In Re: Joe Lieberman

To Kill the Ghoul, You Kill the Brain

I've never liked Joe Lieberman much and I was thrilled when he lost in the Connecticut Democratic primary race for the U.S. Senate in 2006. After all, he was one of the principal Democratic enablers of the invasion of Iraq. He's also a leading Senate comforter of Israel and an obvious friend of Likud. His selection as Al Gore's running mate in 2000 was one of the reasons why many progressives were reluctant supporters of the Democratic ticket that year. And though Gore and Lieberman won the popular vote over Bush and Cheney, Lieberman is very likely one of those who counseled Gore against challenging the Florida vote count.

There's plenty of other things to get down on Lieberman about. Here's another example.

It follows that Lieberman's surprise victory as an independent candidate in the Connecticut general election for Senate over Ned Lamont (the Democrat who beat him in the primary) was a major disappointment (for me, at least). In 2008, Lieberman compounded his offenses by appearing at the Republican convention to nominate John McCain. One might then have expected Democratic leaders in the Senate to deny him a variety of privileges that go to party loyalists; he was even allowed to continue as chair of a Senate committee. This magnanimity was connected to the perceived need for Democrats to reach a filibuster-proof 60 votes in the Senate.

Now comes Lieberman to say (in today's Washington Post-"Centrists unsure about Reid's public option") "he remains opposed to a government-run insurance plan in any form." The Post article goes on to say that "unless the public option language is dropped [Lieberman] probably will align with Republicans to block the measure."

Quelle surprise! It puts me in mind of "The Night of the Living Dead," in which the zombies appear to be virtually indestuctible until it is discovered that one must "kill the brain to kill the ghoul." Joe Lieberman is not a zombie, of course, but I'm just sayin' he has this weird way of coming back from defeat and plaguing the dreams of progressives.