Lieberman Invokes Godwin’s Law

Lieberman - libertarian rumorsJoe “Rove Lover” Lieberman made his first campaign appearance as candidate for the Connecticut for Lieberman party (“in Soviet Russia, the Democratic Party Connecticut works for you!”) today and immediately invoked Godwin’s Law. From the Boston Herald story:

U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman, in his first campaign appearance since launching his independent re-election campaign, likened terrorists to Nazis and called for Republicans and Democrats to work together to combat them.

Not at all shy of making political hay out of an averted tragedy that was all over the news, Lieberman asked,

“How the heck can we be in a battle in which we are fighting as Democrats and Republicans against each other when these terrorists certainly don’t distinguish based on party affiliation? They want to kill any and all of us.”

Gosh, I wonder if Senator Lieberman’s disdain for party affiliations has something to do with him having been rejected by the two major parties and forming his own party (so he could get a better ballot position) ? Sour grapes? Nah.

He moves on to question why Ned “The Netroots Millionaire” Lamont wants to strengthen terrorists:

“If we just pick up like Ned Lamont wants us to do, get out by a date certain, it will be taken as a tremendous victory by the same people who wanted to blow up these planes in this plot hatched in England. It will strengthen them and they will strike again.”

I haven’t seen a more clumsy attempt to connect an unrelated person to a terrorist plot than…let me see…Joe’s kissing partner‘s ham-handed attempt to connect Saddam Hussein with 9/11. With talking points like these, it sounds like Karl Rove’s already running his campaign.

For those who enjoy train wrecks, it might not be too late to support Libertarians for Lieberman.

posted Aug 10th, 2006 by nsarwark
  • Paul Pace

    He only lost by 4%. You act like his entire party has rejected him, and no one voted for him.

  • nemo

    Supposedly with 14,000 newly registered Democrats just before the election.
    If one factors this surge in enrollment into the margin of victory onto his side, it makes the previous 10% gap measured in previous actually pretty accurate.

  • nsarwark

    He only lost by 4%. You act like his entire party has rejected him, and no one voted for him.

    Umm, his party did reject him in the primary. For candidates who are not narcissist assholes, that’s the time to concede and rally around the person who won the primary.

    Joe got his 48% thanks to a large push by high-ranking Democrats including Bill Clinton. None of them will touch his campaign moving forward, so he has fewer tools for the general election.

    He’s pushing an issue that 60% of the country disagrees with him on (the War) and pounding the same “support me or terrorists will blow up your children” rhetoric that has Bush’s approval ratings at 35%. That’s fine for Bush, who doesn’t have to run for re-election, but it sucks for Joe who’s trying to get a do-over and beat the nominee of his former (as of two days ago) party.

  • nemo

    And actually, yes, going outside it does mean the party has to reject him – I mean, if it still wants to be a party. Otherwise, why have the elections at all. ‘Course, to really care that much, I’d have to be a democrat, or at least live in that state.

  • Paul Pace

    I’d say most Americans probably agree with his stance on Iraq, as do most of the members of his party, based on their voting records. His position is that to just get up and leave would be dangerous and irresponsible. Even the LP official withdrawal plan doesn’t do that.

    I think you’ll see that most Connecticutians agree with him too, as I believe he’ll win the general election.

    That said, I don’t endorse him or his position, but I certainly don’t enjoy all this schadenfreude.

  • nsarwark

    I’d say most Americans probably agree with his stance on Iraq, as do most of the members of his party, based on their voting records. His position is that to just get up and leave would be dangerous and irresponsible. Even the LP official withdrawal plan doesn’t do that.

    Find me a poll that shows the majority of Americans supporting the war in Iraq. It has less than 40% support in every poll I’ve seen for the past few months, and it’s not getting any more popular.

    I think you’ll see that most Connecticutians agree with him too, as I believe he’ll win the general election.

    For various reasons stated in this post and the previous one, I think your calculations are off. I was right about him losing to Lamont in the primary, we shall see if I’m right about him losing in the general.

