August 21, 2008
Democrats Should Remove Joe Lieberman as Committee Chairman (Brent Budowsky)
Joe Lieberman has questioned Barack Obama's patriotism, and for that he should be removed as chairman of any congressional committee or subcommittee by Democratic leaders. The minute Lieberman said that Barack Obama does not put our country first is the minute that he disqualified himself from being chairman of any committee in a Democratic Congress.
This is an extraordinary step that I do not propose lightly. It is bad enough for Sen. Lieberman (I-Conn.) to be campaigner in chief for McCain and bad enough for him to speak at the Republican convention. When Lieberman goes the next step and questions Barack's patriotism, that is the limit; that is the end; that should lead every Democrat to support stripping Joe Lieberman of any committee chairmanship.
I predict McCain will not run with Joe — or with Tom Ridge, for that matter. Whether he does or not, for a senior Democrat to attack the patriotism of the Democratic nominee is an act of treachery and deceit and slander that has no place in leadership or authority in the Democratic Party. Lieberman can caucus with Democrats or not, as he chooses, but for any leadership or chairman position: no, out, damned spot, as Shakespeare wrote.
My view is that Lieberman deceived the voters of Connecticut in his last campaign; dishonored his promises to voters in that campaign; and destroyed, by his own acts, any legitimacy of his reelection.
Enough is enough. Questioning the patriotism of the Democratic nominee is disqualifying for any chairman position, and when Congress returns from recess Democrats should say goodbye, farewell, to any chairmanships or position of leadership in the Democratic Party.
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And how is Barack Obama not unpatriotic? You spend all your time discussing Joe Lieberman, where are your facts to support Barack's patriotism? And, if what you say is true, shouldn't the candidate himself be held to the same standards? You remember this quote in which he dismissed whole swaths of citizens, some of whom I am sure were Democrats, as bitter bigots, "And it's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations." In essence, I don't see a lot of patriotism in Barack Obama. Besides the fact that he's an empty suit, he also had a Dixie Chick moment in Germany, when he stated, " People of Berlin - people of the world - this is our moment. This is our time.
I know my country has not perfected itself. At times, we've struggled to keep the promise of liberty and equality for all of our people. We've made our share of mistakes, and there are times when our actions around the world have not lived up to our best intentions."
He's a real patriot isn't he?
Comment by Robert Rosencrans — August 21, 2008 @ 9:39 am
Brent,
face it. Americans don't like Barack Hussein Obama, they are not sure he's one of them. He was not raised here as a boy absorbing our values and culture, in his speeches he takes every opportunity to blame this country for anything wrong that's a current hot topic, i.e. global warming, world instability, relations with European nations, etc. His woman while taking advantage of everything this country offered to her, while making over 300K doing some public relations BS, she's still complaining. "Not proud enough, it's a mean country".
No wonder many Democrats can't stand him, and rightly so. By your logic Brent, half of US Reps and Senators who are Democrats should be stripped of their positions in the party, starting with Sen. Clinton.
Comment by Misha — August 21, 2008 @ 10:09 am
To me, Obama looks like unpatriotic, Jimmy Carter unsure of himself.
Comment by Metamusil — August 21, 2008 @ 10:41 am
Frankly, when you guys attack Barack's
patriotism, you guys are pathetic, I'm sorry.
Which branch of the service did Lieberman
serve in when our country was at war and
and Joe's number was called? What you do
you think of Dick Cheney's numerous draft
deferments, including one for a school he
never went to? Come on, you can do better
than that, guys.
Comment by Brent — August 21, 2008 @ 10:52 am
Brent,
Which branch of service did Barack serve in? Why did Obama lie about his votes for the "Born Alive" bill in Illinois? Why is the flag upside down on the Dem Convention tickets? Why must you attempt to purge all those who disagree with the Dem Party line? I thought this campaign by Obama was about hope, change, and work across the aisle? Guess not..
Comment by Jon Pemberton — August 21, 2008 @ 10:59 am
Brent,
I completely agree with you about Lieberman. He's entitled to his opinion of Obama, but Democrats should not permit him to reap the benefits of the party while he's simultaneously harming the party and its nominee with his rhetoric/actions. It's past time to let him know that he's on a 2-way street.
Comment by Melissa — August 21, 2008 @ 11:34 am
Brent
Thank God you are not in charge. Your first line tells it all.
Just because a person QUESTIONS someone's patriotism, they should lose their job??? Are you nuts? Perhaps you are just a whimpy guy at the core.
