Joe Lieberman's post-election talking points, which I guess were put together by Lieberman communications man and dishonest dunderhead Dan Gerstein, are that he will bring "unity" to Washington and lead us towards "bipartisanship." This of course begs the question, what will he do to bring people together now that he hasn't done in 18 years, you know, besides uniting us all in grief over his sponsorship and continued support of an America-weakening war and assaulting Connecticut's middle class through supporting corporate giveaways like the Bush energy bill and CAFTA?
But if you want a real view into Joe Lieberman's kind of bipartisanship, take a look at his mouthpiece, Lanny Davis. Lanny worked as a Special Counsel to President Bill Clinton and now lawyers for corporate interests and is a Bush appointee, serving on the five-member Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (and as the Decider would say, he's doing a heckuva job there, what with our "privacy" and "civil liberties" being so closely guarded these days). He was friends with Clinton, fraternity brother to Bush. What the hell does he really stand for? I don't know, can you figure it out by looking at that bio?
In any case, the most laughable part of his recent spate of media appearances are his attacks on the "left" and in particular "blogs" to smear Ned Lamont by association, using random comments on specific blogs to try and equate a few powerless kooks with Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh and their ilk. Because commenters on Daily Kos certainly have an equal influence on the left to that of Limbaugh on the right. You did pass the bar, right Lanny?
Well it turns out Lanny has also been trying to plug his ridiculous new book with many of these appearances. So I decided to go to Amazon and take a look at reviews of his book, Scandal: How 'Gotcha' Politics Is Destroying America. And what I found would be funny if it weren't so sad.
Here is the list of progressives and "uniters" Lanny got blurbs from about his book, as listed at Amazon:
1) Lindsey Graham - Yes the current GOP Senator and former House Impeachment Manager of the hyperpartisan effort to oust President Clinton is exactly the sort of person who doesn't practice "gotcha politics." Good choice there. Says a lot about your judgement.
2) Michael Medved - All around idiot and conservative shill, who thinks it is just peachy for Mel Gibson to use anti-Semitic slurs and refers to himself as a "cultural crusader." Solid uniter.
3) Richard Viguerie - Solid cultural conservative of the gay-marriage amendment and abortion-ban variety. (although I must admit I have spoken with him and like him personally, even though I would fight his agenda with every ounce of my being--Does that still make me a hysterical, partisan blogger Lanny?).
4) Joseph DiGenova - Complete right-wing hack masquerading as an objective commentator. He thinks the Valerie Plame incident never should have been investigated. That makes me want to work with him.
5) Al From - Founder of the DLC, who like Lanny enjoys going to the pages of The Wall Street Journal to attack progressives.
6) Joe Lieberman - Yup, shockingly, former DLC Chairman and Mr. "my primary opponent dines with bin Laden" himself.
7) Alan Dershowitz - A good progressive on some issues, but Tony Blankely agrees with his views on preemption- not usually a good sign.
8) Evan Bayh - Current DLC Chairman, yet has agreed to support the Democrat in Connecticut, Lamont.
9) Bill Richardson - Generally a very solid progressive.
So if you're scoring at home, do the math. Not only are the majority listed here traditional conservatives or Neoconservatives, but having Graham, DiGenova, Medved and From endorse a book that decries division is like putting George W. Bush on a Reading is Fundamental advertisement. No wonder Lieberman likes the book, as he apparently has the same understanding of bipartisanship and unity as does his chief surrogate, Lanny Davis.