    (cont.)

  • nsarwark

    That said, I don’t endorse him or his position, but I certainly don’t enjoy all this schadenfreude.

    When a guy tries to use an attempted terrorist plot in the UK to (1) attack the two-party system that he was an active participant in up until two days ago and (2) claim that somehow Ned Lamont is strengthening the terrorists is a low move by a political hack.

    Joe Lieberman is earning his criticism, and doing a damn fine job of it.

  • http://www.tom-hanna.org Tom Hanna

    Did you ever hear of not kicking a guy while he’s down?

  • Paul Pace

    Americans don’t support the war in Iraq, that’s right, but they have varying opinions about what to do about it. The majority that I’ve seen, while tired of the war and now believing we never should have gone over there, believe that we can’t just leave.

    I also found it odd that Democrats pulled support away from Lieberman so fast, while other dems like Clinton and Kerry continue to espouse the same opinions. It makes me feel like Liberman was targeted for some reason. Now I don’t like his positions. He’s pro-censorship, pro-war, pro-nanny state. But I have some compulsion to defend the undefended.

  • disinter

    Wow! I am surprised to see an anti-Arab racist post something negative about Israel’s $300,000 ally…

  • nsarwark

    Did you ever hear of not kicking a guy while he’s down?

    Yep. And as soon as Vinegar Joe stays down, I’ll stop kicking him. However, he’s trying to spin a loss into a victory and sour grapes into delicious wine. From his “concession” speech:

    Just before coming out to see you, I called Ned Lamont and congratulated him on his success today ”¦and let me tell you where I see where we are now. I am a sports fan, so I am going to use a sports comparison. As I see it, in this campaign we just finished the first half and the Lamont team is ahead. In the second half our team – Team Connecticut – is going to surge forward to victory. Look, I am of course disappointed by the results, but I am not discouraged.

    That sound “down” to you?

  • nsarwark

    Wow! I am surprised to see an anti-Arab racist post something negative about Israel’s $300,000 ally”¦

    Dear Mike,
    You have some sort of evidence to back up your insinuation that I’m an “anti-Arab racist,” or is this just unsupported name-calling and insult-spewing?

    Curious,
    Nick

  • http://knappster.blogspot.com Thomas L. Knapp

    Paul,

    You write:

    “I also found it odd that Democrats pulled support away from Lieberman so fast, while other dems like Clinton and Kerry continue to espouse the same opinions.”

    I’m not sure what you think was “fast” about it. Numerous big-name Democrats pulled out every stop to help Lieberman win the primary, for one reason and one reason only: He’s an incumbent Democrat. On Tuesday, Connecticut’s Democratic voters chose Lamont as their representative and preferred Senator instead. Now that that’s happened, those same big-name Democrats are going to support their party’s candidate, not an independent whom Connecticut’s Democratic voters did not choose.

    There are very few cases where a party or its prominent officials will support someone who’s running against their own candidate (the case of the GOP supporting David Duke’s opponent when he won a Republican primary comes to mind). Lamont isn’t David Duke, and he won the primary. End of story.

  • IanC

    Mr. Knapp … invest in apocalypse insurance.

    I agree with you completely here. :)

  • http://knappster.blogspot.com Thomas L. Knapp

    Ian,

    I hadn’t noticed that agreement between the two of us was that unusual ;-)

    Regards,
    Tom

  • http://www.titaniumgirl.blogspot.com elle

    Today has been a depressing day as far as news is concerned. It looks like travelers will have to undergo SERIOUS inconveniences due to evil police state. What’s next, will travelers be forced to have a rectal exam before boarding a plane? It sure seems to be heading in that direction.

    The news about Lieberman losing is the only thing that has brightened my day (for the past 48 hours). It’s nice to see someone who wants to bring the troops home become Senator.

    Even though Lamont is no libertarian – he IS anti-war. And I respect those who are anti-war.

  • Devious David

    It would be hard for Lamont to be worse or even as bad as Lieberman.

