Tuesday, August 08, 2006

". . . Polarizing Petty Party Politics"

From Monday's PBS NewsHour:
SEN. JOSEPH LIEBERMAN: The future is about more than noise; it's about being able to go to Washington and make the place work for Connecticut, deliver for Connecticut. I can tell you what my opponent would be if he ever got there, which he won't. He'd be another non-producing, polarizing politician, which is the last thing Washington needs or Connecticut needs representing them.

A man wants to borrow his neighbor's lawnmower and on his way over to ask for it, he starts thinking about all of the reasons his neighbor might turn him down - he forgot to clean out the clippings basket the last time he borrowed the lawnmower, and he was late returning the hammer he borrowed last year. He can hear his neighbor's voice in his mind, his reluctance to loan anything else, and he's starting to feel bad, like a real loser. By the time that he reaches the neighbor's front door and rings the doorbell, he's in a miserable mood, convinced that the neighbor will turn him down. So when the neighbor opens the door, our schnook snarls, "Oh keep your goddamned lawnmower!" and heads back home.

The schnook? That's Joe Lieberman. Joe Lieberman is a defeatist candidate. It's also true of all the DLC Democrats.

That's what Bush-GOP bullying, and shock and awe campaigns, and stonewalling, and delaying tactics set out to accomplish. Discouragement. Defeatism. So that the opposition doesn't even bother. Until finally, "We'll take whatever crumbs Bush and the GOP deign to drop our way, so we don't want to piss off Bush too much."

It's an actual strategy that DLC Democrats defend. Hell, they brag about it! They sell 'defeat' to their constituents as "what a great deal we got for you!"

They have justified it to themselves as "realistic politics," but just beneath the surface of their justification is the fact that they have to live with these people (Republicans) and it's so much more pleasant not to be constantly ducking and looking over their shoulders for the inevitable GOP knife in the back.



For most of their terms in office, these elected politicians don't live in their home districts, with the people who elected them. They live, play and work with others who are away from their home districts, from both parties. They're competitive people living in a city where all of the world's most powerful organizations have come together to do business. Very few of them are there to serve the public's interest. And when their terms are up, very few of them return to their home districts. They remain in Washington and put their years of being on the inside to work for the interests of the rich and powerful.

The politics of polarization as practiced by Republicans can only happen when Joe Lieberman and the DLC Democrats not only don't stand up to condemn, but encourage, bless, and legitimize the brutal and savage policies of Bush-Cheney and the Republican party by going on Fox and hate-rightwing-radio.

What I, personally, find so offensive about Lieberman is his use of religiosity as a credential. One might think that he's the King of the Jews in America, when the truth is that Joe Lieberman is nowhere close to Jewish spirituality. Lieberman wears his religion like a badge, as if only those with his beliefs have a right to weigh in on Israel or are even real Jews.

Any student of Jewish history (or WWII, or political psyops programs) recognize Lieberman's actions (or reactions) in the 103rd-109th Congresses as the same as the Jews who ignored all of the warnings of what was coming only to find themselves trapped inside of Germany with only one way out - death camps. The Holocaust didn't just happen - the Nazis changed laws to provide themselves with the old "rule of law" cover. Beginning in 1933, a series of anti-Jewish laws were passed. Not all at once, but a few at a time. Those Jews who didn't leave immediately, for whatever reason, rationalized that "it wasn't so bad, they could adjust, comply, it can't get any worse than this." Until a few months would go by and more anti-Jewish laws would come down. The laws became increasingly restrictive, limiting a Jewish person's ability to work, support their families, feed themselves and their children, and travel.

Joe Lieberman (and the DLC Democrats) helped Bush and the GOP achieve their goals, get through their agenda of legislation and judges that are bad for the people and devastating to the Constitution.

The shame of Joe Lieberman is that he is a collaborator. For whatever reason. He's no man of the people. He's no democrat, and he's certainly no leader.



Read how much the neocons love Joe! They're welcome to him.


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