, hasn’t yet visited a single wounded Alaska serviceman or servicewoman. Yet his pro-war and pro-Iran-war rhetoric remains ramped to the max.
Lieberman should be ashamed of himself. Why haven’t the citizens of Conn. started a recall drive for him?
It looks like Donna Edwards managed to get about 30 donations today which should put a smile and everyone’s face. Well, maybe not Joe’s face since it meeans he will have to hustle more to raise funds for Republicans!!!
Joe is quisling.
What a sad creature. Miserable. Revolting.
I wonder if there are people in Connecticut who have expressed sorrow in having voted for him.
Nobody throws my switch like Mr. Lieberman. I demand my party strip this man of all Democratic Party responsibilities.
Loo Hoo. @ 6
The Republicans of Connecticut are quite happy!
Let’s see if we can get Lieberman to make a fundraising appearance for Al Wynn. That’ll bring in a few thousand for Wynn and five times as much for Donna Edwards. Oh, wait… Joe’ll probably be backing Wynn’s or Edwards’s opponent.
Oklahoma kiddo @ 7
Hell OKK, they should just strip him period! Throw him naked into the street!
wow Jane, you hit the nail on the head with this;
it really is as if he is taking a page right out of Bush’s book;
“if my critics don’t like it then I’m doing it and that will help get the people that don’t like my oponents to like me”
as far as the war it’s;
“since if I admint I was wrong I will seem like an idiot I will continue to claim I was right”
both are correct
good call
Visit Impeachcheney.com and sign the petition. n 35,000 signatures so far.
Draft Joe!
I can’t remember who it was here, maybe David Ehrenstein…? Anyway, somebody called HoJo something like “Soupy Sales’ evil twin.”
Harry Reid. Understand this: Lieberman is a lightning rod. Get rid of him.
HoJo grieves for the troops in the same way that the Chimpenfuhrer and Pickles grieve for the troops. From a very far distance away so that there’s no need to confront the reality of his mistakes.
ccmask @ 12
Signed and added, ccmask. History will tell on the Shrub’s idiocy and downright incompetance. But Darth Cheney needs to go NOW along with Gonzales. With no capitulation to whoever the Shrub wants to nominate for replacements either.
slightly ot
hagen nails it here;
Jane, I just dropped some pennies into the lake and made a wish. I hope my wish comes true. ;-)
Dennis ‘The Impeacher’ Kuchinich!!!
Go Dennis!!!
oh and Leiberman? Please report to aisle 8 for a ‘liquid’ cleanup!
Pretty soon we’ll see Joe hanging out at the retirement home in his bunny slippers boring his neighbors with stories of how important he used to be. Karma is about to catch up with him big time. I had a dream.
That pix at the top. The picture of pomposity. Gawd that photo makes me angry. Very effective.
who does ‘Joe’ really work for? I mean really?
well, actually I can guess.
Commenter glasskat at MLN asks a good question: Has RGJoe attended any funerals of Connecticut war dead?
And I would add — If not, Senator, could you please describe your quiet private grief for “every casualty of this war?” How, where, and when does this personal grieving happen?
Joe Lieberman represents the Jewish faction of the Israeli neo-con movement in this administration.
Bush, Cheney and other WASPS learned from Tricky Dick that if you cannot beat the Jewish-dominated “Press” of the 70s, you might as well join them. That is why the MSM has been so lame for years. Now, finally, Americans, Jewish, Christain, Muslim, Buddhist, non-affiliated deists and others are realizing that Joe Lieberman, whose loyalties obviously lie with the “protection” of Israel, is anathema to what this country stands for. And the MSM will suffer accordingly.
JoeJoe is crazy! Clinically crazy. There needs to be a movement across country demanding his resignation. He was always ugly but as he gets older he gets uglier and meaner every day. My, how some old men in power love to send young men and women to die or return with twisted bodies and mind. How does his wife get into bed with him at night? (In the first place, for that matter.)
I want to know how the CIA’s Nuclear Profileration efforts are doing now that Valerie Palme and her entire CIA front company were outed. It was lies about inteligence we did not have which got us into this war. I wonder which countries are taking advantage of Scooter destroying our abilty to keep track of who is making and wants to make Nukes to well make Nukes free from prying eyes. I guess that me and Joe will just have to wait… until the final fruit of Scooter’s treachery….a mushroom cloud appears.
aliasofwestgate @ 16
Me, too. Thanks.
Someone needs to ask Joe just how many US troops dead is to many? And are there ever to many dead Iraqis or Iranians?
Also considering just how large Iran is (75 million people) is he suggesting we preemptively use nukes in Iran in order to take out non existent Iranian nukes?
Oh cripes. Another dream?
I’m just curious, did Al Gore ever explain why he chose LIEberman as his running mate?
I had never even heard of Rapegurney Joe until Gore named him.
From Wiki:
Lieberman has been one of the Senate’s most consistent supporters of Israel, an advocate of the Iraq War, and a defender of the United States’ use of torture against “enemy combatants”. [3] On domestic issues, he holds liberal views on some economic issues, though he is a supporter of free trade. Lieberman has also voted with Republicans on some ethical issues, and is one of the Senate’s leading opponents of violence in video games and on television. Lieberman describes himself as being “genuinely an Independent,” saying “I agree more often than not with Democrats on domestic policy. I agree more often than not with Republicans on foreign and defense policy.”
Lieberman never served in the military. A spokesperson told the Hartford Courant in 1994 that Lieberman received an educational deferment from the Vietnam War draft when he was an undergraduate and law student from 1960 to 1967. Upon graduating from law school at 25, Lieberman qualified for a family deferment as he was already married and had one child
Mabel’s Wig Shack @ 22
liar man is the judas sheep
he is the embodiment
john in sacramento @ 30
Sac-town John,
I would think because he balanced the ticket for Gore. That’s how most tickets are designed–all except the current one, that is.
QuakerGirl @ 25
Disinfect that thought. Is there any breathing DNA out there?
Vote Democrat, send Liberman to the scrap heap.
Whenever I discuss Lieberman w/ others I say he is delusional, deceitful etc. I use relatively rational adjectives to describe him. No more. I’m done. From now on I call him what he is…a freaking loon.
RGJoe on his ticket was to give Gore two things (in Gore’s handler’s mind):
1. The votes of Florida Jews
2. Distance from Clinton
Worked out well, eh?
I just wish we did not need the (D) that is temporarily after Joe’s name to maintain a slim Senate majority..
But, It really should surprise no one that he is voting his own self-interest when he supports this
heinous war..
I know a lot more about Mr. Lieberman than I did when Gore chose him as a running mate. I wouldn’t be surprised if Al Gore too, knows a bit more about Lieberman today than he did back then. I voted for the Gore/Lieberman ticket. Would I make the same mistake today. I think not.
President Gore!
Not that it will ever do any good, I also send a message to my congress critter or Senators when I sign petitions. I like to remind them that they swore an oath to the Constitution of the United States and not to the Republic Party.
I also like to remind the more sanctimonious ones of how they will be judged by their failures when they meet their maker. Especially their failures to do as they swore to do.
things come undone @ 26
Did you see this article LS shared yesterday? Maybe Brewster Jennings/Valerie Wilson was calling Haliburton on shady dealings. Also, there is a plea on the page to boycott Exxon Mobil and buy Citgo. I don’t really know much about this.
john in sacramento @ 30
Gore picked Joe because Joe came out knocking Clinton, which is what Gore needed done without doing it himself and; wanted the Jewish vote. I never thought about this but if Gore is technically the president, then Joe is rightfully VP.
Lieberman is of the center-left movement that the Clintons started back in the 70s. The Clintons supported him in his race this year against Lamont. If you don’t like Joe, you will REALLY not like Hillary in the WH.
LS article (sorry).
http://www.consumersforpeace.o…..ction.html
It’s either that or these seven words (via one of my favorite unsung blogs).
My Grandmother taught me to never hate anyone. So I am not going to say I hate Lieberman. But I dislike this individual with a burning intensity.
