Has Joe Lieberman Sold His Soul to the Devil?
I've been holding off writing about Joe Lieberman because his current campaign so appalls me that I'm afraid that, once I start writing about him, I'll go on and on and on, boring you folks to tears and distracting me from the stuff that actually pays the bills.
Pause. Deep breath. Attempt at self-control.
Lieberman has become the de facto Republican Party candidate for senator from Connecticut. He's been endorsed, in so many words, by Rudy Giuliani, John McCain, Dick Cheney, and Mary Matalin. Meanwhile, the Democrats' most prominent figures are opposing him: John Kerry, both Clintons, John Edwards, even Connecticut senator Chris Dodd.
For the Republicans, Lieberman is a useful idiot. His presence on the ballot divides the Democratic party both in Connecticut and nationally, making the Dems look fractious while taking attention away from the GOP's troubles. If he wins, he'll be a more frequent supporter of the president than Ned Lamont would be. And, who knows, he might even defect and become a Republican.
And yet, Lieberman continues to insist that he's running for "the good of the party" and the good of the country. The man's arrogance knows no bounds.
(Meanwhile, the media continues to play into Lieberman's hands, giving him far more attention than it is paying his opponent.)
Lieberman is also becoming increasingly disingenuous and dishonest on the campaign trail. On "Face the Nation" on Sunday, he claimed that "I don't think there's anyone who wants more to end [the war] than I do." This is clearly not true. The parents of every deceased soldier want the war to end more than he does; the relatives of every dead Iraqui civilian want the war to end more than he does. Ned Lamont wants the war to end more than he does.
Lieberman, meanwhile, argues that setting a withdrawal date for the removal of our troops in Iraq would increase sectarian violence.
When Bob Schieffer (in an otherwise softball interview) sensibly pointed out that sectarian violence is already on the rise in Iraq, that it's basically out of control there, Lieberman could say only, "Well, we have to look at different things to do to help [violence] go down."
Like what, Joe?
"The United States and our allies the Brits, particulalry, ought to try to convene an international crisis conference on Iraq, bringing in the Europeans and particulalry the other Arab countries..."
An international crisis conference.
This is a deeply dumb idea. What would such a conference achieve? Does anyone think for a second that any other country is going to commit more troops to Iraq? Truth is, Colin Powell was right about our involvement in Iraq: You break it, you own it. Right now, the United States is like a big dumb kid who's picked up a rabid raccoon in his bare hands and doesn't know what to do with it. You loosen your grip, it bites you. You put it down, it bites you. And no one else is going to say, "Here, give it to me..."
Lieberman's other prescriptions for winning the war in Iraq? Fire Don Rumsfeld, which is about as bold a position these days as saying that you have a strong suspicion that Barry Bonds used steroids. "Put severe pressure on the Iraquis to contain the sectarian violence that is there." Yeah, because they just love that violence now—even when it kills their friends, family members and themselves!—and don't care about stopping it. "And then we've got to get the other Arab countries and hopefully some of the Europeans in with us to help to reconstruct Iraq." See above.
Would any of the inside-the-Beltway pundits who have so vociferously supported Lieberman—they all know him, after all—claim that these are the words of a serious and intellectually honest man? Or the desperate dissembling of a craven politician clinging to power?
Joe Lieberman has become a profoundly dishonorable man who is bringing shame to his party and staining what was once a credible record in politics. He may win this election battle, but he is losing the war for his own soul.