    The interesting thing to watch here is how the establishment handles it. I think Lieberman is going to the wolves now. Reason being is that this is a threat to business as usual. It could embolden people to demand lowered barriers to entry for third party candidates, not to mention vote for them!

    They are going to do everything possible to make sure Lamont is properly “integrated” into Congress and does what he’s supposed to. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Lieberman drop out of the race if he knows what’s good for him. There is too much at risk for Lieberman to succeed. Although, in worst-case damage control by the powers, he could be positioned as the “true alternative” ala Unity 08.

  • Steve Benton

    If anyone is still paying attention to this thread, here’s my 2 cents. The Lamont campaign should challenge Lieberman’s petitions. Let Lieberman find out what it’s really like to be a third party candidate.

  • Julian

    I disagree with Lieberman on most issues. I do agree with him on his position on Israel, Iran, Syria and Iraq.

    I believe this is the death knell for anyone supporting the war on terror and we will soon be out of Afghanistan and Iraq because the Democrats will surely win the House and Senate back and also the Executive Office in 2 years.

    It is going to be interesting to see how well isolationism will work against large numbers of people that are hell bent on killing us. We might as well give being quitters a chance. Let’s hide and do nothing and all the problems in the world will just go away as if by pure fkn magic. Nothing else is working.

    Rick Rajter

    The planes never hit the World Trade Center or the Pentagon. There were strategically placed explosives in the buildings and I believe it was orchestrated by Bush and Cheney and carried out by a bunch of aliens from some distant planet. How about that for buying in to your wild ass ideas.

  • nsarwark

    Julian,
    The War on Terror is not the same thing as the War in Iraq. It’s one of those lies that the Bush administration keeps repeating to get people to believe it.

    I have friends in Iraq right now and they’re seeing more terror, not less. Iraq is counterproductive to making this country more secure.

  • Julian

    Nicholas

    Lieberman got it right on the war on terror and he was completely humiliated by members of his party. There are no clear cut battle lines against our enemies.

    I believe the majority of Americans do not want to pursue any kind of action against even our known enemies and Lieberman understands this better than most.

    Again, I am with all of you now. I want total and complete disengagement and even want Israel dissolved. Those living there that want to come here should be allowed to come to the USA.

    I believe capitulating to the whole damn antiwar crowd and to our enemies is a smart move because I will be proved right when all of you will have to submit to Islam or die.

    It does not matter to me because of my age. I am not a coward as I have been hardened and am truly battle tested so I will refuse to submit and will die fighting. Most of you will not. I am right on this issue and you know it.

  • Julian

    Quit being politically correct about terrorists. This is a war of religions and cultures so let’s call a spade a spade. Lieberman understands this better than about anyone I have read or studied.

    I have changed my opinion about Iraq. We cannot force a foreign philosophy (democracy and liberty) on societies that do not believe in that philosophy. Take time to read the Koran and works by Muslim scholars past and present.

    Islam is a religion of submission and domination. To be a good Muslim, one must submit to Allah and his appointed earthly (totalitarian) leadership or face unspeakable consequences (torture, beheadings, disembowelment, fed to the pigs, etc.). Those that are infidels (anyone not a Muslim) must submit or die (except Jews, they must all die).

    Democracy will not work because the natural human craving for freedom and liberty must be suppressed to be a good Muslim as this is considered an Islamic sin. Therefore, it is impossible for democracy to be an option.

  • Julian

    The only option left for us and whomever are truly our allies is to shut down the methodology we have chosen to fight the war on terror. It is incorrect and will surely end in our own demise.

    If we are to be successful, we must capitulate to them and allow them to do what they want in the name of Islam. We need to stockpile every weapon available (any WMD) and means to deliver them. If we are again attacked or threatened, then we pull the trigger and kill millions of them to convince them we mean business and will coexist as long as they stay on their side of the street.