Democrats are starting to use the power of the purse I heard somwhere? Well then why don’t they close Joe’s sub base to help pay for the war? Joe is for all intents and purposes a Republican lets see him squirm about how prowar he really is when it effects him. Make the war personal for Republicans close military bases in their states if Bush wants his money for the war. Who cares if it passes if it doesn’t pass then the war is over as no money will be approved if we just stick together and say No!. We don’t have the votes for a straight up vote on ending the war the Republicans have seen to that. So its time we get tricky.
I understand all the venting about Joe, but practically, is doesn’t do much good. We should focus on getting a Repub. to switch sides, then we can strip Joe of his powers. The margin is too tight now. If the Senate were to change hands, there would be no more investigations and all chances of getting Cheney or Gonzo would be gone.
Get Tough @ 24
Big Mitch raised a couple of important points yesterday, when somebody made a similar comment. While I don’t agree with everything Mitch said, I take issue with the way get Tough poses this.
You don’t have to be Jewish to be a shill for the lobby which can’t pass the filters. Every senator and almost every representative in the US congress is an ardent backer of Israeli policies and of militant Zionism. OTOH, many of the people in American media who are the most eloquent critics of Israeli government policies are Jewish. Many of the most ardent spokespeople for the lack of rights for dispossessed Palestinians are Jewish. Many commenters here, who have been openly and corageously critical of policies of the Israeli government are Jewish.
Swopa @ 45
It’s in your face all the time with Joe. Reminds me of those other dorks. Karl, George and the big bad Dick. Not one of these jerky girlie boys ever served one single day in combat.
ccmask @ 20
Oh, no. Not another naked Joe dream.
boxer @ 48
Exactly. Joe is not going to budge.
It is time to start working on the moderate Republicans.
I can’t wait until discussing Lieberman on any issue other than the history of political farce is considered OT.
boxer @ 48
Who would you suggest?
I just visited a family’s journal site detailing the on going recovery of a Infantry 1st Lt. who suffered a head wound after less than a month in Iraq.
God damn these fucking cowards that lied us into this fucking war!
When I die if I find my self in the chow line with Rove/Bush/Cheney I’ll know it’s gonna be a ‘difficult’ eternity!
Yeah, I’m a Vietnam Vet, which don’t mean shit, they didn’t listen to us then, why should they now?
Knuckle dragging, sister fucking, mouth breathing assholes.
Loo Hoo. @ 41
I saw the article I was stunned to find out Cheney as chairman of Haliburtron was buying Iraqi oil despite a boycott making this illegal. Cheney broke the law I think we can impeach him quickly for that. Unlike the other articles to impeach Cheney this one happened before he became VP so no Executive Priviledge. The facts are already in the public record Cheney can only claim he didn’t know. Still a few weeks of Republicans saying buying Saddam’s oil is not illegal could only help us.
Ed*ard Teller @ 49
Exactly, that is why I said Jewish faction of the neo-cons. There are NUMEROUS Jewish people who oppose this war and policies; probably ever other Jewish Senator in Congress. Jewish authors like Tom Segev and others decry these policies as much as anyone else. Just like the non-Jewish faction in this administration, this a small group of hard-liner individuals who are Jewish that support these policies and A*P*C: Feith, Wolfowitz, Perle, Libby, Lieberman to name a few. I am not implying that because they are Jewish that they are bad. I am simply saying that Joe’s loyalties to this situation do not lie 100% with what is best for the US.
Edited ** and released by MOD.
Loo Hoo. @ 41
Citgo is Hugo Chavez, so some of the profits find their way to worthy causes instead of 43rd vacation homes.
boxer @ 48
As has been explained here many times, HoJo can go ahead and switch sides and for the 110th Congress, it will really make little difference. The organizing resolution named Reid as the Majority Leader by name and set the committee chairs by name as well. So HoJo keeps the Oversight Committee even if he’s booted from the Dem party and Leahy keeps Judiciary and so on.
Since HoJo already votes often with the Repubs, it won’t make much difference, especially when Johnson returns.
I want Joe Lieberman gone. For me it is a matter of principle. And I understand the possible ramifications of Lieberman joining another political party. And I don’t care.
http://rawstory.com/news/2007/….._0707.html
How can she just not honor the subpoena?
ET – Thanks again for putting it so well above.
this point
never became so clear to me as the Senate vote last year to provide copius amounts of US cluster bombs for Isreal to use on Lebanese civilians. I lost the link but over 90 US senators voted to provide the tools of war crimes that day, imo. America is addicted to killing innocent people. And Joe Lieberman is nothing short of a war drug lord.
things come undone @ 56
I only glanced at it, and wasn’t sure what to make of it. I do remember that right after Cheney insisted to Edwards in the VP debate that Halliburton wasn’t doing any business whatsoever with that evil Saddam, the factcheckers came up with a $70 million active contract Halliburton (signed under Cheney) had with Saddam for oil pipeline parts. No offshore middlemen involved.
Ed*ard Teller @ 49
I agree with you 100%. All of the current Jewish Senators oppose the war, save Joe. That’s why I said the Jewish faction of the Israeli neo-con movement, or in particular, A*P*C. But it should be made clear that Joe’s policies on the middle east reflect his loyalties to Israel over that of the US, and that he is never going to budge from that standpoint.
Edited ** and released by MOD
OT, but really, what is OT these days? I have written (by hand, in ink) the following letter to Dear Leader:
Dear Mr. Bush,
I write to you on this happy day! I just heard that a suicide bomber in a truck has just blasted over 100 Shiites into oblivion. We are winning!
I ask that God remember you for all you have done to fight these terrible evil people, and that all your deeds be remembered long into the future. I’m sure they will, and that the American people, indeed all people of the world, never forget what you have accomplished in Iraq.
Sincerely,
Actual name
(itwasntme)
I think it’s time that everybody wrote a person letter to Dear Leader. I never thought to do it before, but I’m sure gonna continue doing it. Maybe every week.
Ed*ard Teller @ 49
I agree with you 100%. All of the current Jewish Senators oppose the war, save Joe. That’s why I said the Jewish faction of the Israeli neo-con movement, or in particular, A*P*C. But it should be made clear that Joe’s policies on the middle east reflect his loyalties to Israel over that of the US, and that he is never going to budge from that standpoint.
Edited ** and released by MOD
I wish my country would stop sending weapons and money to all Middle East countries.
itwasntme @ 65
The only problem is the Chimp doesn’t understand snark or sarcasm and will actually think you are truly praising him.
ET
I agree with you 100%. All of the current Jewish Senators oppose the war, save Joe. That’s why I said the Jewish faction of the Israeli neo-con movement, or in particular, A*P*C. But it should be made clear that Joe’s policies on the middle east reflect his loyalties to Israel over that of the US, and that he is never going to budge from that standpoint.
Edited ** and released by MOD
We don’t need Joe the Republicans can’t pass any laws even with Joe all we need is a leader who will say end the war we won’t approve anymore funding and stand firm.
How much lower in the polls does Bush have to go before the Democrats feel “safe” enough to do this. We are doing our job keeping public opinion on the issue hot. If anything by not stopping the war the last time money came up it was the Democrats Congress which saw their numbers drop…lower than Bush’s.
All this talk about the left not mattering is bull we are a 70% antiwar not democratic majority. The Democrats took us for granted once do they really want to see their numbers drop into Newt Congress territority after the Clinton impeachment. Trying to keep the war going until the election in an attempt to keep the issue hot won’t work for democrats. It opens the door to Republican charges of ussing our troops to win an election.
AnnieW @ 2
And No Mo Wo.
OT:
WHITE HOUSE PLANS TO BLOCK TESTIMONY FROM
TOP ROVE AIDE IN US ATTORNEY INQUIRY;
HARRIET MIERS TELLS RAW SHE’S UNDECIDED…
My question to bushco is the same one bushco posed to the American people about the warrant-less wiretapping. If you aren’t or didn’t break the law then you have nothing to hide. What is the underlying crime regarding the USA scandle?
Sorry for the numerous posts, folks. I did not know it was being edited.
I believe strongly that the next president should do a top to bottom assessment of our policies and priorities in the Middle East, with an eye on dramatic change.
Eureka Springs @ 61
Thanks! And, to back my assertion about Jewish anti-war heroes, this article, by Daniel Ellsberg, is interesting. Ellsberg, Mordechai Vanunu and Scooter Libby all leaked classified information. Nixon wanted to kill Ellsberg. According to William Safire, in his book on the Nixon administration, _Before the Fall_,Nixon hurled many unprintable anti-Semitic epithets when talking about Ellsberg in particular, and anti-war critics in general.
