Why isn't anyone attacking Lieberman?

[election_2004]

I don't mean on Democratic Underground. Obviously, there are plenty people here who criticize Lieberman's bad record and his underhandedness - - and rightfully so.

I am referring to the Democratic debates. With the periodic exception of Dean, I have not seen or heard one single other Democratic hopeful attack Lieberman's cultural conservatism nor Lieberman's wishy-washy, counterprogressive platform.

Every debate it seems to be the same damn thing:

Dean attacks Kerry

Kerry attacks Dean

Lieberman attacks Dean

Lieberman calls Kerry "ambivalent"

Kucinich attacks Dean

Kucinich attacks Gephardt

Gephardt attacks Edwards

Edwards attacks Gephardt

Everyone attacks Clark

Sharpton makes the audience laugh

Moseley-Braun smiles and speaks in broad generalizations

Why the hell are none of the candidates attacking Lieberman??? - - aside from the occasional dig at Lieberman from Dean (although Dean already has everyone else snipping at his heals, and can't single-handedly take down Joe).

If Edwards is so concerned about Ashcroft's violations of civil rights, then why isn't he pointing to Lieberman's support of TIPS and cellphone-wiretapping?

If Kucinich is so progressive, then why does he never challenge Lieberman - - who is arguably the LEAST progressive out of all the nine hopefuls?

If Sharpton is so concerned with the party's shift to the right, then why isn't he citing Joe Lieberman's integral participation in that shift?

If Moseley-Braun is so intent on seeing America move in a progressive new direction, then why isn't she pointing out how applying Year 2000 solutions to Year 2004 problems (the way Lieberman is!) will cause long-term harm to our nation?

Dean and Kucinich talk about Kerry voting for the war resolution. Kerry and Lieberman talk about Dean making economic concessions to Newt Gingerich & Company in the 1990's. But no one seems to be pointing out ANY of Lieberman's skeletons, and there are plenty:

1.) He has teamed up with George W. Bush and Rick Santorum to rally for PUBLICLY-FUNDED “faith-based initiatives.” He has also sponsored his own legislation to give taxpayer-funded vouchers to parents who wish to send their children to parochial schools (“Holy Joe, Corporate Joe, G.I. Joe: Will the real Senator Lieberman please stand up?,” Doug Ireland, LA Weekly, 7/11-17/03).

2.) He was a stronger supporter of Bush’s 2002 Iraq resolution than Gephardt was.

3.) In fact, Lieberman teamed up with Trent Lott in 1998 to push for the Iraqi Liberation Act, which made the goal of regime change in Iraq an official part of U.S. foreign policy (“Man of Peace?”, Dan Levine, The Valley Advocate, 2/27/03).

4.) He has opposed letting patients sue HMOs for punitive damages (“Does Joe Lieberman Really Hold the Moral High Ground?,” David Morse, The San Francisco Chronicle, 8/23/00).

5.) Lieberman supported a watered-down version of “Star Wars” promoted by Clinton/Gore, even when there were billions of dollars unallocated that could be spent on social improvements across the globe (“Does Joe Lieberman Really Hold the Moral High Ground?,” David Morse, The San Francisco Chronicle, 8/23/00).

6.) He supports the death penalty for minors.

7.) In 2000 on the campaign trail with Gore, Lieberman advocated tapping into the Strategic Oil Reserve.

8.) He has voted for federal support of private school vouchers (after being picked as Gore’s running mate, Lieberman later claimed he would support Gore’s anti-voucher stance, but also said he would privately push for vouchers).

9.) While Lieberman was Chairman of the Senate Government Affairs committee, did he ever bother to investigate Bush’s role in the California energy crisis, as he’d promised he would? No . . .

10.) In fact, while chairing the Government Affairs committee, Lieberman failed to subpoena any Bush Administration officials, or conduct any degree of meaningful investigation into the White House’s involvement with Enron (“The Tyranny of Triangulation: Can Joe Lieberman Lead?,” Nicholas Confessore, The American Prospect, 5/20/02).

