LIEBERMAN CROSSES THE AISLE

Maybe I'm being a little melodramatic; Lieberman is crossing the aisle so much some people wonder why he ever bothers to come back to the Democratic side (for procedural and housekeeping votes). Yesterday John Kerry, Barbara Boxer and Russ Feingold introduced an amendment calling for a one year deadline for U.S. troops to be redeployed out of the Iraqi Civil War. One of the Republican's most bloodthirsty senatorial warmongers, John Warner (VA) used a greasy maneuver to cut their speaking time and award it to another "Democrat," the Republicans' favorite Democrat, Joe Lieberman (CT). Lieberman, sounding more Republican and more pro-Bush than most admitted Republicans (for old time's sake, Lieberman-- like Zell Miller-- still claims to be a Democrat, more or less) ripped into Kerry and Feingold-- and also attacked the Democratic compromise amendment offered by senate moderates Carl Levin (MI), Jack Reed (RI), Dianne Feinstein (CA) and Ken Salazar (CO).

After Lieberman did his hatchet job on the Democrats' 2 reasonable proposals, Rick Santorum, the most disliked man (by his constituents, not just by staffers) of any Senator anywhere, praised him to the skies.

Ned Lamont-- like several senators who have campaigned for Lieberman such as Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama-- endorsed the Levin-Reed amendment explaining that "it represents the minimum needed, but will build a Democratic coalition to establish and stick to a plan to end the war."

Meanwhile, at the WASHINGTON POST Harold Meyerson demolished Lieberman's ridiculous claim that, even though he doesn't represent Democrats any longer, he still, somehow, deserves to be re-elected.

"I know I'm taking a position that is not popular within the party," Lieberman told Broder, "but that is a challenge for the party-- whether it will accept diversity of opinion or is on a kind of crusade or jihad of its own to have everybody toe the line. No successful political party has ever done that." That's a rather stunning assertion. If parties were based on the acceptance of diversity of opinion on the most important issues of the day, they would lack the definition to be parties at all. And the conduct and duration of our involvement in Iraq is, by the measure of every single poll, the No. 1 issue in the minds of the American people-- a majority of whom believe that the Bush administration has botched the war about as badly as a war can be botched. Now, maybe I've had this backward all my life, but I thought that elections were held to enable voters to choose between candidates espousing different points of view on the most important issues. Lieberman seems to believe that elections exist to enable voters not to choose-- indeed, to "accept diversity of opinion." And that if voters have the temerity to go ahead and choose anyway, they have crossed the line between party and sect in their zeal "to have everybody toe the line."

AFTERTHOUGHT: THE REVOLTING VIDEO OF LIEBERMAN CARRYING WATER FOR THE REPUGS

Is this a Democrat? Was Zell a Democrat when he tried disemboweling Kerry at the Republican Convention in 2004?


NOON UPDATE: WHICH DEMOCRATS VOTED TO CONTINUE U.S. INVOLVEMENT IN THE IRAQI CIVIL WAR AND VOTED TO APPLAUD BUSH'S CONTINUED OCCUPATION?

Both Democratic amendements were defeated today. Only one blue-state Democrat voted NO on both and, as you know, that was Joe Lieberman, who is, of course, George Bush's and Rick Santorum's favorite Democrat. The other 5 Democrats who voted for Bush's unfolding catastrophe were Mark Dayton (D-MN) who is retiring, and 4 Democrats who I personally wouldn't vote for no matter how horrible the Republican alternative is: Landrieu (LA), Pryor (AR), and both the horrible Nelsons (FL and NE).


MORE UPDATE: LIEBERMAN'S LATEST TRAGEDY

After having had his praises sung on the Senate floor by Man-on-Dog Santorum yesterday and having been endorsed by Bill O'Reilly last week, what-- barring Mussolini rising from the grave to campaign for him-- would be a worse indication for Connecticut Democratic primary voters that Joe Lieberman is serving very different interests than theirs? Well, this afternoon on Fox-TV bizarro fascist slut/clown Ann Coulter endorsed Lieberman.


THE LAST UPDATE BEFORE THE NEXT UNPLANNED SAVAGE ATTACK ON BUSH'S AND COULTER'S FAVORITE DEMOCRAT

Star A. Decise over at Enigmatic Paradox has an inciteful look at Lieberman's Loyalty Oath.