Abandoning Bipartisanship
Two years ago, Joe Lieberman campaigned throughout Connecticut in attempt to convince Democratic primary voters that he was the true Democrat in the race and that I was "Republican-lite". He promised significant American troop reductions by the end of 2006 - and just enough voters believed him in November 2006 to earn him re-election.
This evening, at the Republican National Convention, Senator Lieberman will likely reprise Ronald Reagan by claiming that he has not left the Democratic Party, but that it has left him. He will likely claim that the Democratic Party has abandoned the strong foreign policy tradition of Truman, Kennedy, and Clinton. He may even cherry-pick a phrase or two that he commonly lifts from Kennedy's inaugural address - framing Kennedy's famous call to "pay any price and bear any burden" as a call to arms.
But the call in John F. Kennedy's inaugural speech was clear, and resonates even louder today as the trumpet summons us again - not as a call to bear arms, not as a call to battle, but as a call to bear the burden in the long struggle against the common enemies of mankind - tyranny, poverty, disease, and war itself.
Kennedy did not praise unilateral military excursions around the world, he praised the United Nations as "our last best hope in an age where the instruments of war have far outpaced the instruments of peace." Kennedy did not call for a military answer to every question, but for real statesmanship and leadership, warning that we must "never negotiate out of fear, but never fear to negotiate."
This is the Democratic tradition that Joe Lieberman is slamming the door on tonight. And this is the bipartisan foreign policy consensus that Lieberman, Bush, and McCain have all abandoned over the last eight years, with such disastrous consequences.
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Joe Lieberman and George Bush and John McCain have deserted the core bipartisan principles of American foreign policy that every president from Truman to Kennedy to Reagan and Bush's father understood. Strong alliances, a strong military, and forceful diplomacy helped us to win the Cold War and will help us to subdue the rogue nations which harbor terrorists wishing to do us harm today.
Five years after the unfurling of the Mission Accomplished banner - five years and a trillion dollars and tens of thousands of dead and wounded later - our military is stretched to the breaking point and Iran is resurgent. Yet Joe Lieberman will likely claim tonight that the surge has been a huge success and that the decision to invade Iraq was the correct one.
Some months ago, under the cloak of darkness and unannounced, Dick Cheney donned his flak jacket and flew a Black Hawk helicopter into the Green Zone in Baghdad. After a short briefing, he slipped out the same way he came in, and announced from Jordan that the surge was a success.
About the same time, Iranian bad boy Mahmoud Ahmadinejad - richer than ever thanks to a tripling of oil prices - flew into Baghdad in the middle of the day and was literally welcomed with flowers and marching bands at the airport. Once there, he did not hunker down in the Green Zone, but was rather greeted by his new ally Iraqi Prime Minister Al Maliki and the Iraqi cabinet. At the first of four press conferences, he saluted the brotherly ties between Iran and Iraq, denounced America as Al Maliki stood by, and then enjoyed a peaceful rest in one of Saddam Hussein's palaces. Not one shot was fired or one IED exploded in Baghdad during his stay.
Yes, there is less violence in Iraq today, but the reasons are complex. Our troops have made a difference, the bad guys have moved on to Afghanistan, Iran has brokered a wait and see peace, and most importantly, the Iraqis themselves have stood up.
Now is the time for us to start standing down and let the Iraqis to take control of their own destiny. We need to stop giving their historical enemies, the Iranians, a pretext to make mischief in that region.
And now is the time for America to be itself again.
Two hundred and fifty years ago, Alexis de Tocqueville said that America is not good because it is great, but rather, it is great because it is good.
America the good represented a symbol of hope for peoples around the world who wrote constitutions and promoted democracy, who named their major boulevards after Roosevelt and Kennedy - to be like America.
We weren't greeted as liberators when we marched into Baghdad, but that is just how President Eisenhower was greeted on his first Presidential visit to Berlin. Tens of thousands roared when President Kennedy rallied the world with the words: "Ich Bin Ein Berliner." Tens of thousands more turned out to cheer when Ronald Reagan stood in the same place and said "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall," and soon saw the Berlin Wall come tumbling down without a shot being fired.
And last month, tens of thousands again turned out in Berlin as Barack Obama followed in the footsteps of Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Reagan.
That's how America starts winning again.
This week, as you hear John McCain and Joe Lieberman talk about their "bipartisanship," remember the bipartisan foreign policy tradition which they have cast aside with such disastrous consequences to our nation's reputation and security.
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The question that I have been asking is HOW IS LIEBERMAN STILL ALLOWED TO SAY HE IS A DEMOCRAT? Why has he not been kicked out, or had his Dem. card revoked? He had his poor little feelings hurt when he lost the primary, and then showed his true colors by engaging in Rovian politics to win the general. After Bush, oops I mean McCain loses in November what will Lieberman do then? I bet he comes out and says he has always been a Green Party member at heart. Talk about flip floppers. Joe Lieberman is a disgrace.
Joe Lieberman abandoned bipartisanship when he ran his campaign of lies against Ned Lamont. He was a terrible candidate for VP, is a failure as a senator, and should declare his membership in the GOP.
Ned -- I am a New Yorker, but I will support you! Run, Ned, run!
Joe Lieberman's early excerpts of his speech tonight disengenously identify himself as a -- Democrat, when he is really an Independent. He LOST the Democratic Primary in CT and ran as an Indepent -- and won.
I have heard him running w/John McCain these last couple of months making the case he is a Democrat -- which is a LIE.
The Democratic Party should not allow Joe Lieberman to disrespect the Party Caucus and Democratic voters -- by confusing them he is the SAME man they voted for 2000 -- or, LIE about his Party affiliation to boost John McCain.
Clearly, it was his intent to further slap Democrats by running as John McCain's VP Candidate -- as a DEMOCRAT. This seems to have been and remains his strategy.
