Lieberman gives Bush pass on Katrina

[Titan76]

Sen. Joe Lieberman, the only Democrat to endorse President Bush’s new plan for Iraq, has quietly backed away from his pre-election demands that the White House turn over potentially embarrassing documents relating to its handling of the Hurricane Katrina disaster in New Orleans.

But the decision by Lieberman, the new chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, to back away from the committee's Katrina probe is already dismaying public-interest groups and others who hoped the Democratic victory in November would lead to more aggressive investigations of one of the White House’s most spectacular foul-ups.

Rep. Charlie Melancon, a Louisiana Democrat who participated in House investigations on Katrina last year, also said the Katrina disaster needs further inquiry and that he will continue to push for such a probe in the House.

But as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi continues to keep committees on a tight leash, it is not at all clear that House leaders will be more assertive than Lieberman plans to be in the Senate. A congressional official familiar with the agenda of Rep. Henry Waxman, the House panel’s new chairman, said that trying to force the White House to surrender Katrina material was still a "possibility."
Click here to read all of it:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16585614/site/newsweek

Lieberman is an asshole for doing this and right now Pelosi might be one too.

[Agent Helix]

Honestly, fuck Lieberman. Just fuck him. The man is a spineless political jackal.

[Shellhead]

I've been telling all of you for years... Lieberman isn't a Democrat, he's a Skrull. Just look at him:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b8/Joe_Lieberman_official_portrait.jpg/200px-Joe_Lieberman_official_portrait.jpg

http://www.novaprimepage.com/skrull1.gif

[Ray R.]

In other news, water is wet.

[Agent Helix]

In other news, water is wet.

I know, I know. There's no point in getting mad about the guy anymore, but I just can't help it. He's SUCH a lapdog for whomever will feed him the best scraps, I hate him for it. Plus, he's one of the pro-censorship posse, so double trouble there.

[Hoss]

Luckily, the log jam caused by vetoes makes Liberman way less important. If the Democrats pick up one more seat in 2008, Liberman will become the most marginalized man in the Sentate.

[Typo Lad]

Joe, Joe, Joe.

That's not nice.

You got elected on a platform. Stick with it.

[JeffreyWKramer]

Lieberman is a world-class douchebag. This just provides more evidence of what was already apparent.

[phoenixrising]

Anyone else have the nasty hunch he might try to run for President? I mean, look at how he's put himself in a position to be the non-partisan candidate.

I can see the campaigns now: All of the liberal spending lust of the Democrats, none of the heart! He's not fiscally conservative, but by god, he'll hate the poor and kill the foreigners, just like you want him to! Really! He'll do whatever he thinks you want him to do, Rich Upper Class White Guy (Preferably From The South and/or Midwest).

[Calybos]

Lieberman is Bush's favorite kind of Democrat--a Republican one.

[Michael P]

Thanks a fucking lot, Connecticut.

[Corrina]

Hey, I voted for Lamont!

Blame the Republican voters of CT.

[Ray R.]

Anyone else have the nasty hunch he might try to run for President? I mean, look at how he's put himself in a position to be the non-partisan candidate.

I can see the campaigns now: All of the liberal spending lust of the Democrats, none of the heart! He's not fiscally conservative, but by god, he'll hate the poor and kill the foreigners, just like you want him to! Really! He'll do whatever he thinks you want him to do, Rich Upper Class White Guy (Preferably From The South and/or Midwest).

He won't make it out of New Hampshire or Iowa. Since New England now has all of ONE Republican member in Congress, I see Old Skrullface (thanks Shellhead) barely squeezing out of the margin of error in New Hampshire. And Iowa is not as red as they're made out to be. Especially the Democrats who actually go through that mind-numbing caucus process.

It's a long way to South Carolina. And I can probably count on one hand the number of South Carolinians outside of snowbird Hilton Head who will vote for a Jew from Connecticut, no matter if he tattoos the Dixie flag on his forehead.

[Mike Smash!]

Honestly, fuck Lieberman. Just fuck him. The man is a spineless political jackal.

