Here is my question. Are we just sheep who blindly support the Democratic party or are we true progressives and liberals with brains of our own? I ask this question in light of the Joe Lieberman saga played out right before our very eyes. The fact that today it is looking increasingly like our Senate Democrats will allow Joe Lieberman to keep his chairmanship of the Homeland Security committee over the objections of the overwhelming majority of the netroots should be sounding a clarion call amongst us. But I have found over the last week a lot of talk about not cutting off our nose to spite our face. Is that what we have really come to? And if so how are we any better than Wing Nuts?
Update: For all concern trolls how do you feel now that you waited to hear for sure that the Democrats have no spine and are a bunch of cowards and you got to see and hear it from Joe Lieberman's own mouth? Now what do you have to say?
Now let me say this off the bat, I am not advocating us switching parties or voting for Republicans. This isn't some PUMA moment which many people have been quick to try to label similar sentiments as. This is a moment of self reflection. If we commit to continuing to support Democratic Senatorial candidates financially and with our efforts after their evident dismissal of our concerns over Joe Lieberman what exactly will that say to them? Won't we be sending the EXACT SAME SIGNAL to the DSCC that we are decrying them sending to Joe Lieberman? They can ignore us and what we want and do whatever in the hell they want and we will just shrug and say, well we NEED them so as long as they give a heartfelt apology everything is forgiven. We are no better than Harry Reid if no form of significant protest comes out of this debacle. My personal protest is I will not be financially supporting any Democratic Senatorial Candidates in 2010. I will support Democrats in the House of Representatives and on the state level but the Senate Dems won't see a dime. Now I know some will say "but all of them aren't responsible." To that I say BULLSHIT! All any of them have to do is speak out forcibly and represent for all of us. But in fact the exact opposite has been happening. You see several Senators and columnists blatantly mocking the netroots in general and the dailykos in particular over this situation. And we are supposed to do NOTHING about this??? And then WE wonder why they don't take us seriously. I mean hell if somebody was going to keep sending me checks no matter what I did I would for damn sure keep doing whatever I wanted to too.
There is a book that I am fond of entitled "Black Lies, White Lies" by Tony Brown. The thing about this book that rings so true to me is that because african americans are so reliably Democratic voters there is a propensity to take their votes for granted. In that way the book makes the case that Bill Clinton campaigned in 1992 making almost no promises to help black people because he knew he would get their votes anyway and he could still be seen as not pandering to them. Now I don't necessarily agree that Bill Clinton used that as a strategy or tactic but if he had sadly it would have worked. As an African American I know that there simply won't be a time any time soon where you will see a majority of black folks voting Republican. But the case was made in this book that really that isn't a good thing for us. Because just like any other "special interest group" if our votes aren't seen as up for grabs, its likely that our needs will never truly be addressed. They will just smile at us and shake our hands and keep looking over us after they get elected because they know in 2 more years or 4 more years or 6 more years we will still vote for them again. Now kos family this is where we find ourselves today. Many of us have pushed ourseleves to our physical and financial limits trying to help get Democrats in congress elected along with Barack Obama. And on today they will repay us by smiling at us and shaking our hands all the while they ignore us and allow Lieberman to keep his chairmanship. Are we still going to be there for them 2 years from now or 4 years from now or 6 years from now? Because if we are then get used to the feeling you have today.
Now lets get the concern troll smack down out of the way before I go any further
- Barack Obama specifically said he would like Joe Lieberman to caucus with the Democrats he specifically WOULD NOT endorse Lieberman keeping his chairmanship. Keep in mind its Lieberman who has put the chairmanship as his requirement for caucusing with the Democrats. You can spin this any way you want to but ultimately Obama gave the Democrats all the cover they need to strip Lieberman and make HIM look like the asshole for leaving simply because he couldn't be a chairman. Guess who wins in the public relations realm in that situation. The Democrats do because average people know power hungry scum when they see it. And the truth is all Harry Reid would have to do is ask one question. "If he wants to caucus with the Democrats why is it conditioned on him keeping his chairmanship?"
- Joe Lieberman went the way of John McCain in the two years since he lost the primary and then ran as an independent. He is no longer a reliable vote for Democrats on domestic issues which some people will have you to believe. Thinkprogress did an EXCELLENT job debunking the myth of Lieberman that Harry Reid is trying to push. Joe Lieberman has been heaping disdain and disgust on the Democratic party the last 2 years for one reason and one reason only, he is bitter because he lost that primary and then some Dems backed the guy who won the primary instead of Lieberman.
- Joe Lieberman is NOT our 60th vote on key legislation. Keep in mind this is a guy who has campaigned with Republicans Susan Collins and Norm Coleman saying he "fears" for the country if the Democrats get a filibuster proof majority. Now do you REALLY think he is going to be the one to ensure that filibuster proof majority on issues like health care and alternative energy when he has said all along that Barack Obama's plans were bad for the country while John McCain's and the Republican party's plans were good for the country?? Give me a frikkin break. This is again a myth being pushed by Harry Reid.
- I saw a new strawman argument that by having Lieberman caucus with the Dems we get more seats on different committees and subcommittees. Now aside from the fact that again its not the Democrats who would be keeping Lieberman from caucusing with them, it would be him jumping ship because he didnt get to keep his chairmanship, this still is not a viable reason because if we already have the majority on every committee and subcomittee what is one more seat going to accomplish? Absolutely nothing
Now I could go on and on all day but the truth is because the writing seems to be on the wall that once again Harry Reid and his cronies are going to bend over and let Lieberman have his way with them, the time for making the case against Lieberman has passed. The time to talk about how WE decide to mete out punishment is now at hand. I want all of us to think about the time and effort and money we put into trying to get Al Franken elected in Minnesota. Remember how much we sacrificed to try to get the Senate up to 60 Democrats. Then think about how hard Lieberman worked AGAINST us and how his efforts may have helped earn Norm Coleman a very close victory. That is the guy who will be chairing the Homeland Security committee thanks to the rest of the Democratic senators. Again every single person who is pissed about Lieberman keeping that chairmanship needs to ask themselves, are we any better than the Democratic senators? Because if we keep blindly supporting them financially and with our efforts after they blatantly dismiss our legitimate concerns the answer to that question is NO we are not.
Here are more nails in what should have been Lieberman's chairmanship coffin
http://firedoglake.com/...
http://blogs.courant.com/...
http://www.youtube.com/...
http://www.salon.com/...