Disgraceful.
What some fail to argue is that an American President who is popular overseas has a valuable tool that is in the best interests of America. PumaAnn thinks it is about ego; It isn't.
Lieberman was John McCain's first pick for VP. He scares me almost as much as McCain does. They are both war mongers who believe military might is the only way to settle differences. Imagine McCain picking Lieberman as his Secretary of Defense!
Ned Lamont is correct the surge is complicated. The 'surge' worked is really beside the point when you consider the US ethnically cleansed Iraq's neighbourhoods. Partitions separate the Sunnis and Shiites now. The surge worked if you consider paying Sunni militants not to attack US forces. The surge worked if you consider that the Iraq society has been destroyed as well as their country.
Lieberman believes like McCain attacking Iran will protect Israel. It won't! Israel and the US will be scorned even more than we already are, if that is possible. Attacking Iran will de-stabilize the region. It would be irresponsible and foolish to bring war to fruition to end up in a complete and utter disaster.
Obama is not just popular with the people he is well-liked and respected by world leaders. Diplomacy is the path to success. In contrast Lieberman, Bush, Cheney and McCain's belief in unilateralism is the path to defeat.
And finally McCain is planning on destroying the UN. How smart would that be!
It is just like the narcissist and traitor Joe Lieberman is - and, it seems, always was -- to blame millions and millions of Democrats for having "left him" - to justify HIS conduct over the last six years.
WE are wrong. He, singularly -- is right -- out of the entire Party, millions and millions of voters, the initial vote AGAINST him in CT before he refused to back down and chose to run Independnt, etc.
Like Bush, Cheney, McCain, etc. -- Joe Lieberman believes the voters are there to SERVE HIM, not the other way around. It is that zeitgeist that has got to change.
No - Joe. You are on the wrong side of history, the American majority and -- NO - no matter how much you stomp your foot because we won't collectively SERVE YOU or vote against our Party and interests FOR YOU -- we will do what is best for Americans as we see fit.
This is a DEMOCRACY, not a monarchy or dictatorship. Don't take the fact we are a Republic with Senators too much to heart. This isn't ROME.
Bravo, Ned, well written. Run for office again, and I am certain that the people of Connecticut will not let us down. You will be elected to the Senate, and you will be a far greater senator for Connecticut than Mr. Lieberman.
I ditto teacheng, I voted for Ned Lamont and hope I can again. For Mr. Lieberman, who supposedly speaks for me (NOT!) to tell the public that Obama does not put his country first was all I needed to hear to know where he stands.
Ned, I guess we all learned during the 2006 campaign that Lieberman believes the ends justifies the means. His shameless lying and pandering was revolting. Shame on the CT democrats who fell for it!
We should be calling you Senator.
Ned,
We in CT bemoan Lieberman's craven political party sleight-of-hand when you ran against him. We're still left wondering 'what if Lieberman hadn't run on a fraudulent party and gotten republicans to vote for him?' The whole thing is just so sad ....
Lamont for Senate, 2012!
Ned
Don't leave and keep fighting.
I don't think Lieberman could be elected dog catcher next time. He out and out lied to the voters and one can only wonder at those who supported him and what they think now.
Maybe a poll asking CT voters if they are happy with Tailgunner Joe now?
Keep up the good fight Ned. I supported you all the way from California.
Each and every democrat who crossed over and voted against Ned in the last election should be ashamed. Thanks to you--and our razor-thin majority in the Senate--we must now kowtow to this awful, embarrassment of a man: Joe Lieberman. President Obama's first order of business should be a public banishment of Joe from our party.
I did not vote for Joe only because I am not from his state. I did follow and support Joe and "NO way am I ASHAMED". What happened to the party of John Kennedy and FDR? Heck, I had to hold my nose just to vote for Hillary. I keep hearing the same old crap during every election. All these social programs with promises of tax cuts for the poor and for the middle class. I'm 50 years old, and every time I hear "tax the rich", I know I'm fixing to get screwed. I ain't rich! I am a lower middle class working guy living pay day to pay day. I put a little money away for when I retire, because I know there will not be much social security left in fifteen years, and I do not want my son or my grandson to pay for me. What happened to "Don't ask what your country can do for you, Ask what you can do for your country". Did not care for McCain, but I liked him far more than Obama. I really like this lady from Alaska. She di not promise me anything Friday. I liked that! I don't want nothing from the government. Just want to be left alone!!!
"President Obama's first order of business should be a public banishment of Joe from our party"
Sounds to me like something reserved for Putin . . . tolerance and diversity of the Democrats is starting to show.
A brief review of UnbiasView's commentary history may show you that this individual is anything but Unbiased. But please draw your own conclusion.
Uh, no. Joe left the party on his own. Also, just look at the diversity of the RNC in comparison to the DNC - use your "unbiased" lenses.
I wonder if any Democrats in Connecticut foolish enough to vote for Lieberman have any remorse? That was such an obvious bad vote. What were they thinking?
Now, it is up to the Democratic Senate leadership to send Lieberman packing. I wonder if they have the stones to do it. They sure haven't shown any in decades.
The GOP has little use for Sen. Lieberman. This is shown by the hostility that the party had of the proposition of the senator becoming McCain's running mate. He is now a man without a party. As soon as the Democrats have the votes, he'll be in No Man's Land.
Joe's adolescent-like rage that the Connecticut Dem primary voter dare question his right to be in the Senate showed us a lot about the man that we didn't know even during the primary.
Barack Obama openly supported Joe Lieberman in the CT primary and when Joe lost the primary , Joe was upset that Democrats supported a Democrat for the general election. Go figure. While Ned Lamont didn't hold a grudge against Sen. Obama and is actively supporting him. This says a lot about both men.
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