    Our history is short, less than 400 years if one considers the original exploration and colonization. Theirs is long, thousands of years where civilization began. They have patience and time on their side. We are a society of everything now and instant gratification. Any war more that two weeks for us is too much time. They are training their grandchildren to kill us and will train future generations.

  • Julian

    I am sure I have not persuaded anyone to rethink their positions or change their minds. Go have another cocktail, enjoy your air conditioned dwelling and all the food you can stuff down your fat faces. Play your video games, talk on the cell phones and get into your 10 MPG status vehicles. Smoke another joint and have random sex tonight.

    While you are playing and thumbing your nose and flipping your middle finger at the world, there are millions, if not billions of people that want you dead or converted to Islam.

    Many of you will read this, laugh your asses off as being a bunch of crap and continue your worthless lives grabbing and running with all you can take for the moment with no thought of the consequences or the future. Our enemies understand your thought patterns and behaviors but you have not even bothered to take the time to understand our true enemies. Without knowledge of them, you and your generation is doomed.

    Now you are thinking Julian is an idiot.

  • Julian

    Oops

    Should be – “you and your generation ARE doomed”

    Just remember there was a similar situation in history when Neville Chambers, PM of Britain during the 1930′s, ran back to England waving a piece of paper screaming we have peace in our lifetime. He said he had a deal with Hitler and the man could be trusted for his word not to attack England or declare war.

    Of course, none of you would do that or would you? Some of you are screaming for cease fires and want to negotiate with the enemy as “they can be trusted”. What Pablum history books did you read in high school and college? If you think I am intentionally trying to insult you, you are correct.

    How have you fallen for the “doctored” history, political science, sociology, and other liberal arts courses you took in school and swallowed the entire hook of lies?

    Think for yourselves and learn what is real. Most of the crap on the news is bullshit as well as the propaganda websites and bloggers.

  • http://www.mainstreamlibertarian.com Eric Dondero

    Latest on Lieberman: He has picked up major endorsements from Senator Salazar of Colorado, Fmr. Senator Bob Kerry of Nebraska and NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Plus, he’s ahead in the latest poll by 6 points. (Interestingly, Republican Schlessinger has dropped from 13 to 6, which has got to be the very worst news for Lamont).

    Kerry’s endorsement has gotten Lieberman into trouble with the Left. They are now accusing Lieberman of supporting abolishing Social Security due to Kerry’s longheld support of Privatization of the SS.

    Let’s see now, Lamonters are accusing Joe of supporting “Bush Tax Cuts, ending Affirmative Action, School Vouchers, and now Privatizing Social Security.”

    Call me dumb, but I always thought those were planks of the Libertarian Party??

  • http://www.mainstreamlibertarian.com Eric Dondero

    Julian, you are not alone. There’s a growing movement of libertarians who are scared to death of the threat of Islamo-Fascism.

    You should read Bruce Bawer’s new best-selling book “While the West Slept; The Rise of Radical Islam in Western Europe.”

    Bruce is a Gay man, former Liberal turned libertarian. He moved to the Netherlans 10 years ago and has seen first hand the increasing hatred and intolerance of Muslim Youth. And the efforts by Muslims across Europe to outlaw all forms of pornography, prostitution, marijuana, topless beaches, and all forms of alternative lifestyles.

    All this; and the American libertarian movement just sighs. They have no idea of the threat to our civil liberties from the Islamo-Fascists.

    Even 3 weeks after the crazed Muslim gunman in Seattle. And now the Muslim cell phone terrorists in Michigan and Ohio. Still, the American libertarian movement says “there’s no threat.”

    http://www.mainstreamlibertarian.com

  • http://www.mainstreamlibertarian.com Eric Dondero

    Julian, ever wonder why the American libertarian movement was so silent about the brutal murder of Dutch Documentary Film Artist Theo van Gogh? Or why the American libertarian movement said nothing about the Europe-wide protests against the Danish Cartoons of Muhammed. And now, why the American libertarian movement is completely silent about the banning of topless sunbathing in Paris so as not to offend Muslim sensibilities?

