Joe Lieberman: Backstabbing, Lying Trash
Meanwhile, some familiar faces douchenozzles want to save the traitor
Jane at Firedoglake puts it best:
While it’s one thing for Obama to personally forgive Lieberman for the race baiting and other gutter tactics that he engaged in on McCain’s behalf during the campaign, it’s quite another to let the chairmanship of such an important committee, which Lieberman has used for years to prevent Senatorial investigation into no-bid contracts and contractor abuse within the Department of Homeland Security, to serve as an olive branch.
That’s an awfully high price for a lot of reasons.
Since its inception, the Department of Homeland Security has been one of the most corruption-riddled arms of the government, able to hide its affairs from the prying eyes of the public under the guise of “national security….
the House has a Committee on Homeland Security too, and its Subcommittee on Management, Investigations, and Oversight recently found $15 billion worth of waste in 11 Department of Homeland Security programs — for “projects ranging from airport baggage-screening to trailers for Hurricane Katrina evacuees.”
Lieberman, many will recall, was responsible for holding hearings into the government’s response to Hurricane Katrina. But after winning his 2006 election with the help of the GOP, he decided it would be too “divisive” and refused to do so….
Not only is Joe Lieberman not doing that job, as Chairman of the Department of Homeland Security Committee he’s keeping anyone else from doing it. He happily allowed a seat on the Homeland Security Advisory Council to be doled out as political patronage to a corrupt Bush Pioneer. He has no interest in cleaning up the mess he helped to make.
Is his continued happiness worth the cost of healthcare? Of the environment? Of putting Americans back to work? Of reducing our dependence on oil and getting the economy back on its feet?
Allowing Lieberman to retain control of a committee where he has done nothing but suppress meaningful oversight is going to be an awfully bitter pill to swallow when we’re told that the price of “change” we all thought we were voting for is going to be too high.
Firedoglake has a handy tool that allows you to call the Steering Committee for free: I recommend you do so, before Lieberman uses the power of the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee to hobble the Obama administration.
Click here to try it out: Also, please sign the petition. Go home Joe. Go home, hang out with your grandkids, go throw rocks at the local Iraqis, or whatever it is you do for fun. Just get out of the Senate. You’re nothing but a quisling, a traitor, and most of all, a major hassle for everyone. As you all know, I work as a grant writer. It’s a great job: I get to put my writing skills to the test by asking individuals, foundations, and corporations for money for important social programs like GED classes and English as a Second Language/civics classes that help immigrants integrate into American society and earn more money. It’s always gratifying to see the smiles when another $25,000 grant rolls in, knowing the good the money will do. But the thing is, for a lot of the corporations we host here in Philadelphia, many of who enjoy significant tax breaks to locate here, $25,000 is a drop in a very large bucket. If Comcast, Sunoco, Verizon, and many more can be said to rake in billions, they give out charitable donations a leaf at a time. As Philadelphians learned last week, our economy is in shambles and the mayor is shutting 62 of 73 pools and 11 libraries to save money (warning, pdf). My neighborhood like so many others is taking a hit: we’re losing a library, a pool, and a sprayground. A few days ago, I wrote: it’s not his fault. It’s the fault of the GOP and our Senator, Arlen Specter. The budget reductions were caused by a variety of factors, all of which can be traced to GOP policies supported by the senior senator. The stock market collapse and the frozen capital market are the clearest examples, brought on by decades of deregulation, all supported by Arlen Specter who has voted in favor of every single deregulatory scheme proposed by the GOP, including the disaster known as the credit default swap. Reduced revenue? Some of that may be blamed on Philadelphia’s shrinking population, but mainly it’s because of the Bush tax cuts, which senator Specter supported. The other night I met the Mayor and asked him how much it costs to run a city pool for the summer. His answer was “$50,000.” Closing down these pools, I quickly realized, is what a friend of mine last night called “chump change”: 63 pools only adds up to a little over $3 million dollars, which hardly patches the hole we’re facing. It’s also cruel to children and a public safety hazard: Philadelphia’s children are armed, and when it gets hot tempers flare easily. I’ll be calling his office later today to offer my assistance in tracking down grants, but preliminary research isn’t promising: most foundations work with 501(c)(3) nonprofits, which the city is not. One of my funding contacts suggested I contact the corporate sector. And that’s when I began to think about corporate profits versus corporate citizenship. Even in hard times, a company like Verizon has money to spare: Verizon Communications Inc. said Monday earnings rose 31% in the third quarter as wireless did better than expected, while its traditional phone business continued to decline. The country’s second largest telecommunications