Naw, Lieberman's not spineless. He's just an asshole. A spineless person would believe otherwise and be afraid to say it.

Lieberman actually believes this shit. If anything Lieberman's got balls. When other pro-war Dems will hem and haw over their position, Joe will straight out give you a "screw you, hippie!".

He's gotta defend Bush so that he can inform us of the real menace....VIDEO GAMES AND ROCK MUSIC!

[Mike Smash!]

Anyone else have the nasty hunch he might try to run for President? I mean, look at how he's put himself in a position to be the non-partisan candidate.

That is exactly my thought when I saw the thread title.

Sometimes I wonder if Kerry and Hillary put him up to this sort of thing, because he's pretty much the one Democrat that can make them look cool and liberal by comparison.

Or maybe "Joementum" just takes a long time to rev up. Vrrroom!

[Alex]

And Iowa is not as red as they're made out to be. Especially the Democrats who actually go through that mind-numbing caucus process.


Anyone who tries to make iowa out to be red or blue is an idiot, look at our voting history. We split more then any state in the union.
Edit: And why is liberman getting called a democrat? He ran as an independent because the democrats booted him for not being democrat...y enough, and the republicans got him in.

[Shellhead]

And why is liberman getting called a democrat? He ran as an independent because the democrats booted him for not being democrat...y enough, and the republicans got him in.

Standard Skrull infiltration tactic... Lieberman posed as a Democrat for so long that we still tend to think of him as one.

[Mike Smash!]

Anyone who tries to make iowa out to be red or blue is an idiot, look at our voting history. We split more then any state in the union.
Edit: And why is liberman getting called a democrat? He ran as an independent because the democrats booted him for not being democrat...y enough, and the republicans got him in.

He caucuses as a Democrat and he's listed in the roll as an "Independent Democrat", so he still considers himself somewhat of a Dem, but still wants to market himself as the non-partisan guy in the middle.

[Alex]

He caucuses as a Democrat and he's listed in the roll as an "Independent Democrat", so he still considers himself somewhat of a Dem, but still wants to market himself as the non-partisan guy in the middle.
Pfffft, he wants to feel like he has some influence being the only independent who doesn't vote in line with the dems.
That doesn't make him a democrat, that makes him an attention whore, because he wants the democrats to kiss his ass after they abandoned him.
And yes, i do think he is doing that, it's all in an effort to stick his tounge out at his former collegues. He will let them beg him for votes, and then probably convert republican.

[Solaris]

Well, he may be pleasing "those in power" by backing off on this...

...but the little guy in the public, who's still pissed over the Katrina fiasco government whitewash? I think he's putting his foot in a bear trap, there.

Stupid idiot.

[Mike Smash!]

Well, he may be pleasing "those in power" by backing off on this...

...but the little guy in the public, who's still pissed over the Katrina fiasco government whitewash? I think he's putting his foot in a bear trap, there.

Stupid idiot.

Well, he's in office for another six years, so I think he's gambling on that to fall back on if he does run for President and fail. He's doing the ages old "I'm in office for years, so I don't care if what I do pisses people off because they'll forget about it before 2012."

Speaking of a possible run...

This is an extraordinarily bad time for Lieberman to run for president. Not only does his unapologetically pro-war position look bad right now, but there will be a contested Republican primary as well as a Democratic primary.

I imagine he counts on a lot of registered Republicans re-registering as Democrats to campaign for him in the primaries, but they'll likely not come over in the numbers that he wants since there will be Republican challengers they're going to get to choose from as well.

[Mike Smash!]

Pfffft, he wants to feel like he has some influence being the only independent who doesn't vote in line with the dems.
That doesn't make him a democrat, that makes him an attention whore, because he wants the democrats to kiss his ass after they abandoned him.
And yes, i do think he is doing that, it's all in an effort to stick his tounge out at his former collegues. He will let them beg him for votes, and then probably convert republican.

No, he's a Democrat in all but name, despite the way that I'm sure alot of Dem rank and file would love to disown him. He caucuses as a Dem, is counted as a Dem for committee appointment and he still continues calling himself an "Independent Democrat" rather than just an "Independent" the way that Bernie Sanders does.

