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Joe Biden Praises Lieberman For His "Civility"

David Brooks reports:

Vice President Biden sent me a heartfelt e-mail on Thursday that ended: “The Senate will not be the same without Joe’s leadership and powerful intellect. But it is his civility that will be missed the most.”

(Emphasis supplied.) Meanwhile, back on Planet Earth, here was Lieberman's "civlity" in action:

When [Arianna] Huffington said there's nothing in the Duelfer Report to bolster [Joe] Lieberman's conclusions, the senator replied, "I don't think you've read it, sweetheart."

More . . .

Brooks also argues that:

There’s a theory going around that Lieberman was embittered by the trauma of 2006 when Democratic primary voters in Connecticut defeated him because of his support for the Iraq war. There’s little evidence to validate this.

Meanwhile, back on Planet Earth, Lieberman was the instrument that finished the public option. After years of favoring one.

And why did Lieberman oppose a public option? Because "liberal" activists were in favor:

For close to a decade, he got nearly perfect scores from the American Public Health Association, which backs a single-payer health-care system, and in lieu of that, the “public option.” Now, all of a sudden, he’s so outraged by a public option that he’s threatening to filibuster any bill that contains it. The arguments he makes on behalf of his new position are remarkably weak: He says the public option will raise costs, even though the Congressional Budget Office has said no such thing, and even though logic suggests that by competing with private insurers, a government plan will actually drive costs down. Some have accused Lieberman of shifting right in order to win backing from the insurance industry in preparation for a 2012 reelection run. But, in fact, he gets relatively little insurance money, and Connecticut politicos mostly think he won’t run.

So why is he doing this? Because he’s bitter. According to former staffers and associates, he was upset by his dismal showing in the 2004 Democratic presidential primary. And he was enraged by the tepid support he got from many party leaders in 2006, when he lost the Democratic primary to an anti-war activist and won reelection as an independent. Gradually, this personal alienation has eaten away at his liberal domestic views. His staff has grown markedly more conservative in recent years, and his closest friends in Congress are now Republicans John McCain and Lindsey Graham. For Lieberman, the personal has become political, and it has pushed him further to the right.

Joe Lieberman ranks with the most despicable of public figures in the United States in the last decade.

Speaking for me only

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  • Display: Sort:
    "Sweetie" is not civil (5.00 / 0) (#6)
    by Towanda on Fri Jan 21, 2011 at 12:38:31 PM EST
    toward some of us, Senator.

    "Sweetie"... (none / 0) (#24)
    by lentinel on Fri Jan 21, 2011 at 11:01:02 PM EST
    was Obama's.

    Lieberman's was "sweetheart".

    Parent

    Yes. And (none / 0) (#25)
    by Towanda on Mon Jan 24, 2011 at 02:56:36 PM EST
    so what?  Same difference, as the saying goes.  I hope that you are not suggesting that "sweetheart" is civil.

    Parent
    Neither (none / 0) (#26)
    by lentinel on Mon Jan 24, 2011 at 07:14:47 PM EST
    is civil.

    Both are intolerable.

    Both are signs of an arrogance that is gargantuan.

    Parent

    Long past time to go, Joe. (5.00 / 1) (#8)
    by oldpro on Fri Jan 21, 2011 at 01:25:01 PM EST
    "Sweetheart!"

    So sixties...reverting to type or senility?  Was this side of Joe visible to Al Gore when he chose him as a running mate?  Evidently not...nor to the rest of us, either.

    Would Joe be a different person today had the outcome of 2000 been different?  One wonders because it always seems to have been personal with Joe.  For all his protestations, it really was and is always about him.

    Very civil, really... (none / 0) (#16)
    by Lora on Fri Jan 21, 2011 at 06:11:56 PM EST
    I mean, he could have said,

    "You haven't f@cking read it, b!tch."