Ellsberg leaked information which helped the American people better judge what we were up to in SE Asia. Vanunu leaked information which helped the Israeli people and the world better judge the secret Israeli nuclear potential. Libby leaked false disinformation and hurtful information which did nothing to help anybody but his totally non-Jewish boss, Dick Cheney. Ellsberg, Vanunu and Libby are all Jewish (Vanunu has converted to something else, IIRC), but their heritage had little or nothing to do with how they acted.
Anyway, Ellsberg’s essay is the best essay I’ve come across today.
Yitzhak Rabin, Anwar al-Sadat and Jimmy Carter. Giants!
GordonM @ 62
Cheney should be made to give up ALL THE PROFITS he made selling his shares of Haliburtron as these proffits came at least in part from illegal activity. Edwards should show LS’s article then the tape of the debate you mentioned and then call for Cheney to give up the money to the troops and step down as Vice President!
Does Dick Cheney claim to have a religion?
dakine01 @ 59
Not necessarily true, the organizational and institutional rules of the Senate are customary, not Constitutional or legal. If the Repubs were to get a 1 vote majority or 50/50 with Cheney casting deciding vote, there is nothing stopping them from demanding reorganization. Losing Joe without a replacement is a serious risk. Especially with the amount of outstanding serious investigations.
Gnome de Plume @ 18
So did I. I wanted to donate to Donna Edwards earlier, but couldn’t find a credit card. Is there any way to donate to Blue America via PayPal?
spurious @ 79
No, and I think it has to do with designating your employment and citizenship. What I did was enter the credit card info once, and then clicked on that the option to have it being a monthly donation until the election in ‘08. The money is split between the candidates Howie has endorsed.
I can’t find Live Earth on teevee anywhere.
Loo Hoo. @ 77
Death Metal! no wait to quote OZZY OSBOURNE the Prince of Darkness himself ” Generals gathered in their masses just like witches at Black Sabbaths evil minds that plot destruction sorcerers of death construction” Nope even hell doesn’t want Cheney. He’s a nilhist
Any demand for a Senate reorganization would be filibustered. The Senate is set until 1/09. Other Senates have had other rules. This one is organized this way, and it won’t change no matter how many Senators change parties.
Ed*ard Teller @ 75
You made my point. The anti-heroes of yesterday that Nixon despised were made up of predominately of people of Jewish ancestory. The Bush Admin. learned from that, incorporated a number of people with Jewish heritage into the neo-con fold, developed a cohesive group with common interests, squelched some of the MSM based on the fact that the MSM was predominately run by people of Jewish heritage. People who questioned authority, and rightly so.
Now? Thanks to the small neo-con faction in power, the protection of Israel is paramount, at the expense of the security of the United States.
tbsa @ 81
Bravo and Sundance on my TV.
TeddySanFran @ 84
;0)
boxer @ 79
Each Congress, the individual chambers pass an organizing resolution that is binding for that Congress. In ‘01, the Republics did NOT set it such that a party switcher would not change the Majority which is why Jeffords leaving the R party and caucusing with the Dems allowed the Ds to retake the Senate majority for the remainder of that Congress.
The orgaininzing resolution for the 110th Senate was set up and passed such that a flip of one vote during the term would not flip the majority and allow the Rs to take over. And HoJo ain’t gonna switch. The Rs don’t want him as he is more valuable to them as a nominal D. If he flips, he’s just another one of fifty. Now, he’s Chimpy’s favorite D and allows them to attempt to look bi-partisan. HoJo gets to ride the horse of being a power broker until the start of the 111th Congress in January of ‘09 at which point he will be totally marginalized because of what will likely be a much larger Dem majority.
tbsa @ 81
Starts at 7 or 8 pm
Eureka Springs @ 86
http://liveearth.msn.com/ this is online. Tonight NBC will be airing the concerts.
Off subject, but I am curious: Would Cheney give up his office if he is impeached and convicted? THAT would be interesting. Have you folks ever seen him travel? It looks like a mob funeral everytime he leaves DC.
Loo Hoo. @ 81
Thanks. Automatic payments are problematic (no job), and PayPal is a way of life. Guess I’ll just continue to throw my available pennies to FDL.
JPL @ 90
I don’t like dealing with MSN live feeds. Every time I use them, I get microsoft spam for three months.
Empty Wheel is thinking again….(g)
http://thenexthurrah.typepad.c……html#more
Get Tough @ 91
A friend of mine said when Cheney travelled from the Bay Area to Sacramento once, all the roads to hospitals along his route were cleared and closed. I was amazed during the Emanuel Veep fundage vote to hear the OVP has a $4.75 million line in the federal budget.
More like per day.
Oklahoma kiddo @ 87
Can you back up your assertions with one single law? If there were no inherent danger in booting Joe don’t you think it would have been done? Couldn’t the Repubs. Filibuster TO HAVE THE RULES CHANGED and thereby halt all progessive legislation?
Get Tough @ 91
If he paid for everything himself. We all know he thinks he’s a law unto himself anyway so it would be amusing to hear his justifications for attempting to keep the perks and protocols of office. But even the most die-hard Cheney-ite would be extremely hard-pressed to justify him maintaining anything if impeached and convicted.
Has the Iraqi parliament started its two-month vacation yet?
Some enterprising journalist should study and report the parliament’s vacation plans while blood and treasure spill in the Iraqi desert. I thought the surge was buying them “time” — but vacation time?
boxer @ 96
Haven’t they already done this and bragged about it? What’s your point?
TeddySanFran @ 95
Teddy, that is pathetic, isn’t it?
Did you hear about his trip from the WH to the Hill when he casted a vote in the Senate, and to prove he was part of the Senate, not the Executive? He had at LEAST 7 or so suburbans, TWO ambulances, a HUMVEE or two, and a police escort. Just to go down the street.
TeddySanFran @ 97
What about reporting most members of parliament don’t even live in Iraq.
OT
John in Sac
How do I get in touch with you through the DFS site. I would like to start working locally on health care reform.
Or email me at:
marymccurnin at mac dot com
Thanks.
dakine01 @ 99
My point is nothing is “binding” on the Senate except the Constitution. There is no such thing as being safely in the minority. Prematurely booting Joe is too risky. Get a replacement first.
Let’s keep focused on the real enemy… and their enablers in the Congress
“Once upon a time in an office rented to them by the American Heritage Foundation, a group of powerful men directly connected to the halls of the capital and the defense and energy industry formed a fringe rightwing organization based loosely on the teachings of Leo Strauss. They called themselves the Project for the New American Century. The Project is an initiative of the New Citizenship Project (both chaired by William Kristol) and as such is largely funded through it. Direct funding for PNAC comes from, but isn’t limited to, the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation ($700,000), the Sarah Mellon Scaife Foundation ($50,000), and the John M. Olin Foundation ($70,000).
Unsurprisingly these three exceedingly conservative foundations have strong ties to weapons manufacturing and several members of the Project are former CEOs and board members of defense contractors and energy companies. (Halliburton, Trireme, Bechtel, etc.)
These guys drew up a plan for using our role as last remaining super power to expand their respective global markets through force. Specifically, their published documents call for the violent overthrow of regimes around the world that weren’t friendly to their business interests. The plan, as it was drawn out, called for the toppling of Saddam Hussein and seizing control of the Iraqi oil fields.”
http://www.newamericancentury……ciples.htm
http://poac.wordpress.com/2006…..refresher/
The fact is Mr. Cheney you, too, will die some day. Soon cause you are a heartless impaired old man with blood on your hands and our treasure in you accounts. The crooked smile says it all.
Did anyone read Hertzberg in the New Yorker this week about Cheney? No shock to anyone here: Cheney is running the show.
“Specifically, their published documents call for the violent overthrow of regimes around the world that weren’t friendly to their business interests.”
Like the United States of America.
Mary McCurnin @ 105
That guy had his first heart attack back in ‘74 when he was Ford’s chief of staff!! He had a stroke behind his kneecap (!!!!) a couple of years ago. This guy is evil personified, and has been cheating death for decades.