11.) He voted for Fast Track.

12.) Lieberman and former U.S. Senator Sam Nunn (D-GA) were two integral designers of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy (which offers no protections for closeted gay soldiers who are harassed due to other soldiers’ bigoted suspicions).

13.) He teamed up with Hillary Clinton to push for the passage of the Media Marketing Accountability Act of 2001 (S.790; H.R. 2246), which could give the federal government greater power to regulate and dictate “acceptability standards” for entertainment content.

14.) He was a top advocate of the Biomaterials Access Act, which gave large corporations such as Dow and DuPont immunity from lawsuits relating to their defective medical implants that they manufactured (“Holy Joe, Corporate Joe, G.I. Joe: Will the real Senator Lieberman please stand up?,” Doug Ireland, LA Weekly, 7/11-17/03).

15.) He voted for several Republican “balanced budgets.”

16.) Lieberman initially praised Proposition 209 (which banned affirmative action in California) in 1995, but then backed off of his support for the referendum after being publicly denounced by Jesse Jackson and other civil rights groups. So that means he either doesn’t bother to do his research on some issues, or he only defends his convictions if it’s politically convenient for him? (“Mildly Ambitious: Is Joe Lieberman Up for 2004?,” James Traub, The New York Times, 6/10/01)

17.) He supported the 1989 capital gains tax cut (“Who is Joe Lieberman?,” Dr. Manning Marable, Black Light Online, 9/21/00).

18.) Joe Lieberman not only supported John Ashcroft’s plan to privatize the TIPS (Terrorism Information and Prevention System) program (which allows citizens to phone a hotline to report suspicious signs of terrorism), but as Chairman of the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, Lieberman blocked a Homeland Security bill amendment by Senator Pat Leahy (D-VT) that would have prohibited the federal funding of programs that encouraged citizens to spy on other citizens (“New Life for Operation TIPS,” Dave Lindorff, Salon, 8/30/02; “Holy Joe, Corporate Joe, G.I. Joe: Will the real Senator Lieberman please stand up?,” Doug Ireland, LA Weekly, 7/11-17/03).

19.) He pushed for corporate stock options.

20.) In a 1998 speech (documented by the Congressional Record on 7/10/98), Lieberman stated that not all people who condemn homosexuality should be accused of bigotry, because, according to Lieberman, some of these people with anti-gay religious beliefs have “sincerely held morally based views” (“Defending Our Morality,” Paul Varnell, Chicago Free Press, 8/16/00).

21.) He voted to increase the government’s power to wiretap cell phones.

22.) Senator Lieberman referred to Iraqi National Congress leader Ahmed Chalabi as “a person of strength, principle and real national commitment.” Chalabi was convicted on more than 30 counts of embezzlement, fraud, and theft, and is a friend of Richard Perle. Speculation remains that the Bush Administration hopes to ultimately install Chalabi as Iraqi president in a puppet regime (“Our man in Iraq,” Joe Conason, The New York Observer, 4/09/03).

23.) He has supported the privatization of Social Security.

24.) Unapologetic about his support for the preemptive war in Iraq, Lieberman has accused John Kerry of being “ambivalent” regarding Kerry’s support for the war, and Lieberman has also painted Howard Dean as an unelectable extremist for opposing the war (“Lieberman Rejects Strategy of Running to the Left,” Jim VandeHei, The Washington Post, 8/19/03). The fact is, Kerry still voted the exact same way Lieberman did to authorize the War in Iraq, plus Kerry has a strong defense background that Lieberman lacks. Dean, not being a U.S. Senator, was unable to cast a vote on preemptive war, but Dean had expressed support for military action in Iraq only if the U.N. supported such actions.

25.) Lieberman has a recent ACLU voting record of only 25% (far lower than his opponents for the Democratic nomination).

26.) Mere hours after his presidential candidacy announcement, Lieberman’s campaign began spamming web-users via a bulk-mailing service called Constant Contact (distributed by Roving Software), which sent unsolicited pro-Lieberman email spam to individuals whose names were involuntarily collected - - including the inbox of Electronic Frontier Foundation founder John Gilmore. Lieberman has publicly condemned electronic spamming and claims to be anti-spam - - yet when Lieberman sponsored the CAN-SPAM legislation, he and its other sponsors created a loophole for themselves (and their political campaigns) in which anti-spam legislation would only apply to commercial outlets ("Perspective: Hail to the . . . spammer-in-chief?,” Declan McCullagh, CNET News, 1/20/03).

27.) He voted to reject the use of racial statistics in death penalty appeals.

28.) He voted against a 1999 pay increase for servicemen and servicewomen (despite his supposed “praise” of the U.S. military under the Clinton Administration.

29.) He supported Clinton’s military base closures in May of 1999 (even though Lieberman claimed to support maintenance of the U.S.’s (supposedly) strong military when he ran for vice-president in 2000.

30.) In July 2003, Lieberman skipped an appearance in front of the NAACP in order to fundraise for his presidential campaign in New York and tape an appearance on The O’Reilly Factor (“Gephardt, Lieberman hit bumps on trail,” Glen Johnson, The Boston Globe, 7/21/03)

31.) He joined with Bill Bennett to sponsor the “Silver Sewer Awards” for “immoral” video games.

32.) During a 2003 presidential campaign stop at a diner in Stamford, Connecticut, Lieberman’s bodyguards removed a young activist named Chris Sare from the diner after Sare - - cattily yet non-violently and non-agressively - - took a sarcastic verbal dig at Lieberman while shaking his hand (“His Moment of Truth,” Michael Leahy, The Washington Post, 6/29/03). So is this how the Lieberman campaign is going to handle dissent - - simply eliminate it from having a public voice?

33.) He voted against a 1995 proposal to increase the ban on Congressional gifts from special interests.

34.) In 1998, the NAACP gave Lieberman a grade of “D” on their annual report card (“Holy Joe, Corporate Joe, G.I. Joe: Will the real Senator Lieberman please stand up?,” Doug Ireland, LA Weekly, 7/11-17/03).

35.) From 1994 to 1999, Lieberman served as co-chair for the Center for Jewish and Christian values, a project of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews (featuring the likes of Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell) and a group that has been known to structure foreign policy based on biblical prophecy (“What About Those End Times, Mr. President?,” Edward Ericson, The Hartford Advocate, 1/16/03).

36.) Lieberman and anti-gay Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA) are co-chairmen of The Empowerment Network, an organization that spearheads faith-based initiatives and culturally conservative solutions to social ills (“Holy Joe, Corporate Joe, G.I. Joe: Will the real Senator Lieberman please stand up?,” Doug Ireland, LA Weekly, 7/11-17/03).

37.) He has supported the U.S. sales of F-15s to Israel and Saudi Arabia.

38.) Citigroup, the top lender of Enron, is the Lieberman’s largest financial donor, having contributed $112,000 to Lieberman’s campaigns since 1997 FTC (“Lieberman feels the sting of criticism over Enron,” Don Von Natta, Jr., The New York Times, 1/21/02). How does Lieberman expect to credibly investigate Enron when his campaign has benefited from Enron’s cash flow?

39.) He voted against cutting U.S. nuclear weapons below START treaty levels (like the U.S. doesn’t already have enough nuclear weapons that could potentially obliterate the entire world with some to spare!).

40.) Lieberman promoted Charles Murray’s (author of The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life) idea to relocate children of single mothers on welfare into federally-run orphanages (“Holy Joe, Corporate Joe, G.I. Joe: Will the real Senator Lieberman please stand up?,” Doug Ireland, LA Weekly, 7/11-17/03).

41.) He supported the 1994 amendment authored by Jesse Helms that cut off federal funding to any school district that utilized educational materials that “supported homosexuality” (“Who is Joe Lieberman?,” Dr. Manning Marable, Black Light Online, 9/21/00).

42.) He has consistently sponsored and supported efforts, proposals, and legislation to induce censorship of the Entertainment Industry, which includes his 2001 proposal to fine the FTC (“Bush Just Says No To Hollywood Probe,” Pamela McClintock, Variety, 6/22/01).

43.) He co-founded, along with Lynn Cheney, the American Council of Trustees and Alumni (an organization known for blackballing college professors who are “too liberal”) in 1995.

44.) He was the only Democrat to oppose the nomination of Sheldon Hackney (former President at the University of Pennsylvania) to become president of the National Endowment for the Humanities (“Who is Joe Lieberman?,” Dr. Manning Marable, Black Light Online, 9/21/00).

45.) Lieberman - - aided by William F. Buckley - - was endorsed by The National Review during his 1988 U.S. Senate race against Lowell Weicker . . . a liberal Republican who despised Nixon. In fact, Buckley started a PAC on Lieberman’s behalf for his U.S. Senate campaign (“Ask the Angels’ Scorn - - Joe Lieberman: Yankee Tartuffe,” Ross Vachon, CounterPunch, 2/25/03; “Scoop Jackson Democrat: Senator Joseph Lieberman’s Case for Economic and Military Strength,” Adam Meyerson, <u>Policy Review</u>, Summer 1990, No. 53; “Holy Joe, Corporate Joe, G.I. Joe: Will the real Senator Lieberman please stand up?,” Doug Ireland, LA Weekly, 7/11-17/03).

Why have none of the candidates challenged Joe Lieberman on any of these points? If they don't take off their Pink Tutus sometime soon, then I'm afraid Lieberman is just going to schmooze and worm his way to the nomination based on name recognition (you know, the drone casual voters who will vote for Lieberman in the primaries just because he was Gore's running mate).

If anyone volunteering for or working with the Dean, Kerry, Edwards, Gephardt, Clark, Kucinich, Sharpton, and/or Moseley-Braun campaigns is reading this right now, please take note of my observations. Print out this post and show it to your campaign team. Reflect on the foreseeable consequences of failing to take on Joe Lieberman now, before it's too late and he's anointed by JoeSchmuckatelliVoter as the Democratic nominee.

[PurpHaze69]

1. You mean

Elmer Fud?

[jenk]

2. because they don't need to waste there time with Loser Lieb

He's collapsing/collapsed on his own, they don't need to lay a glove on him.

[bluedog]

3. why bother???

most know hes a republican light...he so bushy.....its not worth the effort

[DrWeird]

4. Joe Fucking Leiberman-Jerry Falwell of the dems.

I assume that nobody's attacked him because he doesn't have a chance in hell.

[Saudade]

5. Lieberman

Because Joe Lieberman is a complete non-entity, a zero, a hapless nobody and hence not worth attacking.

[w13rd0]

6. Simple...

...no one wants to criticize Gore's choice of running mate. Most of the candidates are still holding out hope for a Gore endorsement, and even though Gore himself might criticize Lieberman, they won't do it for fear of alienating him. There's also a certain unmentionable topic area no one wants to tread too heavily near. Sharpton seems to be the only one who's come close to touching on that one.

[LTR]

10. I'd be shocked...

...if Gore really gave a rat's ass about Lieberman.

[election_2004]

13. that doesn't make sense...

If Gore endorses any of the candidates, it will probably be one of them who has a shot at actually winning (either Kerry, Dean, Edwards, Lieberman, Gephardt, or Clark). So I suppose I can understand their cautiousness. But....

...at the very least, Kucinich, Moseley-Braun, and Sharpton should be vocally criticizing Lieberman. I doubt any of them have any delusions that they're going to actually get the nomination, so how would it hurt any of these candidates to call Holy Joe on his antics?

