LAT Op-Ed: Why the Left is Furious with Lieberman--Atrios

[UCLA Dem]

"SOME TIME AFTER having lunch in Iraq with the junior senator from Connecticut, Time magazine Baghdad bureau chief Michael Ware told an interviewer, "Either Sen. Lieberman is so divorced from reality that he's completely lost the plot, or he knows he's spinning a line."

<snip>

Many political observers have tried to paint the candidacy of Lieberman's challenger, Ned Lamont, as merely a referendum on the invasion of Iraq, which Lieberman supported. This newspaper's editorial board declared it "disturbing" that the senator has been "targeted for defeat by national fundraisers based on his foreign policy views." The reason for Lamont's popularity, explained the Washington Post's David Broder, "is simple: the war."

The war is certainly a reason — and given how events continue to devolve in Iraq, a perfectly sufficient one — but those who focus only on that miss the broader opposition to Lieberman and the kind of politics he represents.

For too long he has defined his image by distancing himself from other Democrats, cozying up to right-wing media figures and, at key moments, directing his criticisms at members of his own party instead of at the Republicans in power..."


http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-black18jul18,0,7362225.story?coll=la-news-comment-opinions

[babylonsister]

1. Good editorial; thanks for sharing. A DINO he's become. nt

[napi21]

2. Ys, good article. What the MSM is missing is that...

EVERY TIME there is a close vote in the Senate, no matter if it's on a judicial nominee, some tax bill, or the war, there are always a very few Dems we can NEVER depend on, and Liberman heads the list!

I think Joe started this mess he's in now when he was the only Dem I remember who was really slamming Clinton over the Monica issue! He's just gotten worse ever since!

It's NOT only the war. There are other Dems who to one degree oor another support the war, Joe is way beyond that! I think the Dems feel about him the way the Pubs feel about Chafee, Sheas, Snow etc.

[UCLA Dem]

4. His behavior is so strange. I just don't get it.

:shrug:

[Wetzelbill]

5. yeah

It isn't that he isn't "librul"enough or that people on the Left just hate the guy because we are so consumed with Bush hatred etc. I don't hate Bush and I don't hate Lieberman. I just don't like their policies etc. And, Lieberman in particular goes out of his way to undermine his own party. He doesn't fight on princliple,what he's doing is caving in to the status quo and being an apologist for immoral actions. Wanting a better representative isn't hate, it's simply what is right. Voters in CT seem to get that, and the progressives in the Dem party get it too. It's hardly irrational. But I definitely agree with you.

[Wetzelbill]

3. for me, it's not just that he has supported Bush regarding the war...

what it is, is there are viable reasons to consider that one, this administration lied to get into an unnecessary war, and two, that because of Bush's foreign policy, which includes the Iraq War, the so-called War on Terror, and a complete disengagement from serious problems in the Middle East and Asia, our country's security has become more imperiled than it was before 9-11. Lieberman refuses to acknowledge any of this stuff, in fact, he condescendingly dismisses it all. Moreover, this administration is busting our country economically, mortgaging our security to China, and undoing decades worth of environmental protection legislation, while ignoring pending problems with entitlements. Lord knows the guy isn't concerned with electoral fraud!Lieberman does not seem concerned with any of this stuff. He would rather undermine the Democratic Party and the people of our country than to fight for something that is right. He's an embarrassment. And, I do not hate the guy or have any anger towards him, either. He is just flat-out an embarrassment and wrong on myriad issues. It isn't just one thing, it's a whole bunch.