Too bad y’all aren’t as angry at the Clintons. How many funerals for our fallen soldiers have they attended and they have been behind it all the way and still are because NOTHING HAS CHANGED. Lieberman for all his nuttiness is no more responsible than the Clintons and just because the Clintons have been more slick, does not make them less responsible. Going after Lieberman and not the Clintons is illusory.
That is not to say that anyone should necessarily be faulted for not attending a funeral they are “supposed” to attend. There are many ways to grieve and having attended Vietnam era funerals for friends killed, I can attest to that.
boxer:
here
here
here
Contrast with 2001
Loo Hoo. @ 78
To these guys, GREED is their religion and their God !
boxer @ 103
I say again, the R’s don’t WANT Joe. He’s more efective for them right where he is as Chimpy’s go to D. They are already obstructing everything without him in the party and he gives them fig leaf of cover as long as he is supposedly caucusing with the Dems.
On top of everything else, name a Repub Senator in office right now that it would be worthwhile to flip.
Get Tough @ 108
Vampires don’t die.
Leo Strauss, Milton Friedmen is there a single conservative Idea man who has not been a disaster?
Watertiger’s got some clever substitutes running the Dependable Renegade while she’s away. David Brooks’ mailbox is featured.
things come undone @ 114
cause conservative = self interest
things come undone @ 113
Preciously. Strauss and his Platonic “Noble Truth” doctrine. It is anathema to everything that a liberal democracy represents. Friedmen was a travesty. Supply-siders all need to be checked against the darker angles of their souls.
“checked against the darker angles of their souls.”
beauty
boxer @ 113
Where is Van Helsing when you need him ??
Oklahoma kiddo @ 46
Ooh, that so reminds me of my comment on this board when I first heard that Bush had commuted Libby’s sentence. I literally hit the wall calling Bush an s@#%. I don’t think I have ever made such a comment here and was surprised that it wasn’t sensored. Really, I tried not to have hate in my heart at the time, but it was really hard.
The burning intensity I have for dislike of Bush is, for what it’s worth, is everlasting.
Mary McCurnin @ 118
Yea.. If you can find it !!!
Hi all,
Just got in from staying out of the house so strangers can go through it again deciding whether or not we lowered the prive enough for them to want to buy it. Se we went to see Sicko. Nothing in this country will change until we have federally funded elections and then a single payer health plan at which time EVERYTHING will change. So there are very wealthy and powerful people trying to hold on to the status quo. OY.
Mean time, I got an e-mail last night which was a request to go to Birmingham next week since the fundies will again be trying to close down the clinics. I posted the Call to Birmingham on my site and on Kos and Talk2Action. I sure hope some of you all can go help. Oh, and Street Prophets too for good measure.
Mary McCurnin @ 117
The Founders were trully geniuses.
OT..Looks like Pat Leahy is going to get a “fuck you” from the White house on the subpoenas for Taylor and Miers. The last time this happened, and the USA refused to enforce the contempt was 1982. The attys for the WH..Fred Fielding and…..John Roberts..fuck. no wonder the WH feels confident about going to court..the fix is in at SCOTUS
TeddySanFran @ 110
Sorry Teddy, you completely made my point for me. Nothing you cited contains the force of law, just custom. Many Repubs have more to lose than just elections (think jail). They will do anything to get these investigations stopped, including breaking tradition.
OT, Crooks & Liars has the David Shuster/Dan Burton/Debbie Wasserman-Shultz segment up.
Steve @ 123
No doubt. That’s why when Bush nominated Miers to CYA once the sh** hit the fan, the far-right/Cheney said, don’t worry, this guy and Alito have your back. It will be up to Kennedy.
OT, but still watching Live Earth concert from NY. Melissa Ethridge doing a fantastic job of giving the current administration hell. She said when Americans get involved in an unjust war they rise up. She wants to tell the truth and not be lied to. It was during her first song. It was great; hope you all heard her. I believe she’s basically advocating pitchforks and the whole ball of wax.
Steve @ 124
Deja vu all over again. Except we’re not going to see the bad guys resign any time soon.
“Where is Van Helsing when you need him ??”
I love that movie.
Sixty Something @ 120
;0)
TeddySanFran @ 98
This information is going to be kept “close to the vest.” It will take an investigative journalist to find out. Think we’ll learn about it from left blogistan or from the MSM?
Can SCOTUS negate impeachment?
Get Tough @ 127
My understanding is, when someone is in contempt of Congress, the Sergeant in Arms is sent to arrest him/her and put him/her in jail until they agree to testify … is that not so?
Yesterday on our local NPR program called Where We Live Joe Lieberman was supposed to take live calls, but coward that he is, he only took e-mails.
To all who say we should recall Lieberman..there is no mechanism for such action in CT. And, now it appears that John Ormann is about to disband the Connecticut for Lieberman party, as he believes the party has served out its usefulness. Those of us who despise the little weasel did our best to oust him, but were skunked by the right wing as well as conservative Dems.
Get Tough @ 126
This is exactly what I feared the MOST in Dec of 2000. That they would actually be smart enough to stack (rig) SCOTUS before they executed their most diabolical plots..
bookwoman @ 135
Never forget Rove’s call to RGJoe on his losing primary nite. That was when it all went down.
Nutmeggers are lucky to have one extraordinary Senator in Chris Dodd, who continues to make restoring the Constitution a primary theme of his presidential campaign. I hope his views affect the thinking of our eventual nominee.
bookwoman @ 135
Even if there were recall provisions for elected officials in the CT constitution, they would not apply to Lieberman (or Dodd or any of the members of the House). Those are considered “Federal” offices and recall does not apply. Once a member has been seated in the House or Senate it takes an expulsion act by the body itself for the member to be removed before the next election. Exceptions are resignation and death of course.
Petrocelli @ 134
Theoretically possible and a lot of discussion at Kos in the past about this route..won’t happen.
The usual way is a vote for contempt, then goes to the USA of the District of Columbia who lowers the legal boom on the person. The problem comes, as in 1982, when the DC USA refuses to do his job.
bookwoman @ 135
Immaculate Karma will be the Senate impeaching Bush and HoJo in accord with the majority vote … fighting to hold back his tears …
What terrible Karma has Hadassah accumulated to end up with HoJo … is Spidey around ?
Mary McCurnin @ 133
No. Impeachment is the political equivalent of criminal conviction. It is wholly a function of the body politic, defined in the Constitution. It is the power of the people’s government (the Legislature) to remove appointed officials from the Executive or Judicial branches.
The only flaw in the system is the corrupting influence of corporate media to turn the politicians into scaredy cats.
AZ Matt @ 10
Spare me that sight, thank you.
Steve @ 139
I have faith that the SJC has already planned for this eventuality … it’s going to be an interesting summer …
Petrocelli @ 140
There is no “recall” for Federal, elected officials.
boxer @ 113
:~) In case anybody missed in, the ‘black branch’ was featured in Doonesbury this week (keep pressing ‘next’).
Mary McCurnin @ 116
Games theory! When people always act in their own self interest as indivudals they win against other indivudals who trust them assuming that both people are equal in every other aspect and unaware of each others nature.
But when 2 people who can’t trust anyone are pitted against 2 people who trust each other. The trusting people win because they can cooperate with each other.
Conservative Philosohy works in an indivudual sense ONLY amoung indivudals if even then. This attitude of theirs makes having a society impossible because it takes away cooperation. If this idea is true we should expect that societies where wealth is distrubted equally will grow faster in the long run assuming of course that all other things are equal. Conversly societies should break down at all levels economicly, morally, etc as conservative anticooperation ideas grow until at somepoint the society disintegrates or finds a war to unite them. The war unites everyone in fear or greed. I think I got this games theory thing right this was not an area I ever studied at school.
Still then why did the USSR collapse? is some self interest needed as the conservatives claim, was the USSR over extended, did they really ever equally distribute goods, was the leadership of the USSR bad managers of the ecconomy pursuing their needs instead of the people’s? Top down unresponsive managment of resources to the people’s needs gets my vote.
Petrocelli @ 111
I forgot for a minute there. Thanks for the slap upside the head.