The more a politician questions another, is in my humble opinion, a value-added-service. I want Dems questioning Republicans and Republican questioning Dems, without the slightst fear that their careers are on the line.
Questions and statement are only benign words that invite responses.
I am not a supporter of Sen Obama, but I think he is strong enough and not at all intimidated to respond to anything Joe has to say. Just as McCain is open to any questions that concern Americans. If not, then neither candidate deserve to be candidates. You must give these guys more credit, Brent.
If you really feel this way, then go live in a country that does not have Freedom of Speech. You talk the talk, now walk the walk!
I think you would be unemployed!
Comment by JFK-HRC — August 21, 2008 @ 12:36 pm
Patriotism: love of country and willingness to sacrifice for it
Nationalism: a sense of national consciousness exalting one nation above all others and placing primary emphasis on promotion of its culture and interests as opposed to those of other nations
You guys can argue about who is the most patriotic until you're all red, white and blue in the face. Lieberman used this as a political tactic, not as a relevant point backed by evidence, and that is the point I think Brent makes. It was a cheap shot, albeit one that should have been used against Bush in 2004.
By the way, where was all this sentiment in 2004 for John Kerry? I find it hilarious that you Neo-Cons all of a sudden value service so dearly when there was such a gross difference between John Kerry’s “willingness to sacrifice” for our country and Dick Cheney and George Bush’s. Dick and Bush are cowards turned nationalists.
There is no tangible evidence and no scale to determine who loves their country the most. It’s insane to argue it. It’s completely silly, and the difference between McCain’s love and Obama’s love is likely miniscule, but since it cannot possibly EVER be measured, it is completely irrelevant. Aside from service record, proof to the degree that either candidate is or is not patriotic will never exist. Quotes can be interpreted and misinterpreted as any partisan hack choses.
As long as McCain keeps the discussion off the issues, he benefits. That’s what this all comes down to.
Comment by Marty D — August 21, 2008 @ 1:27 pm
Brent, I agree and that has been my issue with Dems. They are too darn nice and polite.
Remember Jefforts?
Lieberman knows that he is toast after the general election, Dems on the other hand are afraid to do anything to mess up expected gains in Nov….No impeachment, No move against Joe..at least for now..
Comment by Theard — August 21, 2008 @ 1:41 pm
By the way, the freedom of speech argument holds no water in this debate. When you start to voice opinions that undermine the organization that staffs you, our wonderful first amendment absolutely provides that you many assurances. Most importantly, you may not be thrown into prison. You may however risk losing a position within your organization.
You CAN run around saying whatever the hell you want in this country. I think we all understand that anything you say MAY NOT serve your best interests.
Comment by Marty D — August 21, 2008 @ 1:43 pm
Brent
I agree with you that Lieberman should lose his committee chair. The idea that Obama is unpatriotic is the most ridiculous thing I've heard.
It is shocking in this day and age that people fall for this kind of nonsense.
Patriotism is more than just serving in the military. It is about wanting to improve the country and that is exactly what Obama has been talking about.
Obama is in the process of educating Americans about the problems we face in this country and how he intends on moving the country forward by proposing lasting solutions.
In contrast Lieberman and McCain would rather attack Obama than propose solutions. They would fare better if they would focus on how to fix the problems instead, but have yet to acknowledge them. That is unAmerican.
Comment by serena1313 — August 21, 2008 @ 1:55 pm
Obama is personal friends with a family of two of the worst terrorists in American history. Is that enough to question his patriotism?
Comment by Igor R. — August 21, 2008 @ 2:12 pm
The Democrats won't hold any one responsible for any thing…they should be called the "no accountability needed party" they are ever bit as corrupt and law breaking as the GOP,..we need to clean the whole nest of snakes out..and start over….WITH the Constitution intact, this time…immediately throw out any one who breaks his oath of office (as often as it takes)..not wait for the next election
Comment by chabuka — August 21, 2008 @ 2:40 pm
Bush's grandfather had 2 of his banks confiscated under the "Trading with the enemies act", after it was found out that Prescott Bush and his banks were helping to fund the Nazi war machine. No one has ever questioned Bush's patriotism. WHY? I don't really know. G.H.W. Bush was meeting with members of the bin Laden family, (as investors in the Carlyle Group, G.H.W. Bush was the V.P. of Carlyle Group at the time), allegedly ON 9/11. Then the FBI flies about 40 Saudi's, (including members of the bin Laden FAMILY), out of the country when America's own citizens couldn't even fly legally in the days immediately following 9/11. So you morons that don't know shit about history, or even current events because your idiocy and fear have blinded you to any truth, you people make me sick. Idiot's all!!!!!! Question your own patriotism and your own intelligence sometime, maybe. I think Obama's a bum too by the way. No where NEAR as big a tool as Lieberman but an idiot as well.
