IS DAVID BRODER THE OFFICIAL SPOKESPERSON FOR THE CONNECTICUT FOR LIEBERMAN PARTY?

You may recall that last week treacherous and disloyal Bush Democrat Chris Carney (PA-10) denegrated Hillary Clinton in his district newspaper and endorsed a Chuck Hagel-Mike Bloomberg ticket. Since deceiving his way into office last year, Carney has worked hard to amass a voting record that should make this endorsement a surprise no one (except maybe those at the DCCC who think no further than bigger offices and better parking spaces for themselves).

This morning the worst of the old time and hackish Beltway pundits, David Broder, echoed, predictably, Carney's call for mediocrity. Broder has been around long enough to know that, despite his kind's most heartfelt wishes for more and endless Bushism, the American people's capacity for being tricked is coming to an end. The Broders of the Beltway are now probing the possibilities of inserting anything to stop Hillary, even if that means 2 Republicans, Hagel and Bloomberg, who haven't signed on to the pledge the pathetic pygmies™ have taken to give America the third George W. Bush term people like Broder think we need (and deserve).

Broder, of course, never mentions that his "independent" hero, Chuck Hagel has an entirely rubber stamp voting record that is mind-bogglingly extreme and even more out of step with mainstream Americans than doddering Inside the Beltway political pundits. You would never guess it by reading Broder but Hagel's shameful voting record is even more reactionary than Thad Cochran's, Lindsey Graham's, Kit Bond's, Chuck Grassley's, or Judd Gregg's. His votes of virtually everything are far more in line with bigots and neo-fascists like David Vitter, Tom Coburn, Sam Brownback and Jeff Sessions than they are with mainstream conservatives like George Voinovich, Olympia Snowe, John McCain, Richard Lugar.

Broder is guessing Hagel doesn't want to run for his third Senate term and he puts forth the anti-Democrat Beltway meme whose mantra is that "Washington is gridlocked in partisan battle between two equally spent parties," rather than being capable of looking in the mirror and at Bush and his cronies and seeing why Washington is a mess. Also, predictably, Broder seeks to paint Hagel as someone who "was perhaps the first prominent Republican to break with the president" on Iraq. Of course that is a typical Broder distortion. Yes, Hagel shot off his mouth a few times about how catastrophic Bush's policies are but when it came to actual voting in the Senate, Hagel is still a dependable Bush-Cheney rubber stamp. Take for example S.J. Res 9, one of the bills Hagel was running his yap about. It was voted on on March 15 and it called for a revision of U.S. policy in Iraq. It failed and Hagel joined all the Republicans but Gordon Smith to vote against it. (Lieberman and 2 reactionary Democrats, Ben Nelson and Mark Pryor joined Hagel and the Republicans in perpetuating the occupation of Iraq Hagel has been whining about in a way that has so impressed David Broder.)

Hagel said that he and Bloomberg have "had some talks" but that neither of them is ready at this moment to form a partnership or stake out a strategy. Like everyone else, Hagel understands that the mayor's personal wealth would permit him to organize a campaign, starting in the winter or spring, and still have time to gain ballot access in enough states to make him a credible national candidate. But wealth alone will not bring him within reach of 270 electoral votes, and Hagel shares the view that Bloomberg is not interested in being "a spoiler" whose only effect would be to hurt one of the major-party candidates.

Broder has proven what a useless tool he's become. Perhaps he should push a Chris Carney/Art Carney ticket instead. Or maybe he should interview Mayor Bloomberg and ask him how he'd feel about running with someone of years and years of unrelenting service in the interest of far right extremism, who has been consistent in denying women the right to choice, consistent in treating minorities as 12th class citizens, consistent in anti-labor policies, consistent in devastatingly anti-environment policies, consistent in homophobia, consistent in legislating massive tax breaks for the wealthy and shoving a bigger and bigger burden on working people, consistent in supporting trade policies that are wrecking our country's economy and rending its social fabric... you know, stuff like that.