And if any of the candidates are afraid to criticize Lieberman's policy for fear of being labeled an "anti-semite," then that's political correctness at its worst! And if that's the underlying stigma of fear that we're going to allow ourselves to be held hostage to (being vilified just because you're critical of someone who *happens* to belong to a minority group), then I want nothing to do with the Democratic Party when it comes to presidential politics.

I'm still not confident that Lieberman won't sneak through the primaries and grab up the nomination. Isn't he still leading in nationwide polls? People are stupid, and they vote for candidates for the stupidest reasons. I can just imagine all of the soccer moms and blind partisans ignorantly casting their votes for Lieberman in the primaries simply because, "he was Gore's running mate, and he's a nice guy." :eyes:

May the deities help us all!

[salin]

7. Joe has done a number of things to discredit himself

with the democratic party primary voters. Including just the other day - suggesting that he would place the department of defense in the hands of favorite/populist maverick, but very conservative republican, John McCain. Ya Joe - may help ya in the general, but that does nothing when it FURTHER ALIENATES your from the democratic primary voters!

Kicker is... remembering how critical of how Gore ran the campaign (in which they won) because Gore ran too populist of a campaign... and now watching his campaign stagger - when he started out with the highest polling (due to name recognition), and the best shot at fundraising. Irony is alive and well and thriving in Joe Lieberman's campaign.

[LTR]

8. They're playing it smart

Giving him enough rope to hang himself.

[Name removed]

9. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[election_2004]

14. "anti-semitism"

See my above post:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php#601158

[Kamika]

11. I have to say.. why should they bother?

He's pretty much ruled himself out on his own accord

[Ripley]

12. Who do you think Sharpton means when he says..

Elephants wearing Donkey suits? I believe he is directly referring to Joe. But you're right, no one really swats back. I think they are just waiting for him to go away. They have to show a little deference because afterall he and Al did win in 2000.

[cosmicdot]

15. not to mention his being a Board member at the Nixon Center

with a bunch of Repukes ...

never can be mentioned too often

and, there must be an annual "fee" paid to Directors ... isn't that usual M.O.?

... and, we know how much Democrcats love Richard Milhous Nixon ...

how could one feel comfortable hobnobbing with an organization focused around one of the leaders of a string of on-going coups

Board of Directors Advisory Council

Honorary Chairman: Henry A. Kissinger

Chairman: Maurice R. Greenberg
Dwayne O. Andreas
Jeffrey L. Bewkes
Conrad M. Black
Charles G. Boyd
Tricia Nixon Cox
Julie Nixon Eisenhower
Robert F. Ellsworth (Vice Chairman)
Leslie H. Gelb
Henry A. Kissinger
Eugene K. Lawson
*Joseph I. Lieberman*
John McCain
Lionel H. Olmer
Peter G. Peterson
Richard Plepler
Pat Roberts
James Schlesinger
Brent Scowcroft
J. Robinson West
Dimitri K. Simes, Center President (Ex Officio)
John H. Taylor, Executive Director of Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace Foundation (Ex Officio)

Chairman: James Schlesinger
David Abshire
Richard V. Allen
Christopher Cox
John Deutch
David Eisenhower
Susan Eisenhower
Evan G. Greenberg
Lee H. Hamilton
Rita E. Hauser
Josef Joffe
Donald M. Kendall
Peter Kovler
Charles Krauthammer
Robert C. McFarlane
Janne Nolan
Joseph S. Nye, Jr.
Alexei K. Pushkov
John E. Rielly
Peter R. Rosenblatt
William V. Roth, Jr.
Thomas A. Russo
Angela Stent
Marin Strmecki
Yuli Vorontsov



http://www.nixoncenter.org/boardac.htm

[Zorra]

16. Apparently, Joe said he would appoint John McCain as

Secretary of Defense if he were elected. What an insult to our party. Any Democratic candidate that says that they will appoint a repulican to any post cannot be taken seriously, and cannot be trusted.

Imagine who his appointments for Supreme Court Justice might be.