    You see, the Civil Liberties Agenda directly conflicts with the Foreign Policy Agenda of the Leftist Libertarian. And in that battle, the Foreign Policy Agenda wins out. The Leftist Libertarians despise George Bush so much, and hate Republicans so much and are so determined to see America lose this war so as to embarrass Bush and the Republicans, that they are willing to completely scrap the entire agenda of social tolerance.

  • Julian

    Eric Dondero

    I consider myself a libertarian in the sense that I have a burning desire to be free and have the smallest government possible. I believe that our freedoms have been compromised by our own big government at all levels. My philosophy is do your thing, I will do mine as long as you are not harming me or my family.

    That said, I am absolutely astounded that those that claim to be libertarians do not see a threat to libertarianism from the outside. If we do not survive, I believe libertarians will be on the top of the killing list of Muslim radicals because of our stand on freedoms and as you have pointed out, many that want drugs legalized including me.

    If so called believers in personal liberty could put themselves in their enemies shoes, who would they eliminate first? Purist libertarians would surely be on the top of the list. I hope they come around to understanding what is at stake but I have serious doubts this will occur.

  • Andy

    School vouchers are a Trojan Horse because they will lead to government control over private schools. The Bush Social Security “privitization” plan was a sham as well, as were the Bush “tax cuts” because spending went up and the dollar went down.

  • Andy

    Check out Lieberman’s rating on gun rights from Gun Owners Of America. Lieberman was given the lowest possible grade of ZERO!

    http://www.vote-smart.org/issue_rating_detail.php?sig_id=004054M

    I didn’t know that supporting gun grabbing socialists advanced the cause of liberty.

  • Andy

    Now check out Lieberman’s grades from the National Taxpayers Union. These grades are from 1992-2004. During this time period Lieberman “earned” two D’s and eleven F’s.

    http://www.ntu.org/main/components/ratescongress/details_all_years.php3?senate_id=21

    As I said above, I didn’t know that supporting gun grabbing socialists advanced the cause of liberty.

  • Andy

    It looks like Lieberman has something in common with radical Muslims – CENSORSHIP. Read about it here…

    http://www.aynrand.org/site/News2?JServSessionIdr005=1vgbegf6v1.app5a&page=NewsArticle&id=7468&news_iv_ctrl=1251

    Here’s more (be sure and scroll down to the part about censorship)…

    http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Joseph_I._Lieberman

    Libertarians for Lieberman?!?!?!?! I thought that libertarians were for FREE SPEECH.

  • http://www.mainstreamlibertarian.com Eric Dondero

    Julian,

    You are exactly right. In fact, European Libertarians have already been targetted. Read Bruce Bawer’s best selling new book, “While Europe Slept; How Radical Islam is destroying the West from Withing.” Bawer is a Liberal turned Libertarian Gay who has been harrassed by Muslim Youth in the Netherlands and Denmark.

    US Libertarians will no doubt be the first targetted when the Radical Muslims take over. How ironic that US Libertarians are so silent on the issue.

  • http://www.mainstreamlibertarian.com Eric Dondero

    I guess Andy believes it’s better to do Libertarian outreach at LP monthly supper club meetings than among Democrats or Republicans who might show an inkling to being open to our ideals.

    Ever wonder why the libertarian movement has never gotten out of the phone booth?

  • http://360.yahoo.com/pong_god Robert Mayer

    “European Libertarians have already been targetted.”

    Huh? You mean all twelve of them?

  • http://www.mainstreamlibertarian.com Eric Dondero

    Robert,

    Actually, there’s a great many Libertarians in the Netherlands all with the Pym Fortuyn Party. You may remember Pym Fortuyn was the Dutch Gay Politician who was murdered by a Muslim extremist.

  • Andy

    I’m all for doing Libertarian outreach to people who are outside libertarian circles. I do it almost everyday.

    Acting like Lieberman is a libertarian or is even semi-libertarian does NOTHING for the libertarian movement. All it does is confuse people.