US Attorney for DC Jeffrey Taylor (my bold):
Good luck, Pat Leahy, getting this tool to enforce subpoenas against the White House….
dakin@68
That’s the reason it might get to him.
RevDeb @ 122
hey revdeb – i just rec’ed your dairy at dkos.
gotta disagree with your on this bit: ” Nothing in this country will change until we have federally funded elections”
elections make change easier…. and safer… but history teaches us that they are not a requirement for (mostly) nonviolent change.
women did get the vote in this country by voting…
african americans didn’t get the voting rights act passed by voting…
indians didn’t get the british to leave by voting…
we could make a very long list… but i hope i’ve made the point – we have the power to change many things, with and without electoral politics.
I am beginning to think of Senator Dodd as a statesman.
I like Mr. Dodd. And I think a Gore/Dodd thing would be OK.
spurious @ 145
LOL !!!
dakine01 @ 126
I like shuster, he is tough–pardon the pun. But he was a little over the top, kind of like FAUX Noise. But he had to be, I guess, because Burton called him a dirty word, a liberal! **gasp**
Perhaps Reid & the Senate Dems should De-fund and disempower the Oversight committee, and create a NEW committee which will do the oversight work needed.
Call it the OverVIEW committee?
Petrocelli @ 143
“Interesting Summer”..We may be headed over the cliff into unknown country. So far, the ongoing coup by the Republicans still falls within known political guide lines..H20-gate writ large..If the Judiciary has been subverted, however, and the legal rulings are based on politics and party..then who knows.
Loo Hoo. @ 147
That wasn’t me … that hand belonged to Aaaaaaaaaaaa … *g*
Teddy … the Iraqi Parliament is not on vacation and they are being pressured to pass the oil bill – the one that gives 50% of Iraqi oil to folks like Exxon …
Sadr’s people may return to Parliament for the vote but they are insisting that no oil deals be made with any company from a country occupying Iraq.
In other news – 150 Iraqis have been killed today, 250 wounded.
Does any of the other lawyers or SCOTUS junkies know who is on the Democrat’s short list for nomination if they win the WH?
Get Tough @ 153
Shuster laughed in his face.
I think …
selise @ 150
thanks selise. Since I can’t go, I want to get the word out to others who care about repro. freedom so that the clinics aren’t left without the good folks there to defend them.
bookwoman @ 135
What is your state legislature like? Could the laws be changed?
And to think he was our VP candidate in
2004?
Reid has got to cut this bait, and give ‘em
to the sharkies…
I don’t care what Lieberman does. I just want him stripped of any responsibilities within my party. And I do not want him to caucus with my party. I don’t care a twit about this man joining another party. I understand all the points for and against Mr. Lieberman’s departure.
Get Tough @ 153
It was a righteous and necessary smack-down. Burton was trying to marginalize Shuster and his questions by claiming it was just another Librul Trick and Shuster refused to let him play that game.
ccmask @ 12
Coming in late. Just signed it!
Hello Greenwarrior!
As for how much power we actually have, I’m not as convinced as you. There were some good points made in Sicko that weren’t about health care so much as about how maintaining a system that keeps people poor and sick and frightened depresses them and keeps them away from the polls and away from activism. A healthy happy electorate wields far more power because they do show up and let their voices be heard.
Food for thought.
things come undone @ 146
Close, but you are assuming that societies must choose one or the other completely. Moderation in all things. Free markets beat the USSR because they were not completely free (something that is being undone now unfortunately and will spell our demise). Think of present day China as a winning model – must be a hybrid, no extremes.
dakine01 @ 165
The smackdown was brilliant. I like Shuster. He is a very good journalist. I just would not like to see him feed off this and take a page out of FAUX’s playbook and get in people’s faces…unless they deserved it.
Eureka Springs @ 101
What if the US put pressure on the Iraqi parliment to make a rule that votes would be decided on the number present, not the total voting members? What if, the members not present would be automatically ousted if not present for a certain number of votes? Sorry, but I just don’t see anyone in that government getting serious about getting their affairs in order. Everyone is out to protect their own turf. That likely includes skimming money off our pockets, and that of thir own government.
Don’t know about the rest of you, but I am fed up with this kangaroo government that is the so called the Iraqi government. Sooner or later, they, like our own chicken hawks, are going to have to be accountable.
It’s time. If they want their civil war, let em have it, but I do not want one drop of American blood to be further shed in the effort. Get out of the way and let them have at it. About the best we can do is try to keep the surrounding countries from participating.
Oklahoma kiddo @ 164
If we can’t take him out then puinsh him take away his state’s money the postion of Senator is useless unless you can bring home the baccon.
Oklahoma kiddo @ 7
I concur. I despise Joe Lieberman with the white-hot intensity of a thousand suns. He embodies everything that is wrong with the modern Democratic party.
Oklahoma kiddo @ 164
I agree; what is the big deal..Reid doesn’t have Joe’s vote on anything important anyway..Joe is going to support Repub. candidates. Throw him out of the caucus..and bust his balls on any projects or legislation he wants. So what is he keeps his chairmanship.
dakine01 @ 165
Didn’t Burton see Shuster B*tch slapping Fraud Ajami earlier? Did he think David’s arsenal was empty ?!!
Shuster & Shultz were great yesterday !
Bay State Librul @ 163
2000.
The smackdown was brilliant. I like Shuster. He is a very good journalist. I just would not like to see him feed off this and take a page out of FAUX’s playbook and get in people’s faces…unless they deserved it.
Burton was also snickering at Wasserman-Shultz and making stupid statements to her. It’s a lot better than Tweety just sitting there with that dumb look on his face when these punk right-wingers jump ugly on our peeps!
Petrocelli @ 175
His party affiliatin n/w/standing, he was at the Libby trial throughout, so he knows how the American citizens got screwed.
Steve @ 155
Many Repugs will peel away from BushCo’s policies … for their own greedy reasons … over the coming months …
Mary McCurnin @ 102
Yet there is a canadian actor with a similar crooked smile, and i want to HUG that man, David Hewlett. Then agian, Hewlett’s a bonafide geek with charisma and real talent (and a real heart). Darth Cheney’s just a draft dodging coward with money that’ll do him absolutely no good. No wonder his body is falling apart at the seams, while this much younger man thrives. hehe. What a difference being happy with what you’ve got makes you.
Who suggested Lieberman as Gore’s running mate? Was it Gore’s idea? If so, that makes me like Gore a bit less. If not Gore, then who was it who said, “you know who’d be a great running mate? Lieberman!” How was he selected, and by whom?
cleter @ 181
Probly the same brilliant “handlers” that “managed” the impotent Kerry lack of response to the Swiftites.
raven @ 177
Raven, I loved Shuster’s idea of having Paul Reichoff on at the same time to further humiliate F*ckwad Ajami … that clip has to be sent around the blogosphere !!!
Get Tough @ 153
He may think he has to mimic Tweetie, who seems to have imprinted on the McLaughlin Group.
As dispicable as Lieberman is, we are stuck with him until 2008 unless something drastic changes between now and then because he caususes with the Dems.
Did I ever say that he reminds me soooo much of George W Bush. Stubborn, arrogant, knows when to blackmail, all under the guise of claiming to want to be non-partisan.
What a twerp!
Could Harry Reid convene a new committee, say a New Orleans/Gulf Coast investigation and recovery committee? Obviously without Lieberman involved.
Get Tough @ 170
Shuster began at Faux noise but the fact is, for way too long, NO one in the corporate owned media other than Olberman has been calling bull sh*t on these people. Yesterday Shuster did it to Ajami and Burton both. And it was well deserved each time as they were both spouting lies and total gibberish.
I don’t want to pretend I understand what is really going on over there but cannot help but admire the parliament for holding off the oil deal this long… No matter what individual gains are being made by members it surely looks like the worst possible plan for the Iraqi people to ngive away 50 to over 80 percent of their gross oil revenues..
We need to focus on US in every way right now…
Militia and troops home now!
Impeach yesterday
celebrate
18 USC 2441
celebrate some more
raven @ 182
Gore has to be responsible for the choice, imo
Orangeists! Rec RevDeb’s diary, please!
dakine01 @ 187
Shuster was at FAUX Noise?!