Comment by Craig R. Lane — August 21, 2008 @ 3:24 pm
My expectations of Harry Reid and friends are low.
Too bad Lieberman didn't get to take office when he was elected vice president despite himself. That would have gotten him out of the Senate.
Comment by Barry Schwartz — August 21, 2008 @ 3:50 pm
Robert, Misha, and Jon,
Your patriotism is pathetically underdeveloped. My own patriotism is much larger than yours, and puts you to shame.
Comment by Ken Duerksen — August 21, 2008 @ 4:38 pm
"My patriotism is bigger than yours!" LOL!! Gimme a break. These are the guys who called those chicken-hawks Bush & Cheney 'patriotic'. Mr. “I can’t fight in Vietnam ‘caus I got a boil on my butt” Limbaugh is their spokesman.
These are the same guys that attack Kerry, Cleland, Murtha, Clark, (oh yes and lets not forget they stomped on McCain back in 2000), and every other American fighting man that stood in the way of their march to get us into the train wreck we’re in today.
These are the guys who will piss on the Constitution out of fear and are always the first to throw out our hard won freedoms under the guise of ‘protecting America’. They’ve done more to divide and damage this country than Osama could have ever dreamed of. Instead of ‘land of the free and home of the brave’ they want, ‘land of paranoia, suspicion and home of the terrified’. Any member of the Continental Congress would’ve kicked you guys right in the nuts.
Could you imagine if it had been a modern day Neocon standing on that gallows back in 1776 instead of Nathan Hale? Instead of “I only regret that I have but one life to give for my country” the saying would have been “Go ahead, take my freedom! Just don’t hurt me!!”
Yeah – keep telling us how ‘patriotic’ you are. America has figured you out. That’s exactly why you’re getting your asses kicked in elections across the country. Say goodbye to the White House too – time for the adults to clean up your selfish mess.
Maybe you could spend the free time figuring out how to get us into another unnecessary war? It’s not like you’ll have to fight in it right?
Comment by Jeff — August 21, 2008 @ 5:19 pm
Obama rallies state Democrats, throws support behind Lieberman
March 31, 2006
boston dot com
…"The fact of the matter is, I know some in the party have differences with Joe. I'm going to go ahead and say it," Obama told the 1,700-plus party members who gathered in a ballroom at the Connecticut Convention Center for the $175-per-head fundraiser.
"I am absolutely certain Connecticut is going to have the good sense to send Joe Lieberman back to the U.S. Senate so he can continue to serve on our behalf," he said.
…Lieberman became Obama's mentor when Obama was sworn into the Senate in 2005. They stayed close at Thursday night's event, too, entering the room together and working the crowd in tandem.
Unedited article at:
http://www.boston.com/news/local/connecticut/articles/2006/03/31/obama_rallies_state_democrats_throws_support_behind_lieberman/
Comment by wewillnotbeneoconned — August 21, 2008 @ 6:16 pm
Patriotism is the love and support of our Constitution, the check and balance machinations of our government and the citizens who fight to sustain it.
Neither Obama or Lieberman ( and certainly not McCain) measure up well.
* If you vote to destroy the 4th amendment (FISA) you don't love the Constitution.
* If you don't filibuster radical Supreme Court justices appointees who seek to trash the law you don't love the Constitution.
* If you don't support impeachment of a President and Vice President who've violated the law so many times you lose count you don't love the Constitution.
…and that's just the short list.
Comment by wewillnotbeneoconned — August 21, 2008 @ 6:37 pm
All this crazed neocon babble (rosie, misha, pernderble, metamucil) is the exact reason why me, and many more Americans, have abandoned the GOP. Additionally, this neocon rhetoric is what got us all bogged down in a senseless, dishonorable "war" in Iraq.
The neocon, chickenhawk rhetoric is why Bush CUT AND RAN from the hunt for Bin Laden. Bush is a sissy, a deserter, a failure.
Read the issues for yourselves;
RepublicansForObama.org
Comment by Jesse Templeton — August 21, 2008 @ 6:37 pm
Bush's grandfather had 2 of his banks confiscated under the "Trading with the enemies act",…
Comment by Craig R. Lane — August 21, 2008 @ 3:24 pm
Craig, it's so much worse than that.