company, after AT&T Inc., earned $1.67 billion, or 59 cents per share, up from $1.27 billion, or 44 cents a share, a year ago. Revenue rose 4.1% to $24.7 billion. Excluding charges for job cuts and merger costs, Verizon (VZ, Fortune 500) earned 66 cents per share, matching the average estimate of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters. They were expecting $24.52 billion in revenue. If just 3 corporations contributed a little over a million dollars to the city that’s given them tax breaks and allowed them to build giant skyscrapers all over the place, we wouldn’t have to close the pools. Has the mayor asked them? I don’t know, but I’m going to be asking. A lot of Philadelphians will point out that our tax structure discourages companies from locating here and that city government is scared to ask them for money. But the other night, I met many of the movers and shakers from some of the most powerful and well-heeled corporations in town. These are people who can afford to give back in the millions, not petty donations of $20,000, which is a fraction of my salary. For the past eight years, corporations have benefited from government largesse at the federal and state level in so many ways. It’s time for these companies to step up to the plate and to mitigate the hit the rest of bus are taking. Comcast, Verizon, Unisys, Smith-Kline-Beecham should be contributing at a much higher level than they are now. Our city is in trouble, and as the saying goes, “to whom much is given, much is required.” Pony up, guys. The crazy lady begins to wake up: Election Day has produced fresh fury from self-proclaimed “conservatives” promising never again to read me or fellow apostates who criticized the Republican ticket. This is, of course, their right, but is this really the way to go about salvaging the Republican Party? Yes, absolutely, let’s start censoring people who entertain ideas and opinions that make us unhappy. Now there’s a sure path to enlightenment! …of course “censoring people who entertain ideas and opinions that make us unhappy” has long been a pillar of the modern conservative philosophy, from throwing people out of taxpayer-funded political events, suggesting that liberals are unpatriotic and constitute a fifth column, flatly stating we should be sent to Gunatanamo… the list goes on and on. Kinda funny to see Kathleen Parker getting a taste of her own medicine. You should have known you’d be alone The democrats are intent on playing the sucker again. As always, Harry Reid’s cowardice is manifest: there is no fight that the former boxer won’t back down from. Even Bill Clinton, who should know better, is getting in on the “Save Joe’s Bacon” game. I’m not going to into all of the reasons Joe Lieberman has to go, but I will say this: if Lieberman embarrasses or hobbles the Obama administration because the Democrats allowed him to stay in a position of power, they will have no one but themselves to blame. I will call every single person who enabled him and point out that, once again, I was right and they were wrong. I am getting really tired of being right all the time, but you watch what happens. Just like the bankruptcy bill, the war, the bailout and just about every other stupid thing the democrats went along with for the sake of comity, I will be right, the democrats will be wrong, and the country (and party) will suffer. I wish I could copy this in its entirety, but then you wouldn’t go to Jane’s place: While Lieberman was quick to denounce Clinton for a private matter he leaped to the defense of Bush as even Republicans realized his strategy in the Iraq War was disastrous. Criticize George W. Bush and his conduct of the war and you’re a traitor. Lieberman subsequently told the New Haven Register that he opposed legislation that would have required all publicly funded hospitals to provide Plan B contraception to rape victims, saying “it shouldn’t take more than a short ride to get to another hospital” (for which he earned himself the sobriquet “Short Ride.”) The 2006 Democratic primary campaign in Connecticut was in some respects a warm-up for Lieberman’s negative attacks on Barack Obama, ironic given that Obama endorsed him. Lieberman had been assigned to show the freshman the ropes in the Senate and Obama called him his “mentor.” Obama rushed to the state to deliver a ringing endorsement of Lieberman at the annual party dinner. No good deed goes unpunished… Lieberman had campaigned as a born-again antiwar advocate, telling Connecticut voters he was confident troop withdrawals from Iraq would begin by the end of the year, and that 50 percent would be home by the end of the following year. Nobody, he assured voters, wanted to bring the troops home more than him. The month after his election, he called for an immediate increase of 15,000-30,000 troops.