Petrocelli @ 183
Hell yes, Paul was really great. He didnt give one inch to that fuck head. Who Ajami anyway? I know I can’t fire up any politically incorrect characterizations of his ethnic background but it sure is tempting!
Get Tough @ 178
Even though I was not at the Libby trial, I also know how America got screwed !
cleter @ 181
Teddy said earlier that it was to help with the Jewish vote in Florida and to distance himself from Clinton since Lieberman was so righteous about that.
Siun @ 157
The Iraqi’s are fighting on this point I heard that the oil law is way too favorable to American oil companies and that the Iraqi’s are worried about how it would look to their own people Shite, Sunni, Kurd etc if they gave in.
The war for oil point needs to be mentioned why is Bush pushing for a deal that the Iraqi puppet government finds to outrageous in the profits it gives American oil companies. We are putting more effort into the deal than we are in getting the Iraqi government to agree about anything. Have they ever agreed on anything and carried through with a decsision yet?
If this war wasn’t for oil then why all the pressure? Getting Iraqi’s to take control of their own capitol would be my first priority. Unless of course I owned oil stocks.
After reading this post, I decided to go look up what Joe *does* care about: sex.
Rereading his Senate floor speech re Clinton makes him all the more repulsive — when we can compare what concerned him then with what doesn’t concern him now:
(quote)
Mr. President, I rise today to make a most difficult and distasteful statement, for me probably the most difficult statement I have made on this floor in my ten years in the Senate.
On August 17th, President Clinton testified before a grand jury convened by the Independent Counsel and then talked to the American people about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky, a former White House intern. He told us that the relationship was “not appropriate,” that it was “wrong,” and that it was “a critical lapse of judgement and a personal failure” on his part. In addition, after seven months of denying that he had engaged in a sexual relationship with Ms. Lewinsky, the President admitted that his “public comments. . . about this matter gave a false impression.” He said, “I misled people.”
My immediate reaction to this statement was deep disappointment and personal anger. I was disappointed because the President of the United States had just confessed to engaging in an extramarital affair with a young woman in his employ and to willfully deceiving the nation about his conduct. I was personally angry because President Clinton had by his disgraceful behavior jeopardized his Administration’s historic record of accomplishment, much of which grew out of the principles and programs that he and I and many others had worked on together in the New Democratic movement. I was also angry because I was one of the many people who had said over the preceding seven months that if the President clearly and explicitly denies the allegations against him, then, of course, I believe him.
Since that Monday night, I have not commented on this matter publicly. I thought I had an obligation to consider the President’s admissions more objectively, less personally, and to try to put them in a clearer perspective. And I felt I owed that much to President Clinton, for whom I have great affection and admiration, and who I truly believe has worked tirelessly to make life tangibly better in so many ways for so many Americans.
But the truth is, after much reflection, my feelings of disappointment and anger have not dissipated. Except now these feelings have gone beyond my personal dismay to a larger, graver sense of loss for our country, a reckoning of the damage that the President’s conduct has done to the proud legacy of his presidency, and ultimately an accounting of the impact of his actions on our democracy and its moral foundations.
The implications for our country are so serious that I feel a responsibility to my constituents in Connecticut, as well as to my conscience, to voice my concerns forthrightly and publicly, and I can think of no more appropriate place to do so than the floor of this great body. I have chosen to speak particularly at this time, before the Independent Counsel files his report, because while we do not know enough to answer the question of whether there are legal consequences from the President’s conduct, we do know enough to answer a separate and distinct set of questions about the moral consequences for our country.
I have come to this floor many times in the past to speak with my colleagues about my concerns, which are widely-held in this chamber and throughout the nation, that our society’s standards are sinking, that our common moral code is deteriorating, and that our public life is coarsening. In doing so, I have specifically criticized leaders of the entertainment industry for the way they have used the enormous influence they wield to weaken our common values. And now because the President commands at least as much attention and exerts at least as much influence on our collective consciousness as any Hollywood celebrity or television show, it is hard to ignore the impact of the misconduct the President has admitted to on our children, our culture and our national character.
To begin with, I must respectfully disagree with the President’s contention that his relationship with Monica Lewinsky and the way in which he misled us about it is “nobody’s business but” his family’s and that “even presidents have private lives,” as he said Whether he or we as a people think it fair or not, the reality in 1998 is that a president’s private life is public. Contemporary news media standards will have it no other way. Surely this President was given fair warning of that by the amount of time the news media has dedicated to investigating his personal life during the 1992 campaign and in the years since.
But there is more to this than modern media intrusiveness. The President is not just the elected leader of our country, he is, as presidential scholar Clinton Rossiter observed, “the one-man distillation of the American people,” and “the personal embodiment and representative of their dignity and majesty,” as President Taft once said. So when his personal conduct is embarrassing, it is so not just for him and his family. It is embarrassing for us all as Americans.
The President is also a role model, who, because of his prominence and the moral authority that emanates from his office, sets standards of behavior for the people he serves. His duty, as the Rev. Nathan Baxter of the National Cathedral here in Washington said in a recent sermon, is nothing less than the stewardship of our values. So no matter how much the President or others may wish to “compartmentalize” the different spheres of his life, the inescapable truth is that the President’s private conduct can and often does have profound public consequences.
In this case, the President apparently had extramarital relations with an employee half his age, and did so in the workplace, in vicinity of the Oval Office. Such behavior is not just inappropriate. It is immoral. And it is harmful, for it sends a message of what is acceptable behavior to the larger American family, particularly to our children, which is as influential as the negative messages communicated by the entertainment culture. If you doubt that, just ask America’s parents about the intimate and often unseemly sexual questions their young children have been asking and discussing since the President’s relationship with Ms. Lewinsky became public seven months ago.
I have had many of those conversations in recent days, and from that I can conclude that many parents feel much as I do, that something very sad and sordid has happened in American life when I cannot watch the news on television with my ten-year-old daughter any more.
This is unfortunately familiar territory for Americas families in today’s anything-goes culture, where sexual promiscuity is too often treated as just another lifestyle choice with little risk of adverse consequences. It is this mindset that has helped to threaten the stability and integrity of the family, which continues to be the most important unit of civilized society, the place where we raise our children and teach them to be responsible citizens, to develop and nurture their personal and moral faculties.
President Clinton is well aware of this threat and the broad public concern about it. He has used the bully pulpit over the course of his presidency to eloquently and effectively call for the renewal of our common values, particularly the principle of personal responsibility, and our common commitment to family. And he has spoken out admirably against sexual promiscuity among teenagers in clear terms of right and wrong, emphasizing the consequences involved.
All of which makes the President’s misconduct so confusing and so damaging. The President’s relationship with Miss Lewinsky not only contradicted the values he has publicly embraced over the past six years. It has compromised his moral authority at a time when Americans of every political persuasion agree that the decline of the family is one of the most pressing problems we as a nation are facing.
Nevertheless, I believe the President could have lessened the harm his relationship with Ms. Lewinsky has caused if he had acknowledged his mistake and spoken with candor about it to the American people shortly after it became public in January. But as we now know, he chose not to do this. His deception is particularly troubling because it was not just a reflexive and understandably human act of concealment to protect himself and his family from the “embarrassment of his own conduct,” as he put it, when he was confronted with it in his deposition in the Paula Jones case, but rather the intentional and premeditated decision to do so.
In choosing this path, I fear that the President has undercut the efforts of millions of American parents who are naturally trying to instill in our children the value of honesty. As most any mother or father knows, kids have a singular ability to detect double standards. So we can safely assume that it will be that much more difficult to convince our sons and daughters of the importance of telling the truth when the most powerful man in the nation evades it. Many parents I have spoken with in Connecticut confirm this unfortunate consequence.
The President’s intentional and consistent misstatements may also undercut the trust that the American people have in his word, which would have substantial ramifications for his presidency. Under the Constitution, as presidential scholar Richard Neustadt has noted, the President’s ultimate source of authority, particularly his moral authority, is the power to persuade, to mobilize public opinion and build consensus behind a common agenda, and at this the President has been extraordinarily effective. But that power hinges on the President’s support among the American people and their faith and confidence in his motivations, his agenda, and ultimately his personal integrity. As Teddy Roosevelt once explained, “My power vanishes into thin air the instant that my fellow citizens who are straight and honest cease to believe that I represent them and fight for what is straight and honest; that is all the strength I have.”