    /sarcasm off

    Parent

    Al Gore (none / 0) (#17)
    by NYShooter on Fri Jan 21, 2011 at 06:22:55 PM EST
    Was the biggest disappointment, for me, that I can remember. I mean, this is their business, are they so poor at "reading" the American electorate that they missed what so, so many of us felt instantly at Joe L's appointment?.......Loser.

    Was Gore's feelings towards B. Clinton, twisted and molded into an implacable, self destructive IED, shared by his election staff? Couldn't he see, irrespective of his untoward & damaging narcism, that embracing Bill guaranteed him the Oval office?  

    I don't much care that Gore felt bad about his loss, but his shortcomings as a man I thought I knew, turned the country over to G. Bush 2, and  that I can never forgive

    Parent

    I hear you and do not disagree. (none / 0) (#18)
    by oldpro on Fri Jan 21, 2011 at 07:33:05 PM EST
    The minute the "Loserman" signs and stickers went up, I knew it was big trouble, validating that feeling we had but didn't want to encourage.

    Even more significantly to me,the
    Florida count/suit etc. was so badly mishandled on all fronts - PR/politics to legal options - that I despaired of ever again seeing a fighting Dem.  Until Hillary ran.  Then I despaired of the Democratic Party and how they handled the whole thing, start to finish.  

    Never thought I would EVER see a convention without the guts to finish the rollcall vote on the first ballot for fear the anointed one might actually lose and drive black voters out of Democratic politics for generations to come.  Once Obama got in the race, that was certainly a growing threat, I admit...not to mention the misbehavior re superdelegates and Jim Clyburn's armtwisting.  Quite the legacy.

    Not my Democratic Party any more.  Turns out that I'm saving a lot of time, energy and money since becoming an Independent!

    Parent

    Yeah, the question (none / 0) (#20)
    by NYShooter on Fri Jan 21, 2011 at 08:15:38 PM EST
    That no one can answer is, "is the Democrats' clinically inept performance a flaw, or a ruse?

    Health and drug experts will tell you crack cocaine addiction is so powerful maybe "one in a thousand" can extricate themselves from that curse. I believe the pull from the  black hole of graft and corruption is an equally difficult obsession to break.

    How else can you explain the humiliating, and pathetically submissive, willing capture of an entire Government by a small clique of subhuman pigs that masquerade as "Bankers and Businessmen?"

    What utter contempt these criminals without souls must feel towards our "representatives."  "Look, for a few crinkly dollars they'll sell out a nation, a whole people."

    I wonder if they make our Senators get down on all fours to pick up the money with their teeth?


    Parent

    I am firmly convinced that the (none / 0) (#21)
    by MO Blue on Fri Jan 21, 2011 at 08:52:22 PM EST
    Obama administration and the Democratic Party have spend the last two years passing the corporate centric legislation that they wanted. All else is just part of the "ruse." They are now in the position to go even further in passing legislation that the corporations have bought and paid for and the fact that it will comes at the expense of the poor and the middle class is of no real concern to them.

    Parent
    He was very civil to Dick Cheney (5.00 / 1) (#10)
    by ruffian on Fri Jan 21, 2011 at 02:43:51 PM EST
    in that nauseating 2000 VP debate. I remember watching it when I was on a business trip and had to work a night shift right after. Fury helped me stay awake!

    Yes, and Joe even let (none / 0) (#14)
    by KeysDan on Fri Jan 21, 2011 at 05:16:20 PM EST
    Cheney get away with his honest work in the private sector at Haliburton and not being dependent upon or beholden to government largesse.

    Parent
    I missed his civility the first time around (5.00 / 0) (#11)
    by Ellie on Fri Jan 21, 2011 at 03:11:52 PM EST
    As for the rear view being taken now, that persistent flaming boil on the broad ass of democracy will definitely not be missed.

    Hit'cha, split'cha Whiny Joe!

    But don't hold back (5.00 / 2) (#19)
    by Zorba on Fri Jan 21, 2011 at 07:38:28 PM EST
    Tell us how you really feel, Ellie.  ;-)
    PS  I agree with you.

