LIEBERMAN COMES OUT OF THE CLOSET

But, "Lieberman will continue to caucus with the Democrats"

Normally at home I wake before sunrise and now 6AM I'm swimming and I've got my first post for DWT ready to go. But I'm on vacation now and I'm sleeping late. This morning it was nearly 9 when I woke up; what a luxury! And the first thing I saw on the BBC World News was that corporate shill and Bush-backer Joe Lieberman is endorsing his best boyfriend, another corporate shill and Bush-backer, John McCain. Despite Lieberman's pledge to Connecticut voters-- before the less aware among them were suckered into voting for him-- that he would work hard to take the White House back from the Republicans, harder, he claimed, disingenuously, than Ned Lamont would, anyone paying any attention would have figured that America's worst political opportunist and traitor had every intention of endorsing McCain all along.

An aide to Lieberman tells CNN he decided to endorse McCain because he considers him "the most capable to be commander in chief on day one of his administration, and the most capable of uniting the country so that we can prevail against Islamic extremism."

The Lieberman aide insists the senator does not see this as a "commentary on or an endorsement of the Republican party, only the person."

Lieberman had not planned to endorse anyone until after the primary season, but McCain asked Lieberman for his endorsement a few days after the two men returned from a Thanksgiving trip to Iraq together, and Lieberman decided to do it, according to the same Lieberman aide.

Lieberman will continue to caucus with the Democrats.

Sometimes some of the candidates Blue America endorses ask me how we managed to raise so much money for Donna Edwards, Darcy Burner and Tom Allen (and, last year, for Ned Lamont-- over $70,000). All of our endorsees stand for the same progressive values and principles so why do some inspire so much generosity from our community? I often tell them they need an arch-villain-- an arch villain more than just the right-wing Republican incumbent. Occasionally the right-wing incumbent is so villainous, like Mean Jean Schmidt in OH-02, that not much else is needed other than a courageous and aggressive campaign-- which explains why Victoria Wulsin has been a favorite of so many in our community.

But a real arch-villain, a Lex Luthor or Attila the Hun... that's what Darcy, Tom, Ned, and Donna had. Darcy knew immediately that when Bush limped into her suburban Seattle district to make an ineffectual plea for support for his rubber stamp toady, Dave Reichert, the benefits accruing to Darcy would be far greater in every way than the benefits Bush was feebly trying to drum up for his walking dead congressional puppet. Similarly, when Madam Impeachment-is-off-the-table, descended on MD-04 to campaign for the corrupt corporate pawn and political hack Al Wynn, it was a godsend for his opponent, Donna Edwards. Pelosi showed which side she was on and grassroots Democrats saw to it that Donna outraised Wynn-Pelosi. Every progressive candidate is hoping that Cheney or Bush or Rahm Emanuel comes to his district to campaign for his opponent. These are the symbols of everything that is wrong with America's political establishment. Oh-- and Joe Lieberman.

Lieberman was bankrolled by Republican big money and by the big corporate interests he has supported for decades but when Ned Lamont ran against him thousands of grassroots progressives from across Connecticut and across America got behind Ned. And, with every rotten Establishment hack in America-- from Bill and Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Chuck Schumer, Bush, Cheney, et al-- supporting Lieberman-- as well as the entire Neocon establishment-- Lamont still beat him in the Democratic primary. He managed to win the general election by flat out lying about how he had changed his pro-war stand and by Rove, Cheney and Bush encouraging Republicans to abandon the GOP nominee and to cast their votes for Lieberman instead.

This year even a hint of Lieberman's poisonous endorsement was enough to drive one DLC hack, Swett, out of the U.S. Senate race in New Hampshire. Democrats realize he is toxic. But not Republicans. They love him. He is, after all, a traitor who has come over to their side. So Susan Collins in Maine embraced him-- and her opponent, Rep. Tom Allen, raised a ton of cash to counteract an Inside the Beltway Lieberman fundraiser.

So will Lieberman's endorsement be the kiss of death for McCain's struggling campaign? Connecticut independents have turned against Lieberman and have seen him the liar he is, but what about the New Hampshire independents McCain is so desperate to woo? Ari Melber at The Nation posits that Lieberman's endorsement may hurt McCain more than help him. "[I]t does not make sense for McCain because it will only remind core Republicans why they distrust him."

Personally I love the sweet irony of how Lieberman has stabbed the Clinton's-- who certainly deserved it-- in the back not once, but twice. I also love how he has given the Democratic Insider Establishment the finger-- they deserve it too-- and how he's even turned on his hapless protegee Obama. When will voters realize Joe Lieberman is the worst arch-villain in all of American politics-- or at least as arch as Cheney, Bush and Rove?


UPDATE: NOT ALL TREACHEROUS DEMOCRATS ARE ENDORSING REPUBLICANS THIS YEAR

Bob Kerrey may not be quite as bad as Lieberman or Zell Miller-- or even as bad as fellow Nebraska Republicrat Ben Nelson-- but is is very, very bad, the worst kind of "Democrat, always eager to sell out progressive values and principles at the drop of a hat Benjamin. He didn't endorse his old pal McCain today. Instead he endorsed his Insider soulmate Hillary Clinton. Makes perfect sense to me. Birds of a feather...