Joe Lieberman was on Tucker Carlson on MSNBC about an hour ago, and Lieberman closed with a sentence that sent chills down my spine:
If John McCain wins Florida tonight, I'm sure that he will get the nomination, and if he gets the nomination, I'm sure that he will be elected.
Now maybe my tinfoil hat is fitted just a bit too tightly today, but to me, Lieberman seemed to say this with an air of "I know something that you all don't know." And while this is a thought that seems too repulsive to comprehend, maybe this is a consideration that ought to be capturing the attention and energy of progressive Democrats everywhere:
Could we be facing a scenario that could actually give us a President Joe Lieberman?
Here's the scenario:
- John McCain wins the Republican nomination.
- McCain chooses Joe Lieberman as his pick for Vice-President.
- The American public is summarily duped into thinking that this is some sort of an actual "unity" ticket, and McCain-Lieberman beats Clinton-whomever in the general election.
- And suddenly, in January 2009, Joe Lieberman sits a heartbeat away from a President who will be age 72 on the first day and 76 on the last day of his first term, and who has been treated three times for skin cancer.
So there you have it: the possibility of a President Joe Lieberman.
Lieberman's comments today left me with the chilling sense that a deal may have already been cut between McCain and Lieberman. I am suddenly beginning to believe that the possibility that McCain would select Lieberman to be "a heartbeat away" on a bogus "unity ticket" is very real.
Last week on this blog, Meteor Blades posted a poll that asked the question, "If your No. 1 and No. 2 choices were to fail to get the Democratic nomination for president, would you vote for John McCain?" Among a total of 18468 votes, a total of 1165 voted "yes" and 1033 votes "maybe." Now of course this poll (and every poll on DK) can be influenced to some extent by Freeperville lurkers, but it's probably fair to assume that some legitimate Kossacks may have voted yes as well.
And yesterday at MyDD, in a blog called "The Upside of McCain," Todd Beeton argues that a McCain nomination might have the positive effect of forcing the Democratic nominee to run to the left:
But with McCain, like him or not, it's hard to deny that he actually shares some of our values...
For example, on global warming, McCain is actually quite sane, acknowledging its existence and even placing the blame on human behavior (sadly, a rare thing for a Republican) but his solution is more nuclear power. In a fight against McCain, our nominee would be forced to take a stronger stance not only against nuclear power but also perhaps to go further than a cap and trade system, which McCain also favors, to get tougher on capping emissions.
I submit that it's dangerous to suggest that McCain for even a moment shares anything like progressive values. The prospect - even if a remote - of a McCain-Lieberman ticket ought to dispel any progressive Democrat of the notion that a McCain Republican nomination could possibly be a preferred outcome.
Like most of us, I have Republican friends and family members, and for some time I have been thinking of trying to influence their votes as the Super Tuesday primaries near. The trouble with that, of course, had been deciding whom to recommend among the whole repulsive lot.
Suddenly, though, the possibility of a McCain-Lieberman ticket must make John McCain far and away the least acceptable Republican candidate. And so, if you have loved ones that vote Republican, I hope that you'll swallow hard and encourage them to vote for someone other than McCain. To whatever extent that we can influence this, every one of us should be putting all of our energy into stopping McCain in the primary.