… Lieberman promised Reid privately that he would not attack Obama directly and personally. But when prevailed upon by the McCain operatives, Lieberman could not help himself. He played the paragon of decency even as he gleefully accepted the role of snarling attack dog: He said that “Obama has not always put country first.” During the Bush administration, as chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, Lieberman showed no interest whatsoever in investigating a multitude of scandals, including those of Hurricane Katrina. He abandoned his promise to investigate them after Rove helped him hold his Senate seat. If Reid buckles to Lieberman’s threats, permitting him to keep control of the Homeland Security Committee, the Democrats will no doubt discover that Lieberman has a new zeal for investigating that will be a thorn in Obama’s side for the next four years. Still wielding power the turncoat would exact his revenge on the new president. Lieberman owes Karl Rove and the GOP BIG TIME for his re-election. There is no doubt he will go after the new president if allowed to keep his seat. HE MUST BE STOPPED. Click here to call the Steering Committee member of your choice, and click here to sign the petition: tell them that Joe Lieberman isn’t a Democrat, that he’s persistently attacked Democrats, and that the only reason he wants that chairmanship so badly is that he intends to launch witch hunts against Obama to cripple the Democrats’ agenda and return Republicans to power. JOE HAS TO GO. Yeah, maybe if you’re a pro-life, anti-gay Mormon like Reid: Reid is an idiot, and is going to require LOTS of pressure to push Joe overboard. Help out here: Joe’s Gotta Go. And similarly, any nation could elect a qualified and nonterrifying black President. For a tough guy with skulls and pirate swords all over his website, this Ace of Spades person is certainly a scaredy-cat. Kevin Ferris is the Inquirer’s resident right-wing cuckoo bananas columnist: think of him as a male Christine Flowers, with a style more suited to the long-winded snore session lecture than the spiteful kick in the teeth. For the past two years, Ferris has played the role you’d expect, accusing Obama of “lowball attacks” blah blah blah. When the Inquirer made its presidential endorsement, it noted that the decision was split. Philadelphians throughout our city noted the dissenting voice was probably Kevin Ferris and had a good chuckle. We’re having an even bigger chuckle today: as the Times points out, Obama’s attackers are walking it back That’s also true of the execrable Kevin Ferris as well. This seems to be routinely overlooked, but take a moment to consider what the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs actually does: it’s the committee principally responsible for oversight of the executive branch. It’s an accountability committee, charged with investigating the conduct of the White House and the president’s administration. As chairman of this committee for the last two years, Lieberman decided not to pursue any accusations of wrongdoing against the Bush administration. Lieberman’s House counterpart — Rep. Henry Waxman’s Oversight Committee — was a vigilant watchdog, holding hearings, issuing subpoenas, and launching multiple investigations. Lieberman preferred to let his committee do no real work at all. It was arguably the most pathetic display of this Congress. And yet, now Lieberman acts as if keeping this chairmanship is the single most important part of his public life. Why would he be so desperate to keep the gavel of a committee he hasn’t used? I’ll let you in on a secret: he wants to start using the power of this committee against Obama. Lieberman didn’t want to hold Bush accountable, but he seems exceedingly anxious to keep the committee that would go after Obama with a vengeance, effectively becoming a Waxman-like figure — holding hearings, issuing subpoenas, and launching investigations against the Democratic president. Lieberman doesn’t care about “reconciliation,” he cares about going after a Democratic administration. Why else would he fight diligently to be chairman of one committee instead of another? You can almost hear the flying monkeys. Firedoglake reminds us of Joe’s unique role in the Clinton investigation, when Lieberman stood with the Republicans and rebuked the president. Joe MUST go: he’s planning on bringing down the Obama presidency in revenge for being kicked out of the party. he’s already trying to slither around the past two years of attacks and backstabbing But he has NO leverage, and you can help pull the rug out from under this bitter little irrelevant tool of a man. Sign the petition or call the Steering and Outreach Committee and tell them to strip him of his chairmanships, and if possible of his seniority altogether
Philly’s Budget Shortfall: Time for Corporations to Step Up and Give Back.
Kathleen Parker Learns Right Wingers Are Intolerant
Dems to Give Lieberman a Pass? Don’t Cry to Me, and Don’t Say We Didn’t Warn You
Do don’t beg for sympathy
Just cry now lonesome heart
But don’t cry to me
—Jimmy Martin, “Don’t Cry To Me”Olbermann Speaks for Me
FDL Presents the Case Against Lieberman
He thought it was a “good question” to inquire whether Obama is a Marxist.
He misleadingly accused Obama of having “voted to cut off funding for our troops.”
He repeated the claim that “Hamas endorsed Obama” and said it “suggests the difference between these two candidates.”
He sent out an email for McCain, referring to the “Democrat” Party, the derogatory term of art preferred by the most partisan Republicans….Harry Reid Think Joe Lieberman is a Progressive
Terrifying
Terrifying
Kevin Ferris Walks it Back
STOP LIEBERMAN’S WITCH HUNT
Washington Monthly says Joe Lieberman is brewing up a witch hunt:
The same is true of Joe Lieberman, man without a party: he’s not a Republican, he’s not a Democrat, and his own vanity party kicked him out in 2007. Don’t let this bitter little man use his last four years in Congress to destroy the promise of an Obama presidency using the weapon of the witch hunt. Call now: it’s easy, and you’ll feel good because you’ll be helping to take down one of the quislings of our time.