Sadly, with his deception, President Clinton may have weakened the great power and strength of which President Roosevelt spoke. I know this is a concern that many of my colleagues share, that the President has hurt his credibility and therefore, perhaps, his chances of moving his agenda forward. But I believe that the harm the President’s actions have caused extend beyond the political arena. I am afraid that the misconduct the President has admitted may be reinforcing one of the most destructive messages being delivered by our popular culture –namely that values are essentially fungible. And I am afraid that his misconduct may help to blur some of the most important bright lines of right and wrong left in our society.
I do not raise these concerns as self-righteous criticism. I know that the President is far from alone in the wrongdoing he has admitted. We as humans are all imperfect. We are all sinners. Many have betrayed a loved one, and most of us have told lies. Members of Congress have certainly been guilty of such behavior, as have some previous Presidents. We try to understand the profound complexity and difficulty of personal relationships, which gives us pause before passing judgement on them. We all fall short of the standards our best values set for us. Certainly I do.
But the President, by virtue of the office he sought and was elected to, has traditionally been held to a higher standard. This is as it should be, because the American president is not, as I quoted earlier, just the one-man distillation of the American people but the most powerful person in the world, and as such the consequences of misbehavior by a President, even private misbehavior, are much greater than that of a an average citizen, a CEO, or even a Senator. That is what I believe presidential scholar James Barber, in his book, The Presidential Character, was getting at when he wrote that the public demands “a sense of legitimacy from, and in, the Presidency. . . There is more to this than dignity, more than propriety. The President is expected to personify our betterness in an inspiring way, to express in what he does and is (not just what he says) a moral idealism which, in much of the public mind, is the very opposite of politics.”
Just as the American people are demanding of their leaders, though, they are also fundamentally fair and forgiving, which is why I was so hopeful the President could begin to repair the damage done with his address to the nation on the 17th. But like so many others, I came away feeling that he for reasons that are thoroughly human had squandered a great opportunity that night. He failed to clearly articulate to the American people that he recognized how significant and consequential his wrongdoing was and how badly he felt about it. He also failed to show that he understood his behavior has diminished the office he holds and the country he serves, and that it is inconsistent with the mainstream American values that he has advanced as President. And he failed to acknowledge that while Mr. Starr, Ms. Lewinsky, Mrs. Tripp, and the news media have all contributed to the crisis we now face, his presidency would not be in peril if it had not been for the behavior he himself described as “wrong” and “inappropriate.”
Because the conduct the President has admitted to was so serious and his assumption of responsibility on August 17th so inadequate, the last three weeks have been dominated by a cacophony of media and political voices calling for impeachment, or resignation, or censure, while a lesser chorus implores us to “move on” and get this matter behind us.
Appealing as the latter option may be to many people who are understandably weary of this crisis, the transgressions the President has admitted to are too consequential for us to walk away and leave the impression for our children and for our posterity that what President Clinton acknowledges he did within the White House is acceptable behavior for our nation’s leader. On the contrary, as I have said at length today, it is wrong and unacceptable and should be followed by some measure of public rebuke and accountability. We in Congress –elected representatives of all the American people –are surely capable institutionally of expressing such disapproval through a resolution of reprimand or censure of the President for his misconduct, but it is premature to do so, as my colleagues of both parties seem to agree, until we have received the report of the Independent Counsel and the White House’s response to it.
In the same way, it seems to me, talk of impeachment and resignation at this time is unjust and unwise. It is unjust because we do not know enough in fact and will not until the Independent Counsel reports and the White House responds to conclude whether we have crossed the high threshold our Constitution rightly sets for overturning the results of a popular election in our democracy and bringing on the national trauma of removing an incumbent President from office. For now, in fact, all we know for certain is what the President acknowledged on August 17th. The rest is rumor, speculation, or hearsay –much less than is required by Members of the House and Senate in the dispatch of the solemn responsibilities that the Constitution gives us in such circumstances.
I believe that talk of impeachment and resignation now is unwise because it ignores the reality that while the Independent Counsel proceeds with his investigation, the President is still our nation’s leader, our Commander-in-Chief. Economic uncertainty and other problems here at home, as well as the fiscal and political crises in Russia and Asia and the growing threats posed by Iraq, North Korea, and worldwide terrorism, all demand the President’s focused leadership. For that reason, while the legal process moves forward, I believe it is important that we provide the President with the time and space and support he needs to carry out his most important duties and protect our national interest and security.
That time and space may also give the President additional opportunities to accept personal responsibility for his behavior, to rebuild public trust in his leadership, to recommit himself to the values of opportunity, responsibility and community that brought him to office, and to act to heal the wounds to our national character.
In the meantime, as the debate on this matter proceeds, and as the investigation continues, we would all be advised to heed the wisdom of Abraham Lincoln’s second annual address to Congress in 1862. With the nation at war with itself, Lincoln warned, “If there ever could be a proper time for mere catch arguments, that time is surely not now. In times like the present, men should utter nothing for which they would not willingly be responsible through time and eternity.”
I believe we are at such a time again today. With so much at stake, we too must resist the impulse toward “catch arguments” and reflex reactions. Let us proceed in accordance with our nation’s traditional moral compass, yes, but in a manner that is fair and at a pace that is deliberate and responsible. Let us as a nation honestly confront the damage that the President’s actions over the last seven months have caused, but not to the exclusion of the good that his leadership has done over the past six years nor at the expense of our common interests as Americans. And let us be guided by the conscience of the Constitution, which calls on us to place the common good above any partisan or personal interest, as we now work together to resolve this serious challenge to our democracy. Thank you.
(unquote)
Wiki:
Get Tough @ 191
Shuster’s wiki
Petrocelli @ 179
I hope I am wrong, but I think the “defection” talk is probably BS. Arlen Specter is always defecting and posturing until it’s time to vote. The Republican “leadership”; Rove and those who tell Rove what to do, will keep them in line. Most of the Republicans have committed enough felonies, that their major worry is prison.
RevDeb @ 168
well, i’m not going to be able to see sicko for a couple weeks yet… but, i do think there are some powerful cultural factors that keep us/me from acting to use the power we do (collectively) have.
TeddySanFran @ 190
Why thank you Teddy.
Petrocelli @ 193
I know, me, too, along with everyone else. But because he was there throughout, he knows the ins and outs of the particulars alot more, so he has confidence to tackle anyone who even attempts to contradict his viewpoint.
Uh, Liberal Heart,
Recognizing that your heart was in the right place, I doubt if the server’s needed the band width chewed up to re-print the words of a worthless person like HoJo. A link would have been more than sufficient.
raven @ 192
He is Iranian … Shiite … Neocon … probably best friends with Chalabi, Feith, etc. … fire away !!! *g*
RevDeb @ 201
Teddy’s right, read it.
nice RevDeb!
jane goodall speaking now at live earth
Petrocelli @ 152
‘Bush, me, and the court that brung us.’ (Nice h/t to Molly.)
GORE ON BRAVO !!
tbsa @ 82
Try Bravo – has worked all day and you just missed Al Gore make an introduction on the stage in DC.
He is Iranian … Shiite … Neocon … probably best friends with Chalabi, Feith, etc. … fire away !!! *g*
Nope, I promised Christy yesterday to be nice so I’m going to stick with it today too!
Elliott @ 189
IIRC, in Michael Moore’s book, Stupid White Men, he details how Gore’s campaign was subverted by Neocons, who guided his decisions, including choosing HoJo and his plastic, make- up swaddling persona … HoJo was part of the plot to make sure the 2000 election was close enough to be stolen by caging, re- districting, etc.
Watching the Wasserman-Schultz/Burton exchange. Glad she’s on our side, even more glad he’s on theirs…
NBC is running a 3 hour special on Live Earth tonight at 8 est.
Melissa Etheridge was the best performance so far, imo.
Al Goooooore
accept no substitute
Eureka Springs @ 214
Snoop was awful, the Peas were pretty good.
Elliott @ 205
I hit the “recommend” button.
Jane Hamsher @ 216
Thanks Jane. Know anyone in the Birmingham area or close enough to go and help out?
