MR. RUSSERT: Senator Lieberman, your Republican colleague from Connecticut in the House, Christopher Shays, had this to say. "This Republican Party of Lincoln has become a party of theocracy. ... There are going to be repercussions from this vote [on Schiavo's constitutional rights]. There are a number of people who feel that the government is getting involved in their personal lives in a way that scares them."
You agree with that?
SEN. JOSEPH LIEBERMAN, (D-CT): I don't. But that's a very credible and respectable opinion for Chris to take. See, I think--and Chris was there on the floor of the House, so maybe he heard in the debate some things that I didn't hear following it from a distance. The fact is that, though I know a lot of people's attitude toward the Schiavo case and other matters is affected by their faith and their sense of what religion tells them about morality, ultimately as members of Congress, as judges, as members of the Florida state Legislature, this is a matter of law. And the law exists to express our values.
I have been saying this in speeches to students about why getting involved in government is so important, I always say the law is where we define the beginning of life and the end of life, and that's exactly what was going on here. And I think as a matter of law, if you go--particularly to the 14th Amendment, can't be denied due process, have your life or liberty taken without due process of law, that though the Congress' involvement here was awkward, unconventional, it was justified to give this woman, more than her parents or husband, the opportunity for one more chance before her life was terminated by an act which was sanctioned by a court, by the state.
These are very difficult decisions, but--of course, if you ask me what I would do if I was the Florida Legislature or any state legislature, I'd say that if somebody doesn't have a living will and the next of kin disagree on whether the person should be kept alive or that is whether food and water should be taken away and her life ended that really the benefit of the doubt ought to be given to life. And the family member who wants to sustain her life ought to have that right because the judge really doesn't know, though he heard the facts, one judge, what Terri Schiavo wanted. He made a best guess based on the evidence before him. That's not enough when you're talking about aggressively removing food and water to end someone's life.
MR. RUSSERT: You would have kept the tube in?
SEN. LIEBERMAN: I would have kept the tube in.
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For good measure and to prove that Joe forgot the REAL reason people from Europe traveled to this country was the Tyranny of the religion of the majority (remember why the puritans came to these shores Joe?)
Joe's later remarks even used some of his favorite profits (W) words with an even sicker twist than W dares.
Lets go to the transcipt again;
SEN. LIEBERMAN: Later in the speech, I spoke from Corinthians and said that God calls on us to be guardians--we are called on to be guardians of the mysteries of God. And one of the great mysteries, obviously, is God's creation. Look, I want to say generally, very briefly, that the mix of God and government, of religion and politics, is quintessentially American, and it was there at the beginning. The fact is that in the first American document, the Declaration of Independence, the founders of our country said that they were forming the new government to secure the rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness that they saw as the endowment of our creator. So this government, this country was not neutral about God right at the outset. One, accepting that there is a creator, so our existence here is not accidental. And secondly, that as a result of the creation, we have an inherent unity. We are all equal. We have equal opportunity for those rights. We are a country based on a vision, a belief in creationism. And part of that is not only the humans, who were created on the sixth day, but the but the natural Earth.
You know, look, I believe based on what I just said, that America itself is a faith-based initiative. But I also believe that protecting creation should be a faith-inspired action. And I'm really pleased--I made those comments at a discussion with the National Association of Evangelicals, identified in the public mind most visibly with abortion and gay rights, against, but the evangelical community has also been very active, for instance, in fighting to have us do something about the tragedy in Darfur. And now we're getting involved in environmentalism, including fighting global warming.
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Anyone else notice the use of the word we're in that last sentence?
Lets move on to Joes final remarks where like any good republican Evangelical Joe gets in one more punch into the solarplexes to those pagan bastard,faith rejecting Democrats.
To the transcript one more time;
MR. RUSSERT: Senator Lieberman, lots of discussion post-2004 presidential election that the Democrats want to embrace the values issues and show the American people they, too, are a party of values and morals. How do they do that?
SEN. LIEBERMAN: Well, I hope that we do it sincerely, and not take it on as another political issue. I mean, the fact--or a political strategy. The fact is that Democrats that I know and love, the majority are very religious, they believe in God. It's their--but there came a point in the history of our party where too many Democrats for various reasons began to be shy about speaking of their faith and America's faith as a source of values and good works.
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If their were ever a man that deserved a second chance at the vice presidency it's Joe Lieberman and when John McCain gives him that chance I expect Ole' Joe will come a runnin'.
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