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Jane Hamsher

Jane Hamsher

Posted: August 19, 2008 06:04 PM

Rush Limbaugh Fears Lieberman for VP -- And So Do I


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Joe Lieberman is being vetted as a Vice Presidential running mate for John McCain, and it seems to be an option that McCain is seriously considering.

Noted Duran Duran scholar Kathryn Jean Lopez says that Rush Limbaugh no likey:

If John McCain picks Joe Lieberman as his running mate, he would "snatch defeat from the jaws of victory," as radio talk-show king Rush Limbaugh put it in an e-mail last night.

Obviously, I have an elaborate nightmare where Joe Lieberman gets the VP nod, McCain wins, then dies -- and we're looking at a President Lieberman. At which point I and a  host of others bloggers who supported Ned Lamont wind up in Guantanamo Bay.

Now I may just be engaging in extraordinary cynicism here. But over the years, I've watched Arlen Specter set himself up as conscience of the Senate and rail against the administration's abuse of executive powers, at which point everyone invests him with the moral authority to adjudicate the situation and then he lets 'em off the hook. And I worry that Kathryn Jean and the Sacred Sperm Patrol are being likewise suckered.

Because despite railing against Lieberman on his Friday show, I have a feeling Rush can be swayed:

[Lieberman's] really gutsy, I think, because he's bucking his own party, he's standing up to his own party, standing up to Jack Murtha, standing up to the media, standing up to all the left out there and basically giving them the facts, and giving them reason and logic, and they don't want to hear it because they're invested in defeat. Lieberman is talking victory and these people don't connect with that. It's not in their lexicon.

Limbaugh also said that if the McCain was the nominee, it would "destroy the GOP," so we know that these things aren't set in stone.

Of course, Joe made NARAL and Planned Parenthood look like putzes last week by saying that he was "wrong" and Alito is a great judge, so it may not be a simple case of Rush jujitsu -- Holy Joe may be getting ready to meet him half way and see the light on choice. His past antics include telling rape victims to take a "short ride" to another hospital that provides emergency contraception if a Catholic hospital receiving public funds decides they don't want to offer it, so he's obviously willing to go all wobbly on choice when it suits him.

McCain announces his VP choice in Ohio the day after Obama's Invesco speech. My showbiz gene says he announces that his choice is Lieberman, the media goes bananas over the narrative of Joe being the Democratic candidate in 2000 and the Republican choice in 2008, and just as Obama puts the gloves on, McCain steals his bipartisan thunder. And more importantly, his convention bounce.

Yes he needs the fundies, but John McCain is a media creature and the temptation for all that hot monkey press love is just too juicy.

I sure hope this is just my dark thoughts getting the best of me.

Because I do not look good in orange.

Jane Hamsher blogs at firedoglake.com

Follow Jane Hamsher on Twitter: www.twitter.com/janehamsher

Joe Lieberman is being vetted as a Vice Presidential running mate for John McCain, and it seems to be an option that McCain is ...
Joe Lieberman is being vetted as a Vice Presidential running mate for John McCain, and it seems to be an option that McCain is ...
 
 
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05:10 PM on 08/22/2008
I know all publicity is good publicity, but I'm afraid McCain would spend the rest of the campaign season attempting to defend a Lieberman pick. That doesn't leave much time to try to go after Obama, or whoever he picks for VP. I can't even imagine what would happen in the debates, I mean, what if they do ask him about pro-choice/pro-life issues. I hope he does pick him, but I think he would have to be fairly crazy to do that, especially now that he's finally gaining some momentum.
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RRoadrunner
Living in a 'Pro-ignorant culture'
03:25 PM on 08/22/2008
Lieberman does not need to be "vetted", he needs to be "booted" out of the Democratic Party
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Richard Silverstein
02:32 PM on 08/22/2008
Read Gail Collins take on this:

Lieberman and the two headed turtle
http://www.richardsilverstein.com/tikun_olam/2008/08/21/joe-lieberman-and-the-two-headed-turtle/
01:25 PM on 08/22/2008
The Democrats got stuck with Lieberman as a v.p. candidate with Gore. It's only fair that the Republican's get their turn with him. Good luck with that, Repugs.
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stepintothelight
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
12:05 PM on 08/22/2008
It won't be Joe .... These confused racist will accept O before they would the Senator from TelAviv. Sorry to be so blunt but it is a matter of degrees of hatred. Who does America hate more ... Blacks ... J E w s ... or the future!!!

Choose one or the other ...
Trust me ... the rethugs know that their r a s c i s t base would run screaming!!!
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Kwaayesnama
10:47 AM on 08/22/2008
Joe Lieberman is running for Secretary Of State in the republican ticket.
This way he will be able to protect Israel.
07:53 AM on 08/22/2008
Hah. Limbaugh was saying in January that if McCain got the nomination, it would "destroy the GOP".