From the BBC:
"Document uncovers details of a planned coup in the USA in 1933 by right-wing American businessmen. The coup was aimed at toppling President Franklin D Roosevelt with the help of half-a-million war veterans. The plotters, who were alleged to involve some of the most famous families in America, (owners of Heinz, Birds Eye, Goodtea, Maxwell Hse & George Bush’s Grandfather, Prescott) believed that their country should adopt the policies of Hitler and Mussolini to beat the great depression. Mike Thomson investigates why so little is known about this biggest ever peacetime threat to American democracy."
…Some of the wealthiest men in America approached Marine Corps Major General Smedley Butler, beloved of many World War I veterans, many of them embittered by the government's treatment of them. Prescott Bush's group asked Butler to lead 500,000 veterans in a take-over of Washington and the White House. Butler refused and recounted the affair to the congressional committee. His account was corroborated in part by a number of witnesses, and the committee concluded that the plot was real. But the names of wealthy backers of the plot were blacked out in the committee's records, and nobody was prosecuted. According to the BBC, President Roosevelt cut a deal. He refrained from prosecuting some of the wealthiest men in America for treason. They agreed to end Wall Street's opposition to the New Deal.
Full article:
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/25173
Comment by wewillnotbeneoconned — August 21, 2008 @ 6:44 pm
Are you kidding, Brent? Senator Lieberman is a daily, amazing exposition at the incredible weakness of Senate Majority "leader" Harry Reid - and the complicit corruption and inside-Washington arrogance of the "Democratic" senators.
CAN ANYONE IMAGINE the Republican Party tolerating FOR A NEW YORK SECOND a Republican Committee Chair.. CAMPAIGNING FOR A DEMOCRAT ???!!
Let's face it, the appalling Dem Senators take their Marching Orders from Karl Rove's fax machine (via Murdoch, Limbaugh, WP, WSJ, and NYT), and their campaign bribes, er, "donations" from AIPAC and the banking/financial/war-lobby/AIPAC lobby.
Comment by Lj — August 21, 2008 @ 9:31 pm
Brent is talking like a real member of Politburo now in the former USSR. Here is what I just read on a Russian site:
"Per Mr.Budowsky's request to World Citizen Barack Husssein abu Obama, Sen. Lieberman will be stripped of his title and sent to re-education labor camp for critisizing Comrade Obama's views in public instead of praising his jump shot from 3-point line. This re-education labor camp is being run by Rev.Wright at his Chicago commune and is considered one of the best prep schools for World Citizens. Mr.Lieberman's family would spend a winter at Alaska's holding facility for enemies of the state." Pravda, August 21st, 2008
Comment by Misha — August 22, 2008 @ 2:15 am
What committees does Joe Lieberman chair? He is a registered independent, not a democrat. As the controlling majority, dems get to chair the committes…
Comment by jhart80 — August 22, 2008 @ 10:38 am
Lieberman should be kicked out of the Democratic Convention and the Democatric Party. He has endorswed McCain for President. If he doesn't get picked as McCain's VP, the Democrats should kick him out of the party. He talks, votes and acts as a Republican, he is a DINO, Democrat In Name Only! Good ridance!
Comment by Paul Roden — August 25, 2008 @ 2:20 am
You conservatives are all alike. If someone doesn't agree with how you idiots think, then they are unpatriotic. Lieberman should be shown the door. Since he's an "independent", let him take his "independent", turn coat, back stabbing self on over to the Republican party where he belongs. Conservatives are so high and mighty, the moral compass of this great country. PLEASE, you are the hypocrits of this country. More scandals, more lies, more hate, more fear mongering, more hookers….I could on for days. If father time John McCain is elected, this country is headed for more of the same as the last 8 years! Obama in 08!!!!!!!!!!
Comment by James — August 29, 2008 @ 2:20 pm
AMERICA, PLEASE WAKE UP!!! Joe Lieberman is an Israeli agent. He will do whatever it takes or join whatever party that favors policies toward Israel. America please wake up. Joe Lieberman is a threat to our national security. He is on a crusade to start a 3rd war with Iran, because he feels Iran is a threat to Israel as he did with Iraq. Again, he will do whatever it takes to protect Israel all at the cost of American lives. To those parents who have lost a loved one in Iraq, you can thank Joe Lieberman. Better yet, thank Israel!
Comment by Ray — September 9, 2008 @ 6:56 pm