Lieberman Spot Uses Tape of the Toppling Statue of Hussein

[Robbien]

ON THE SCREEN The spot opens with the now-famous shot of a Hussein statue crashing to the ground in Baghdad and then in writing, "We are safer with Saddam Hussein in prison, not in power." The next image is of Mr. Lieberman speaking to voters from a podium, an American flag behind him. The spot then intersperses images of Mr. Lieberman addressing voters and the written statements "Joe Lieberman warned about Al Qaeda before George Bush knew who they were" and "Think about Joe Lieberman's courage and conviction."

THE SCRIPT An announcer: "Saddam Hussein. Only one candidate was clear we are safer with Saddam Hussein in prison, not in power. Joe Lieberman — a national leader in the fight against terrorism and tyranny. Joe Lieberman forced George Bush to create the Department of Homeland Security. He was warning about Al Qaeda long before George Bush knew who they were. When you think about the dangers facing our country, think about Joe Lieberman's courage and conviction. It just might make all the difference." Mr. Lieberman: "I'm Joe Lieberman and I approved this message."

ACCURACY True, Mr. Lieberman is the most hawkish of the Democratic candidates, and he does have a long history of having called for the end of Mr. Hussein's reign. As Howard Dean has made clear again and again, Senator John Edwards of North Carolina and Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts voted for the Iraq war resolution, and all of the candidates have referred to Mr. Hussein as a horrible tyrant. But Mr. Lieberman has taken ownership of the issue. And he did call for a version of the Department of Homeland Security as early as October 2001. His campaign did not provide information to support the claim that Mr. Bush did not know what Al Qaeda was when Mr. Lieberman was warning about it.

SCORECARD Mr. Lieberman has made his candidacy very much about national security, and in that respect, this spot is in keeping with a main thrust of his campaign. Still, it is unclear how effective this spot will ultimately be. Many Iowa voters told pollsters that Mr. Bush's handling of the Iraq war did not form the basis of their votes, an indication that antiwar sentiment is no longer the galvanizing force with primary voters. But that does not mean that Democratic primary voters have come full circle to support the war. Then again, New Hampshire goes its own way and, as Iowa made clear, voter sentiment is very hard to determine this season.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/25/politics/campaign/25ADBO.html

comment: I cannot wait to find out how many voters in NH are falling for this garbage. Wonder if he will get as many votes as he did in Iowa. The gall of the man!

[wtmusic]

1. Why doesn't he get the 'fake' Iraqi

to endorse him? That infamous celebrater who was earlier seen in part of Chalabi's escort?

Hmm? :shrug:

[Name removed]

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[eileen_d]

3. Lieberman's pandering to the base again! LOL

:crazy:

[Name removed]

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[Name removed]

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[Blitz]

5. What does Israel have to do with this story?

Oh, that's right. Joseph Lieberman, who's position on Iraq is essentially the same as, say, Edwards, is a Jew so, obviously, his loyalties are in doubt.

[dolstein]

20. Exactly

It's truly sad that antisemitism has to rear its ugly head around here as often as it does. But the sad fact is that antisemitism is becoming just as prevalent on the left as it is on the right.

[Name removed]

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[Forkboy]

24. Thank you RC

The people who throw these charges around willy nilly insult those who actually do care about anti-semitism,and hurts Israel far more than helping.

[Name removed]

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[RapidCreek]

22. It has everything to do with it.

RC

[Blitz]

26. Kindly explain

eom.

[The Stranger]

29. Joe Leiberman is as dangerous to the U.S. and to the world as

George W. Bush is. And that is saying a lot.

[Blitz]

32. It is saying a lot

Please explain.

[The Stranger]

33. Go read

the linked story.

[Blitz]

34. I read the linked story

Now, if you'd answer my question:

What is the basis for your assertion that "Joe Leiberman (sic) is as dangerous to the U.S. and to the world as George W. Bush is."

[LiberalFighter]

17. Congressional Cemetery

Website

[Blitz]

19. What's the point of your post?

n/t

[stevedeshazer]

6. Hey, Joe

The pulling down of the Saddam statue was a fraud. But, I guess you know that and don't care, as long as you might pull some votes for supporting this lie.

[lebkuchen]

7. Thanks for reposting that picture

It's nice to have a reminder.

[rman]

8. then the camera zooms out to wide angle view

of the square where the statue fell, showing only a handfull of people, most of whome are American soldiers and journalists.

