I'm talking to you, Jonathan Alter.
I'm talking to you, John Fund. I know you're a die hard right-wing apologist, John, but I'm talking to you anyway.
I'm talking to ANY traditional media pundit out there who continues to insist that the "radical anti-war left" is going to harm the Democratic Party and give us a repeat of 1968.
Right now, I'm am going to explain to ALL OF YOU--once and for all--why we're getting rid of Joe Lieberman. And then you can take it to Kinko's™, pack it, print it and ship it, before you do any more harm to America and the Democratic Party. Except in your case, John Fund. You'll try to harm the party anyway, but at least you can stop lying.
Allow me to spell this out in no uncertain terms, once and for all.
The biggest problem with Lieberman ISN'T that he supports the war. Yeah, that's a huge problem which puts him at odds with just about the entire rest of his party. Liberal, moderate, centrist--you name it. Supporting the war in Iraq isn't very popular. Hell, it's not even very popular among Republicans either. But despite being out of touch with mainstream America on the issue of the Iraq occupation, that's not his biggest problem.
No, his biggest problem actually has to do with his relationship with YOU GUYS. Yeah, you. All you talking heads, both in media and print. I don't know how many times we can say it--so I'll say it again, and I'll hope it sticks this time:
Every single time that sanctimonious egomaniac comes on one of your shows and says that everything is going fine in Iraq; every single time he says that we have to trust Bush on national security; every single time he says that Democrats are weak on national security--EVERY SINGLE TIME HE REINFORCES THAT REPUBLICAN TALKING POINT, HE HARMS NOT ONLY THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY, HE HARMS AMERICA.
I'm sorry for the screaming. I really am. But you clearly haven't gotten the message yet. It's one thing to continue to support the occupation. It's another thing entirely to lie your ass off and fail to confront reality at every turn so you can consistently undermine your own party to promote your centrist credentials. It's about artificially giving the air of bi-partisan support to an agenda that the America public realizes is total crap.
It would be one thing if Joe supported the occupation but at least readily admitted, like nearly everyone else has, that things have gone seriously wrong. But he doesn't even do that. No, if you ask Joe, everything is going just fine.
And it's not just the war. You want a checklist? I'll give you a checklist.
1. He was the most willing to compromise on yet another wildly unpopular Bush scheme: social security privatization.
2. He supported government intervention in the case of Terri Schiavo.
3. He voted for cloture in the attempted filibuster of Justice Alito--the only vote that really mattered.
4. He has said that it should be just fine for hospitals not to dispense emergency contraception to rape victims "because they can drive to another hospital."
5. Lieberman supported the bankruptcy bill that trashed protections for the infirm and increased them for wealthy businessmen.
You want a laundry list? There. You have one. And it's not just the war. It's all those other ideological factors too. But like I said: Joementum has consistently put himself over the party, as reflected by his eager willingness to run as an independent should he lose the general election.
We're not supporting the primary challenge to Lieberman because we're on an ideological crusade. We actually have a pretty big tent. No, we're throwing Joe out because he continually sabotages the Democratic Party and fosters the continuance of destructive Republican policies.
We're not getting rid of Joe because of his collegiality; we're getting rid of Joe because of his servility.
We're getting rid of Joe so that Democrats everywhere will know that they can stand up and be proud of being a Democrat without Joe Lieberman casting aspersions on their moral fiber or their national security credentials.
We're getting rid of Joe Lieberman because we want our message to be heard without the interference of Joe Lieberman broadcasting to America that we have no message.
Get it yet? Good. If I see one more article from any of you about the "radical anti-war left bloggers", I'll probably come visit your offices personally to clarify the issue.
Except for you guys at the National Review. I understand why you support Lieberman. That's another reason we're getting rid of him.
***Help me talk to the pundits personally! Volunteer for the Crashing the States roadtrip/documentary project! We need bloggers and staffers to help coordinate our trip with the campaigns we're visiting. Check it out!***