It'd be fun to see Lieberman get the VP spot just to see Limbaugh reverse himself yet again.
01:21 AM on 08/22/2008
Lieberman is despised by Democrats who see him as a traitor, and he is tolerated but despised by the republicans, who with good reason don't trust him. If McCain picks him, he will truly show that he has lost his political mind. Usually the VP is really secondary in importance to getting the president elected. If Joe becomes McCain's VP this will essentially be the kiss of death for McCain's shot at the presidency.
11:22 AM on 08/22/2008
Oh, no it won't be the kiss of death for McCain. It wili be a vivifier with all the money in the world thrown into the campaign, total media support which the powers behind AIPAC will throw in, for there is a good possibility that McCain will not live through the term, and President Lieberman will knot up the Middle East for good, and we will be on our way to the neo-cons' end of the world scene, and God will intervene in the last show down as He did with the Red Sea, so they think. What a travesty this will be for all Americans if this Israeli firster becomes VP!
10:39 PM on 08/21/2008
I am a conservative and I won't be voting for the white guy or the Jew.

Go Ombama...
06:35 AM on 08/22/2008
A lot of 'disgruntles' moving out of the neighborhood also.
11:59 PM on 08/24/2008
I'm A Democrat However I could never vote for Obama or Biden. I will have to vote the lesser of the Evils and go with McCain. I would rather not vote for either of them because neither is the best choice to run our country, However I do not trust the fast smooth talking Obama. He is kind of like the Vacuum Cleaner sales guy that comes to your house. If you are not careful you will get sucked in by his BS and be the owner of a $2500 machine you don't need. Well the same with Obama but who knows what we will get sucked in if he is Prez. Not Happy about it and going against my party but Go Mccain!
07:37 PM on 08/21/2008
Lieberman as GOP Veep candidate? Go ahead...make my day.
09:36 AM on 08/21/2008
Destruction of the GOP:

Step one: nominate McCain - 'There goes the neighborhood!'

Step two: select Joe Lieberman as VP - 'The neighborhood is now totally ruined!'

This sounds like a plan, except a lot of people will be moving into that neighborhood.
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Kwaayesnama
09:44 PM on 08/20/2008
I think Joe Lieberman is running for Secretary Of State on the Republican ticket.
I Think Joe Lieberman is supporting John McCain because Israelis want to wipe Palestine off the map? The next place we will be sending our military to fight and die will be Israel.
And since McCain depends on Joe to keep things straight for him he will do whatever Lieberman tells him to do.
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10:24 PM on 08/20/2008
I have to believe that Joe realizes this is his last term in the Senate. The people of Conn. will not reelect him again, not after he pulled his little "Zell Miller" act. I would be really surprised if McC didn't promise Lieb a place in his cabinet prior to the start of his campaign.
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09:51 AM on 08/22/2008
I agree re/ HoJo's becoming Secretary of State. He could do far more damage there than as Veep. But we wouldn't be fighting in Israel, but in Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, and Jordan.
09:23 PM on 08/20/2008
This is the okeedoke. They want Lieberman and this is why:

I think that I have figured out John McCain's strategy to defeat Obama. John McCain has been touting the nation's Judeo-Christian values a lot lately. He's going to select Joe Lieberman in an effort to paint Obama as a Muslim v. the Jew and the Christian. This appeal will likely win Florida for McCain and it will also likely prop up the Christian right.
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10:18 AM on 08/21/2008
Proof the Conservative right has no real principles will be they will all in the end vote for McCain, even though they knowing he doesn't like them, and they don't like or trust him. Double proof will be if Joe Lieberman is McCains VP pick and they go out and vote for McCain.

Rather then stay home and remain true to their beliefs, or vote for a better candidate, they will vote for McCain, even knowing McCain has a lifetime of history of lying when it is convenient for his purposes. He changes his "principles" in a heartbeat.

"Maverick" can sound like a desirable trait, but the truth is..."Maverick" can be just another word for being unreliable, contrary, inconsistant, self promoting self interests...when it suits him.

McCain has lied his whole life to cover up wrongs. It's a pattern. Adultry, Keating Five, Confederate Flag position, Bush tax cuts, getting a marriage licence to marry Cindy before he was even divorced from his cripple wife Carol...on and on...to as recently as in this campaign...and even in a CHURCH to a MINISTER at the Saddleback Forum about being in a 'Cone of Silence"
It will be interesting to watch the Religious Right overlook this "sin" and flock to the voting booth to vote for who they know to be a panderer for their votes.

In McCain's own book he admitted that in 2000 he only ran for President because of HIS OWN AMBITION, nothing more.
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10:49 AM on 08/21/2008
Conservatives who dislike McCain vote for him in the general election? Why would they do that? To put someone in office they disagree 30% of the time with compared to someone they disagree 99.9% of the time with...boy , they really must be mindless!

/sarc off
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craniguy
Texasian~Texan, made in Japan
09:04 PM on 08/20/2008
I wonder how long it will take Joe to start kissing some serious Democrat butt when/if McCain doesn’t pick him. How’s that basement office working out Joe.
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PAposter
Radical Progressive
08:42 PM on 08/20/2008
He will choose Romney, period. He needs help with the Economy.
01:27 AM on 08/22/2008
At least there is some divine justice in that. They both hate each other and have to run together! I hope it works out that way!
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papasmif
Episcopalian style at Pentecostal prices
02:57 PM on 08/22/2008
Then he will lose. Southern Baptists will NEVER vote for a Mormon. Personally it does'nt bother me, but having grown up there I know what i'm talking about.