    Parent
    Joementum is a narcissistic (5.00 / 1) (#12)
    by tworivers on Fri Jan 21, 2011 at 03:20:32 PM EST
    jack-ass with an incredibly over-inflated sense of self worth.

    Plus his speaking voice (I saw it described somewhere as being the sound of a wet paper bag) gives me hives.

    I shan't miss him.

    And I'll praise Biden... (none / 0) (#1)
    by Dadler on Fri Jan 21, 2011 at 09:50:10 AM EST
    ...when he gets his useless Chicklet-toothed ace out of politics and stops harming his country.

    As for Lieberman, I hope he lives out the rest of his life in lonely, bitter, miserable fashion -- as he has forced many others to do.

    That's double-plus-Orwellian! (none / 0) (#2)
    by observed on Fri Jan 21, 2011 at 09:57:37 AM EST
    Civility, my tuchus!

    I expect the Obama administration (none / 0) (#3)
    by MO Blue on Fri Jan 21, 2011 at 10:43:30 AM EST
    to richly reward Lieberman for stepping up and giving them exactly the private health insurance only legislation that they wanted. He took the hot potato that others didn't want and ran with it.  

    Not just speaking for yourself, BTD (none / 0) (#4)
    by McKinless on Fri Jan 21, 2011 at 10:44:05 AM EST
    I find you speaking for me, too, notwithstanding your tagline.

    Oh (none / 0) (#5)
    by lilburro on Fri Jan 21, 2011 at 10:57:37 AM EST
    I thought we couldn't get a public option because it was "politically impossible."  Are you telling me that was not the case!!?

    He may very well have BEEN civil -- (none / 0) (#7)
    by sj on Fri Jan 21, 2011 at 01:19:23 PM EST
    to Biden.  

    Hyperbole much? (none / 0) (#9)
    by bocajeff on Fri Jan 21, 2011 at 02:42:36 PM EST
    Lieberman "ranks with the most despicable of public figures in the United States in the last decade". Your disdain for him is well documented...

    And if "sweetheart" is as bad as outlawing choice, then maybe he is an incredible sexist and disgusting man toward women.

    I don't much like him politically, but I don't think he is any better or worse than most...Not that the bar is set high. Scott Cohen just compared Republicans to Nazi's and Goebbels and I think that's worse than calling one woman a sweetheart, but we all have our issues...

    you must have missed (5.00 / 1) (#13)
    by CST on Fri Jan 21, 2011 at 04:55:30 PM EST
    the rest of the post.

    Sweetheart was about the "civility" comment by Biden.  But that's not even close to the gist of what makes him terrible.

    Joe's personal vendetta is the real kicker.

    And "one of" "in the United States in the last decade" is a pretty fair qualifier, IMO.

    Parent

    No, Cohen did not compare (5.00 / 1) (#15)
    by caseyOR on Fri Jan 21, 2011 at 05:36:59 PM EST
    Republicans to Nazis or Goebbels. Cohen pointed out, and quite rightly, that Republicans have successfully used the propaganda technique known as the big lie to, among other things, convince many Americans that the health insurance bill would establish death panels, that would decide who lives and who dies.

    The big lie was a propaganda method developed by Hitler and used to great effect by the Nazis against the Jews. It involves telling a lie so big, so outrageous, that no one can believe that it is not true. This is clearly a technique used successfully by the GOP.

    Correctly pointing out the use of this specific propaganda technique is not the same as chanting, "Nazi, " at a politician.

    Parent

    Despicable. (none / 0) (#22)
    by lentinel on Fri Jan 21, 2011 at 09:59:15 PM EST
    Joe Lieberman ranks with the most despicable of public figures in the United States in the last decade.

    And Gore picked him as a running mate.

    The rest is history.

    Twins (none / 0) (#23)
    by lentinel on Fri Jan 21, 2011 at 10:01:32 PM EST
    BIden and Obama are now joined in empty rhetorical compliments.

    They both praise Lieberman's "intellect".

    What does that say about their intellects?