Sorry, Senator DiFi, but if you--or anybody else--want to be "the new Lieberman," first you're going to have to do something with the old one

Evidence now suggeests that Senator Feinstein is stepping up her campaign to be anointed officially as "the new Lieberman." Just the other day I was writing about how commonplace it has become to label prominent Democrats who aspire to become the party's chief Bush enabler "the new Lieberman," with special emphasis on the fact that everyone now understands immediately what it means to be the new Lieberman. Clearly Senator DiFi is well in front of her rivals, now that she not only regularly votes for Chimpy the Prez's agenda but takes plane rides with him and claims to have been illuminated by him. (Hey, I'm not making this up. She's actually said to have claimed to find her conversation with His Chimpiness "illuminating.")

I have a strong procedural objection to crowning a "new Lieberman," however. Maybe there's some reason why we have to endure one Lieberman. Probably it got slipped on as one of those famous Midnight Riders the Bush regime's lackeys had slipped into one of the zillion Bush Enabling Acts of 2001 through 2007: At all times there has the Democrats have to have in their midst one turncoat who works in cahoots with the regime to pursue its far-right agenda. Personally, I think it should be the Republicans' job to betray Democratic principles. But I definitely draw the line at one Lieberman.

And the last I checked, the old Lieberman was still stalking Capitol Hill, perpetuating the occupation of Iraq and working to extend it to war with Iran. I realize that his usefulness as a Democratic plant for the Bush regime is pretty much gone, now that most everyone knows who and what he is. But I still insist that unless Holy Joe is decertified or otherwise dealt with, there is no opening for a new Lieberman.

If Senator DiFi is really determined, it probably wouldn't even be that hard. If there's anything that Holy Joe's career has taught us, it's that he can be bought off. Senator Feinstein's husband should have the dough to do it. It's like a match made in heaven, or wherever matches like that are made. It would actually be doing our Joe a favor, since it would free him and his wife to come out of the closet, as it were, and focus all their energies on shoveling in that K Street corporate loot.

Of course it's unclear exactly how much His Holiness's patrons would value his "services" if he were separated from his Senate seat. But that's not my problem, or even our problem. I say it's the problem of anyone who aspires to being the new Lieberman. The path goes through Holy Joe.