Which is why it's such a folly for Rumsfeld to compare that event to the fall of the Berlin wall, and for Lieberman to use it in his campaign - if he'd have any balls he'd expose it for the farce that it is.

But no, Lieberman is going to match his courage and conviction against that of Bush. He may yet play the "moral clarity" card, i'm sure the neo-Reaganites would like that.

[Name removed]

9. Deleted message

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[wryter2000]

11. Bush* thanks you, Joe

How nice for you to show a spot endorsing George W. Bush.

Go away, please. Please, go away.

[annagull]

12. I hope he gets his ass handed to him in NH

Then, maybe he will take the hint and GO AWAY!!!

[CookieD]

18. I agree! And same goes for Kucinich, Sharpton and all the other ...

candidates who are not polling well, do not represent the mainstream of the party and are merely getting in the way by not sticking to our script. Time to thin out the herd, right? :)

[rman]

28. you see no difference between Lieberman and Kucinich etc?

isn't that odd.

I mean, Lieberman is mainstream DLC right-wing-liberalism pandering to the fearless leader, the others are not.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

13. hey joe....(damn i sure wish DU still had the 1 finger salute emotioncon)

:puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke:
:puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke:

[treepig]

14. huh, why would you do this mr. lieberman?

could it be

[joeybee12]

15. So, is the RNC paying for these spots?

Meld al-qaeda with Saddam, blur the difference--exactly what Rove wants.

Why does Chimpy even need to run ads when Lieberman is doing it for him?

[Robb]

16. Every time I think Joe has gone off the deep end,

...he finds a new way to amaze me.

[Jim Sagle]

25. The amazing thing is that Joe took his head out of w's ass long enough

to approve the ad. ;-)

[stickdog]

27. And who was the Democrat standing up for what was right at this time?

Just after Saddam's statue came down ...

http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0304/23/wbr.00.html

Howard Dean is joining us from Burlington, Vermont.

Governor, do you feel differently?

HOWARD DEAN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Not really. I don't think anybody could reasonably suspect we weren't going to win. The problem now is how to govern, and that's where the real rubber is underneath the road. The hardest part is still ahead of us, and I think the events that we were watching on CNN showed that. The Shi'a in the south would like in some cases fundamentalist religious state or province, that would be much worse than Saddam Hussein in terms of a threat to the United States it would allow al Qaeda to move in. We seen chaos in Baghdad with the proclamation of somebody claims he's the mayor. And this is going to go on and on. So we've really got to now build a Democratic society out of a...

BLITZER: But governor, nobody -- nobody disagrees there are going to be problems. But aren't the people of Iraq so much better off now without Saddam Hussein on their back?

DEAN: We don't know that yet. We don't know that yet, Wolf. We still have a country whose city is mostly without electricity. We have tumultuous occasions in the south where there is no clear governance. We have a major city without clear governance. We don't know yet, and until we do...

BLITZER: You think it's possible -- excuse me for interrupting that whatever emerges in Iraq could be worse than what they have for decades under Saddam Hussein?

DEAN: I do, I do. We have to think of this from an American perspective not an Iraqi perspective. The reason the president gave for going into Iraq which I disagree with is Iraq was a security threat to the United States. I don't believe Saddam was. But I believe a fundamentalist Islamic regime would be. That we have to guard against, that may be very, very difficult. I think the jury is out in terms of what we've created. The other thing is, you have to remember that this president has now created a new American foreign policy a preemptive doctrine. And I think that's going to cause America some serious trouble down the line, too. I don't regret my opposition to the war, I think in the long term interest of the United States, we have yet to see whether the war is going to be successful or not.

BLITZER: Does it bother you, governor, that most of the country approved of the way the president handled the situation? His job approval rating has gone way up into the 70s from the 50s, and including most Democrats approve of the way he's handling the job.

DEAN: If I changed my position every time there is a new poll, I would be like an awful lot of politicians, that's what's wrong with the Democratic party is willing to change positions every time the polls come out. I'm not going to do that. I chose my position on Iraq, because I think in the long-term future of the United States it would have been better had we used other means to get rid of Saddam's and his arms.

Well, that's not where we are now, the president has chosen to go war. But now we have to deal with a chaotic situation on the ground. I hope that we succeed. I'm very proud of our armed forces, I'm delighted Saddam is gone. We have a long way to go, and I think it's going to be a long time before we can prove this is the right thing to do.

[Name removed]

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[Robbien]

31. Your very first post and it is a criticism of DU Mods and DU rules

Appears you are not trying to make a good first impression.