I stand with Gore.
RevDeb @ 217
It’s not that far from Atlanta. Unfortunately we are going to be in Beantown.
Oklahoma kiddo @ 218
Gore the hologram or Gore the non-candidate?
raven @ 214
Agreed. And Keith Urban (?) rocked with his Stones cover and Alicia Keys..
Chuck Hegel is on Russert in the morning.
Petrocelli @ 211
And just for the record, Gore received more votes than any other presidential candidate in American history.
Agreed. And Keith Urban (?) rocked with his Stones cover and Alicia Keys.. It was too bad Garth’s mic didn’t work.. . I think!
Off to see “Sicko” in Anchortown. I added seven tunes today to the playlist at my URL above.
RevDeb – cool diary. I commend and recommend.
raven @ 221
Dick Cheney controls Tim Russert!
Dave Matthews is good now in NYC
RevDeb @ 220
President Gore…
Remember he did win the 2000 election.. at least at the polls..
TeddySanFran @ 227
That’s what should make it interesting, doncha think?
RevDeb @ 220
Both. Thanks for the compliment. ;0)
Sixty Something @ 171
Sixty Something – perhaps the Iraqis are too busy dodging the bombs we are dropping nightly on their houses and fighting off the death squads run by Bush’s friend al Hakim and his Badr brigade. That’s when they aren’t looking for drinkable water or enough fuel to run their generator for a few hours of relief from the 120 degree heat since we destroyed their infrastructure …
Blaming the Iraqis for the results of our war of aggression and illegal occupation does not make sense to me.
I wonder if Russert will ask Hagel how he will actually vote.
All this bloviation about the GOP Senators leaving the President’s side — but wil any of them actually vote to end the war? Or will they simply vote to implement the training recommendations of Baker-Hamilton? Which gives us perpetual war for perpetual peace (h/t Gore Vidal).
new thread
Somewhere upthread someone pointed out that the conglaguration of neo-con/fundamentalist interests in power began under the 1st Bush admin. A small quibble: it actually really got going in the Reagan admin. It was a nice fairy tale to tell to both the fundie christian base and to the “articulate” Jewish lobby. The end of times requires a nuclear war in Israel. Lieberman, though oddly a dem–which at that time was required in CT–is fine with that. He is Joe Lieberman D-Nablus. That is, settlement positive.
What I wnat to do with JoeL, and all the other people who are pushing a war with Iran, is to launch them into the Persian Gulf in motorboats with .22 rifles and compasses, and wish them luck in the war. That way a lot fewer people will be killed.
(I figure most of the people who get sent off that way won’t be much missed.)
Loo Hoo. @ 194
That’s why. I want to know who. I want names. I want to know where they are now. I want to know if a candidate I like–Edwards–hires these same morons. If Gore jumps in, it would make a great deal of difference if he hires the dumbass who put Lieberman on the short list.
things come undone @ 146
Lieberman caring for the troops? Yes, so that he can exploit their deaths and injuries for his neocon ideology.
The Real Rationale for the Surge?
1. Flood the streets of Baghdad with thousands of American soldiers in the name of creating stability for the “Iraq political process”.
2. These troops will draw unprecedented snipers, bombers, etc. from the area and all over the region to “bag an American trophy”.
3. The seeds of “Iran” involvement in deaths of Americans was planted months ago. Increase public pronouncement regarding the connection of Iran’s responsibility for the “tragic killing of American troops”.
4. Add an additional, unnecessary US Carrier (opposed by leaders in the military as reckless and not in US interest). Provocative, but also increasing the chances of major confrontation, if even by mistake.
5. Send a belligerent VP Cheney into the region, cast him on the War Ship and have him utter bellicose and threatening comments regarding the Iranian government.
8. Coordinate and cultivate the usual Propagandists at the National Review, Weekly Standard, WSJ and WaPo to pointedly reinforce the Iranian connection– conflate with War on Terror; Mushroom Cloud over the US; Fight Them There Not Here; Iran equals Al Queda and is connected to 9/11.
9. Accelerate the internal attacks against the “surrender monkeys” at State that want to pursue diplomacy to avoid a potent WW111 incident or situation. Use insider Cheneyites and stories and whispers by the aforementioned Propagandists.
10. Once again, tap into the Rove/Bush total focus on political, power and control. Easyly manipulated, with no thought given to casualties, costs, or potential historic catastrophic consequences, emphasize that with the polls down, and time running out, there is nothing to lose by throwing the Hail Mary bombs at Iran. The country will rally around the War President, with the added benefit of justifying the continued elimination of Constitutional protection and civil rights– not because there is rational justification, but “because we can”, much like pulling the wings off of a butterfly.
Is a rationale for the surge that includes the exploitation of the expected increase in American casualties cynical? Didn’t Wolfowitz at one point admit that WMDs and Mushroom Clouds were always just a pretext for the invasion? The Surgites are smart people, and there is no way they could actually believe that the Surge could really have a meaningful impact in creating stability.
boxer @ 166
You think of that as a compromise only because “free market” has been hijacked to mean “winner takes all, no rules”. Similarly, “socialism” (which means gov’t ownership of factories) has been hijacked to mean gov’t ownership of anything.
Capitalism requires all kinds of things to be provided and fair: courts, infrastructure, laws… IOW, there’s a big role for government. USSR failed because you can’t plan what people will invent, produce, buy. But unless the US gets back to fair courts, fair laws, workable infrastructure, open information, we won’t be far behind. It’s actually the same problem as the USSR – the planning is done by fat cats who haven’t the foggiest notion.
FYI, new thread
Truly, Joe has no shame.
Siun @ 231
Siun,
I typed this wonderful reply to your post, that was taken from me into la la land by the tubz. Suffice it to say that in NO way do I blame the ordinary Iraqis on the street facing the hardships that I believe we inflicted upon them. There is a difference between them and their government, just as it is between you and me and the Bush administration.
Hope to have further discussion on this issue but the steaks are coming off the grill and my husband says it’s time to eat. *g*.
Hope to get back with you later.
SixtySomething … thanks for the note … and hope the steaks are just right!
I’ll have a post about Iraq tomorrow night … stop by if you’re free.
leftdcin72 @ 109
OMG!!! Clinton is now responsible for not going to funerals for soldiers he didn’t send to Iraq? And Hillary? Well, I don’t excuse her her vote, but Bush is the person who illegally invaded a sovereign nation in contravention of national and international law and who continues to perpetrate an illegal occupation on the Iraqi people, faux election or no faux election. The International Law of Occupation is pretty clear on what constitutes a legitimate election and having one conducted under the watchful eyes and guidance of the occupying force is not one of the permitted parameters.
james @ 244
I do not wish to be strident but one Clinton is both Clintons. That is their MO. HRC did not even read the NIE before voting for Iraq. I am not suggesting that Bill Clinton attend any funerals. But this site is suggesting that Lieberman should and I do not see the difference between Lieberman and the Clintons. Lieberman’s and the Clintons’ support for this war matches up. Do not kid yourself.
It’s just that Lieberman likes his contrarian role and he is not running for President.
GordonM @ 239
Then what is the difference between Corporatism (Facism ) and Commies the people don’t choose under either system. Wealth should be more equaly spread and the people not the government and/or the MainStream Media should choose. I think were getting to a set of principles for a better government.
realworld @ 237
Thank you!
Lieberman works for the US 2 days a week and Israel 3.
GordonM @ 239
I don’t think you understood what I posted.
GordonM @ 239
I not sure what you’re saying, but your definitions are wrong. Socialism is much more than government ownership of factories and “free market” in its pure sense means no governmental control.
If y’all want to argue about the free market and capitalism, look at the 1880s and 1890s in the US. Free market (’unfettered’) capitalism is great for the bosses, not much fun for the people in the middle, and bad for the ones at the bottom. Think ‘robber barons’.
Just sayin’.
Wow. He’s finally been assimilated by the borg and turned into a toxic mutant. Bu$hler says, “Welcome to hell!”
boxer @ 169
You’ve got to be joking.
With all due respect to China. I love China. I do not love the government. Let’s deconstruct China right now. How is the environemnt there? What are regulations on consumer and worker safety? *Then* we can come back and talk about winnning models.