On August 8 of this year Joe Lieberman asserted "The situation in Iraq is a lot better than it was a year ago" (he also said this in 2005). This is flatly contradicted by the NIE report (also here) and other sources out of Iraq and seems to be a willful untruth from a Senator who is either severely deluded or constitutionally dishonest. Or both.
But what's most troubling to me is the Senator's lack of accountability. I was in Connecticut recently and I interviewed then Lieberman spokesman Dan Gerstein. When I brought up the disaster that we'd seen unfold in Iraq and Lieberman's roll in that disaster I was repeatedly told, "It's not about placing blame. It's about what we're going to do now." But accountability is important and it is about placing blame. The people that took us into Iraq did so under false pretenses and as Eisenhower said during the dark days of the Korean War, "The administration that created this disaster is not the administration that's going to repair it."
So when 2007 comes and we're not doing better in Iraq and then 2008, then what? Do we just continue to "look forward" ignoring the mistakes we're making along the way? If there's no accountability what's to stop people like Joe Lieberman from selling us this crap time and again.
And it's here that Joe Lieberman most resembles the Republicans he's been providing cover for since 2001, most recently by spreading his great coat over a puddle for his pal Dennis Hastert. As the Mark Foley scandal unfolds what we're seeing more than anything else is a constitutional inability to accept responsibility for anything. Republican Whip John Boehner says he told Dennis Hastert about the problem, then denies that, then repeats his original assertion. Republican Representative Reynolds says, "I did what most of us would have done in the workplace. I heard something. I took it to my supervisor." As if he was a check-out clerk at Wal-Mart. Dennis Hastert denies in the face of a ton of evidence that he knew there was a Foley problem.
Then Hastert blames the Democrats, saying that other people knew about the situation and apparently kept it from the Republicans. A talking point echoed by Katharine Harris (who I met several months ago in Florida and let me tell you, she is a piece of work). It's also being echoed all over Fox News by the likes of Hannity and Brit Hume who also believe what Bill Clinton did consentually with a 22 year old adult was so much worse than Foley's predatory practices. So the basic Republican line is that despite being in the majority, despite all the people coming forward reporting that they told the Republican leadership about the situation, despite Foley being a Republican, the Republicans didn't know about it but the Democrats did. That's everything you need to know about the party that's supposed to keep you safe.
Lack of accountability is where Mark Foley links into Iraq and it's also where Joe Lieberman, who was not chosen to represent the Democrats of Connecticut for a reason, shows his true colors. Lack of accountability is why Donald Rumsfeld is still in office. An inability to look back, to correct their wrongs, is the hallmark of the Bush Administration. It's an administration Joe Lieberman has been covering for five years and this group, these people who don't want us to look back while they continue to distort the future, all have to go. And Joe Lieberman has to go with them.
See also David Sirota: Lieberman likely to switch.