Senator Lieberman, I hope you or your moles read DailyKos, because I am about to give you an idea that can beat Ned Lamont. If so, this diary is a plea to you, sir.
My idea is a sure-fire way to demonstrate the moral strength of which you never tire of speaking, your independence, and your willingness to stand up for a bedrock principle that we on this side of the blogosphere are begging Democratic leaders to defend and fight for. To put it another way, apart from being the right thing to do, this is a way you can ju-jitsu Ned Lamont's insurgent campaign and reclaim the mantle of Democratic stalwart. To be blunt, this is a brilliant campaign ploy, to put it in terms your staff may best understand.
You, sir, should lead the fight against the so-called "compromise" torture legislation.
Imagine the impact this diary's headline would have on the campaign and Democratic politics if you were to become the liberals' champion on this issue.
The beauty of it is, you don't even have to oppose the legislation. You could still make all the right and comfortable noises about not undercutting the President in the GWOT. You can mouth those phrases in your sleep. But what you can do is speak up -- loudly and forcefully -- that the issues involved, the moral principles at stake, are simply too important for a snap decision made without full Congressional investigation and deliberation,
after the upcoming mid-term elections.
The Republic will not crumble if the President and the CIA have to wait another six weeks to know whether or not water-boarding, stress positions, sleep deprivation, slapping, sexual humiliation, the use of dogs and the rest will subject them to criminal liability.
Let the professionals in the FBI take over interrogations, using FBI-sanctioned methods, for the next six weeks.
When Congress returns from recess and has the time and energy to probe the meaning of this "compromise" and what it means in concrete terms, how it will affect (or not) our ability to collect critical intelligence, then, you can claim, you will be willing to support it. Until then, however, it would be immoral to make such weighty decisions without full and serious deliberation.
This is it, Senator Lieberman. We all know -- because you have incessantly told us -- how morally principled you are. This will prove it. You will take a stand for moral principle, even if it upsets McCain, Bush and the rest of your friends across the aisle. You will win back a significant number of disaffected Democrats who are yearning for the party to grow a spine on this issue. You will immediately put the Lamont campaign on the defensive -- what are they going to do, criticize you from the right for taking a stand Lamont himself surely supports? And the icing on the cake is, it's the right thing to do.
I eagerly await your announcement.