McCAIN-LIEBERMAN: THE DREAM TICKET-- FOR THE TERMINALLY DERANGED

We've been warning about it for weeks but today MSNBC's Tim Curry broached a topic most Americans wished would never be spoken aloud: America's two most bloodthirsty senators, "Independent Democrat" Holy Joe Lieberman and independent-minded Republican John McCain, running for president and vice-president. It would be the penultimate in contemporary political treachery. "There's an affinity of personnel, as well as of ideology, between the Arizona Republican and the Connecticut Democrat: McCain's spokesman in 2004, Marshall Wittmann, now works as Lieberman’s spokesman."

They're both charter members of the bipartisan, but very reactionary, Gang of 14, a strategic operation that helped confirm right wing judicial nominees for Bush. But neither man is well-liked by his colleagues. In an institution where every member fancies himself the next president, McCain and Lieberman are considered out-of-control egomaniacs who define everything that a team player is not. Each has an undeserved reputation for moderation and independence but neither is well-liked inside his own party. Terry Lierman, Democratic Party Chairman of Maryland jokingly asked if "McCain needs Lieberman to attract Republican votes."

Senility is a taboo topic for the media covering American politics but McCain, in his 70s, is clearly in the middle stages of dementia and Lieberman's increasingly bizarre behavior is leading many to conclude that he should be thinking about retirement, not for further stressful challenges.

If McCain thinks the rabidly Zionist religionist maniac Lieberman will bring him significant enough support from the Jewish community to swing states like New York or Florida or Illinois, he needs to look a little more closely at reality. "Brandeis University historian Jonathan Sarna, who has studied voting history of Jewish voters, said, 'The 2006 election in Connecticut demonstrated that Lieberman still commands a significant Jewish following, but not as strong a following as he enjoyed in 2000. Lieberman's support of the Iraq war, his views on religion in public life, and his endorsement of Republican efforts to prevent the removal of Terri Schiavo's feeding tube distanced him from some Jewish voters.'"


On the other hand, no one ever went broke underestimating the discernment of American voters. Both men, but McCain particularly, have benefited greatly from a suck-up mass media that has acted as a virtual p.r. machine, covering up corruption and pushing a manufactured self-serving image of "straight-talkers" and "independents" and "moderates." Both men have records the prove they are right wing hacks no more political courage than any other Inside the Beltway careerist. The viability of McCain/Lieberman as a third party force would rest on who the two major parties nominated. Presumably the Republicans would put forward an extremist like Brownback or Romney and the Democrats a centrist like Clinton. It is doubtful McCain-Lieberman would pull significant numbers of Democratic voters away from Hillary Clinton, although Lieberman would help McCain with Republicans uncomfortable with an undisguised radical right message and with the kind of bigotry and hatred the GOP platform will represent. People who have trouble making up their minds between the two parties would be attracted to the McCain-Lieberman confection.


UPDATE: JOHN & JOE-- ESCALATION'S GOT TO GO!

A McCain-Lieberman ticket would probably incite significant grassroots reaction-- everyday and everywhere: