Yes, we can all wail about the partisan divide

And sure, it's easy to agree that primaries for Congressional seats tend to be dominated by small groups of activists, and that this can lead to outcomes like Senator Ted Cruz. This is the dark side of that Margaret Mead line.

But if your best supporting example is that in a state without a "sore loser" law, Joe Lieberman was nonetheless able to get reelected after losing in the primary . . .

Well, I will just say that your argument is unpersuasive, Mickey Edwards, and so here is a cat riding a Roomba, wearing a shark costume, chasing a duck.

(alt. video link)

The problem is not extremists getting elected, because of the primary process. The problem is Republican extremists getting elected, and that is something the GOP is going to have to figure out for itself. Meanwhile, as you do point out, you can hold up Christine O'Donnell as a counterexample to Ted Cruz -- come the general election, democracy sometimes works.

Also, points to you, sir, for this:

For one thing, the political “center” is not always the right place to be (it certainly wasn’t in the pursuit of civil rights and women’s rights, or on issues like slavery and child labor). Compassion toward candidates who find their political prospects cut short is also of little interest to me.

Line of the Day: 2012-12-15

TBogg on Joe Lieberman, a few days ago:

... that the people who knew him best and worked with him on a daily basis found other things to do and places to be when he was giving his farewell speech speaks volumes.

(previously)

STFU

Lieberman Regrets Being So Negative on Obama

If you must.

Never forget.

But remember, he's with us on everything except the war

Soon-to-be ex-Senator Joe Lieberman, pictured at left during an earlier tryst with some other IDiot, will be co-authoring a book with David Klinghoffer, a Senior Fellow at the Discovery Institute. Pallin' around with creationists now, eh, Joe?

Klinghoffer's other books include How Would God Vote?: Why the Bible Commands You to Be a Conservative, published in July 2008, which may or may not have had anything to do with Holy Joe's choices during that year's presidential campaign.

As Roy Edroso reminds us, Klinghoffer also pens the occasional anti-science screed for National Review. If you'll recall the goals of the Disco'tute, this will not surprise you.

Move over, "Applebee's Salad Bar!"

We know he was every Republican's favorite Democrat, but it's a little early to start on the revisionist history, don't you think, David Brooks?

... Lieberman played an important role in saving Bill Clinton from impeachment.

Sadly, as they say, no.

Not sure if DougJ DougJson was the first to catch this, but he was the first that I saw.

As of this posting, no correction appended. Let us hope this changes soon.

(? | ?)

[Update 2011-01-21 18:50] Still no correction. Much more importantly: Mr. Riley takes a longer, harder, better look.

[Update 2011-01-22 03:24] Still no correction. DougJ tried to get the NYT's Public Editor on it, with no success.

Yeah, suuuuuure

Probably you heard the gossip about Holy Joe. Let us juxtapose two passages from America's favorite collection of hastily retyped GOP press releases:

On page 1:

The aide said Lieberman isn’t bowing out because he was worried about re-election. “It would be tough fight, but that’s not a reason not to run for re-election.”

On page 2:

A Public Policy Polling survey conducted in late October put Lieberman’s approval rating among Connecticut voters at 33 percent. He had the support of 24 percent of Democrats, 34 percent of independents and 48 percent of Republicans.

Goodbye, Sen. Lieberman. We will never forget you.

(h/t: Jack Stuef | pic. source)

[Added] Heh.

Lines of the Day: 2010-01-20

Category Joe Lieberman:

Follow that lemming. He seems to know where he is going
    -- TBogg

Category NBC:

Isn’t it great to live in a country where a cigar-smoking dog puppet and a bear that masturbates are considered ‘intellectual property?’
    -- Conan O'Brien

Further Chronicles of Congressional Action

Sheesh. And after that last? I gotta stop reading political news or I'm gonna turn into a secessionist teabagger myself.

Does this sentence not encapsulate everything that's wrong with Congress?

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is resting his hopes on Kerry and Graham, who have also teamed up with Lieberman, for getting climate change legislation through the Senate.

Oh, goody! Bipartisanship! With a Republican who has already been branded an apostate for this and will either lurch back to his right or get primaried into retirement by the wingnut base. And once again, Senate Majority Leader Charlie Brown will hand the "He's With Us On Everything But The War" football to Lucy from Connecticut.

I think we can pretty much count on nothing being done for a good long while, since, as we all know, Holy Joe's time is filled with more important matters, like going on Fox News to talk about his big plans to investigate the Army for being too nice to the Muslins.

(pic. source)

__________

P.S.  Yes, Harry Reid actually said that. More than once. And with any luck, we can make into a full-fledged Internet meme.

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[Update] This'll shock you, but the above mess turns out to be Excellent News For John McCain. You can ask any Villager.

Well, almost all good news. We will return to 100% good news for John McCain after Lisa Lerer is fired.

Joe Lieberman Would Probably Like Norm Coleman To Win ...

... so he can let the new guy take a turn being the Senate's most sanctimonious prick.

AdNag has a piece in the NYT on the consequences of the endless delaying tactics being used by Coleman to prevent Al Franken from taking the Senate seat that Franken long ago won. In the article, Franken talks about trying to do the parts of his job that he can do right now, while waiting for Republican Governor Pawlenty to grow a spine and do what's right. By contrast, Coleman just trowels it on:

He said that every morning, he puts tefillin — black leather boxes containing scrolls — on his arm as part of a morning Jewish prayer ritual. “I bind myself every morning,” he said. “I bind myself to God every morning because it’s in his hands.”

He paused. “David Letterman will make fun of me for this,” he said.

Spare us the weepy helpless lamb act and the cringing before the imagined persecution from the evil secular comedian. You've been more than willing to lie and cheat to try to steal this election for going on half a year now.

And look, Holy Norm, you blew it. You were a Bush toady, you refused to take your opponent seriously, you lost the recount, and you've lost every time you've gone to court to argue about it. Matter of fact, the latest decision only increased the margin by which you lost. So show us that there's some grain of sincerity to your piety act: take these as signs from your God and step aside.

Broder Priapism Threat Level: RED

What could be better than bipartisanship?

How about a "bipartisan" call for military action?

And even better, from the boys who put the bi in bipartisan!

Sigh. John McCain and Joe Lieberman have an op-ed in today's edition of The GOP Talking Points Daily Washington Post, basically calling for full-scale perpetual war in Afghanistan until those damned people plow under their opium fields, shave their Talibans, and start buying Wonder Bread and non-bootleg versions of Windows. They say President Obama "must invest the political capital to remind Americans why this fight is necessary."

Not that you need to read this piece of crap. I'm just noting it for the record, especially the closing paragraph …

As a presidential candidate, Barack Obama called Afghanistan "the war we must win." He was absolutely right. Now it is time to win it -- and we and many other members of both political parties stand ready to give him our full support in this crucial fight.

… because you just know in a year and three from now, ol' Walnuts and Holy Joe are going to be on every talk show on the dial, speaking oh-so-sorrowfully about "Obama's quagmire." Especially if he follows the stupid advice they're giving today.

(h/t: Attaturk | pic. source)

A Delightful Read

James Wolcott wraps up the 2008 political winners and losers: The Good, the Bad, and Joe Lieberman.

Oh, how I want to quote some snippets. But it wouldn't be fair -- you should get to come across them yourself.

A Less Appealing Rodent

I have now seen the hamster on a piano vid [1] on more than two blogs, so, in the journalistic spirit that says three times is a trend, I now propose a new political catchphrase, to be used and overused like thrown under the bus.

Consider the plight of the sanctimonious little prick whom Rachel Maddow has called "my single favorite Senator from the Connecticut for Lieberman Party." [2]  While he awaits the results of the voting at this coming week's meeting of the Senate Democratic caucus -- will he be stripped of his DHS committee chairmanship? -- there isn't much that he can do. In some sense, he's a powerful figure, if you buy into the idea that he might be number 60 come the next vote for cloture. In another sense, he's entirely impotent -- he really has no way to affect his fate beyond going on TV, squeaking and nibbling, and he is at the mercy of the giant hand pushing him where it will.

In other words: Until he knows the outcome of this week's caucus vote, Joe Lieberman is the hamster on the piano.

The eating popcorn part goes without saying, since these are the best of times, at least in that sense.

---

[1] If you haven't already seen it, voici:

(alt. video link)

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[2] The whole thing is well worth watching, especially the closing thirty seconds:

(alt. video link | alt. alt. video link)

(h/t: watertiger )

Evolving Euphemisms

Another line from the same article as in the last post:

… Mr. McCain, Mr. Graham and Mr. Lieberman are longtime traveling companions …

Remember when everyone used to talk about Martina Navratilova's traveling companion (wink, wink), Judy Nelson?

Sorry to put that three-way image into your mind.

[Added] I'm not the only one to have noticed, apparently.

Wholly Joe

And speaking of things I refuse to get upset about, I see by TPM Election Central that Joe Lieberman has sent out a letter promoting his new grassroots Astroturf campaign, "Citizens for McCain," in which he refers to his erstwhile political allies as "the Democrat Party."

The TPM post points to a good essay by Hendrik Hertzberg on why the missing "ic" matters to some. I take the point that it's intended to be a slur, and so, yeah, choosing to use it marks yet another step in Lieberman's descent into utter zellmillerization.

Still, though, as far as I'm concerned, every time I hear some lame use this formulation on purpose, all I hear is "I AM A WINGNUT WITHOUT IDEAS!!! THEREFORE, I MAKE FUNNY OF YORE NAME!!1! LOL!!!" and usually not spelled that well. You know, instant loss of respect.

Assuming I had any left, I mean.

Line of the Day: 2008-05-13

TBogg, commenting on the latest antics of Holy Joe Lieberman and a certain someone who has yet to do anything about it:

Reid obviously understands the words "Senate" and "Majority".

"Leader"...not so much.

Temper? Fugit.

About that McCain tendency to ...

Does he get angry? Yes. But it's never been enough to blur his judgment. . . . If anything, his passion and occasional bursts of anger have made him more effective.

Oh, good. I mean, if you can't trust Joe Lieberman, who can you trust?

Weirdly, it takes the WaPo five pages to list all the people who disagree.

(h/t: Steve Benen)

(pic. source)