He doesn't realistically have any more power than Sanders does, since they can both single handedly threaten to give the majority back and forth to the GOP if they don't get what they want.

For a while I thought Lieberman would convert to a Republican, too. But I think he's gonna play himself as "the guy in the middle who reaches across party lines" the way he did in his campaign and if he chooses to run for office again, he'll likely either seek the Democratic nomination or make the deal that Sanders did to guarantee he won't have a Democratic opponent.

[Iangould]

Honestly, fuck Lieberman. Just fuck him. The man is a spineless political jackal.

A "spineless political jackal" wouldn't have put his career on the line by opposing the majority position within his party on the Iraq war.

Because his principles differ from yours (and mine) doesn't mean he has no principles.

It's like when people call Bin Laden a "coward". If he were a coward he'd be living it up on the French Riviera spending his family's money on booze and hookers.

[Iangould]

He won't make it out of New Hampshire or Iowa. Since New England now has all of ONE Republican member in Congress, I see Old Skrullface (thanks Shellhead) barely squeezing out of the margin of error in New Hampshire. And Iowa is not as red as they're made out to be. Especially the Democrats who actually go through that mind-numbing caucus process.


In the highly unlikely event he runs, I'd expect him to do so as either an Independent or on the Reform Party ticket.

The nightmare scenario then for the Democrats is that he draws sufficient right-wing Democrats and disgruntled moderate Republicans (who might otherwise have voted Democrat) to deny them a majority and allow a Republican to edge them out on a narrow plurality - say 48% to 47%.

[Magneto_X]

Anyone else have the nasty hunch he might try to run for President? I mean, look at how he's put himself in a position to be the non-partisan candidate.

I can see the campaigns now: All of the liberal spending lust of the Democrats, none of the heart! He's not fiscally conservative, but by god, he'll hate the poor and kill the foreigners, just like you want him to! Really! He'll do whatever he thinks you want him to do, Rich Upper Class White Guy (Preferably From The South and/or Midwest).

IIRC he tried to run as a VP with Gore or something a few years ago.

[Agent Helix]

A "spineless political jackal" wouldn't have put his career on the line by opposing the majority position within his party on the Iraq war.

Because his principles differ from yours (and mine) doesn't mean he has no principles.

It's like when people call Bin Laden a "coward". If he were a coward he'd be living it up on the French Riviera spending his family's money on booze and hookers.

He would if the other guys looked bigger and stronger. He knew what he was doing when he was "putting his career on the line". That's the whole point. I don't believe he backs ANYTHING based on principles. He backs things based on what's the most convenient for him at the time, and he's almost invariably wrong. He never learns. He's a conniving, smarmy, two-faced little son of a bitch that should probably be dragged through some town square or another.

[Magneto_X]

He will let them beg him for votes, and then probably convert republican.

Lieberman will never join the Republicans. Officially.

The only reason he's staying close to the Dems is because it gives him power and he can give the G.O.P inside information.

If he does switch to the Pubs he'd lose most of his political leverage and the neocons don't like Jews that much. They prefer to vote for fascist, totalitarian Protostant (sp?) /Catholic Christians.

Same with Zell Miller.

[Iangould]

If he does switch to the Pubs he'd lose most of his political leverage and the neocons don't like Jews that much. They prefer to vote for fascist, totalitarian Protostant (sp?) /Catholic Christians.


Again, there's no need to demonise people because you disagree with them.

There are in fact several prominent Jewish neoconservatives. (I want to say William Kristol but a quick check of his Wikipedia entry turns up no mention of his religion. ITHINK he's Jewish but 'm not certain.) There's also Richard Perle.

As demonstrated by their embrace of Condi Rice, the neoconservatives are largely free of the racist attitudes found in some other sections of the Republican Party. (Disclaimer for the hard of reading 1: That's not to imply that all other Republicans are racists. Disclaimer for the hard of reading 2: It's also not imply that Republicans are the only political party in the US which has racist supporters.)

Along with their genuine desire to promote democracy and human rights, it's among their few redeeming features.