Lieberman is history. Drop out now, Joe. I don't want to have to waste my time trying to prevent you from being nominated. Democrats have had enough of republicans ravaging our government and our country.

[Hippo_Tron]

18. Actually you are supposed to appoint a Republican to one cabinet post...

But generally it's not something as high as secretary of defense. Dubya appointed a dem. as secretary of transportation.

[FredScuttle]

27. I don't think it's a rule as much as it is a courtesy by the President...

and Clinton named William Cohen (R-Maine) as his Secy. of Defense in 1997

[Hippo_Tron]

17. Lieb won't win the nomination...

He was a good ticket balancer for Gore but that's about it. He's not even well known as a compromiser, just a GOP suck up.

[Gin]

19. he's a non issue...won't get the nomination...why bother..

gin

[onebigbadwulf]

20. He already lost

Why would anyone vote for a loser?

Attacking him is a waste of time. He's a pity candidate and only in there because the DEMs feel sorry for the poor bastard.

[chiburb]

21. Ignoring Joe isn't enough...

Try this analysis of how he's HURTING the Dems:

Snip:

Joseph Lieberman adds nothing to the Democrats' chances in 2004. He does, however, take things away. In fighting to the finish and losing the nomination, he will have irreparably weakened the winner. If he wins it, he will suck out something precious: the active enthusiasm of the unwealthy that is a center-left party's only natural advantage against a party of money, the Republicans.

How many Democrats will be willing to work their hearts out for the guy single-handedly responsible, in his kid-glove non-investigation as chair of the Senate Investigations Subcommittee, for the Bush administration emerging from the Enron scandal scot-free? How many, for the man whose most enduring work in the Senate was preserving the favorite accounting dodge, the non-expensing of stock options, of disgraced high-tech companies like Enron and Worldcom?

The senator from Connecticut must withdraw. He should do it fast.

(On edit: Thanks for the post. Excellent research!)

http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0343/perlstein.php

[LittleDannySlowhorse]

22. Because nobody takes him seriously

Not here on DU or anywhere else. Every one of his attacks backfires on him, and he has nothing but name recognition to coast on. Eventually, though, if he doesn't get the hint and drop out, they'd better take him down, because he's taking up time in debates that could be put to better use.

[Demobrat]

23. That's a good question. It made me laugh.

I hadn't even noticed that nobody was attacking poor Joe. But then, poor Joe isn't a threat to anybody so why waste precious air time on him?

[lapauvre]

24. I tried to post something similar to this

There are questions not being asked about Israel's thirty five
year, at least, skating and US taxpayer contribution.  Let's
not limit it to Lieberman.  Until ALL of the Democratic
candidates have been confronted with this question, I will
vote ABB (anybody but bush."

I am sixty-eight years old and have been watching Palestinians
throw rocks, from the rubble of their homes, against US
financed (and probably sold to Israel with our taxpayer money)
Israeli tanks, artillary, etc.  It is not NOW that arabic
people in support of Palestine are willing to blow themselves
up if they can just take some enemy with them.

Is it any different than our US troops who signed on and are
willing to fight, kill, and risk their own death.

I don't see a difference.

Except, we are continuing to fund Israel's armaments.  Is
Israel funding ours?  

Not anti-Judiac here, and hardly anti-semitic, as both arabs
and jews are semites.  Just questioning the male bovine
excrement we are being fed.  I am tired of it, personally. 

I wonder if I will be permitted to post this.

[lapauvre]

25. I guess I am not allowed to post

Damn, I must really be a pariah when I can't even support you.
 How do you get away with it?  Relatives or something?

[Cat Atomic]

26. Here's why:

I'll use an analogy.

A boat sinks in cold water, and 10 survivors are struggling to get a spot on a big piece of bouyant debris.

The only guys who have to claw and fight are the guys in the water. The ones with a spot only need to hang on until the poor bastards in the ocean freeze to death.

If you're already above the waterline, kicking will only get you wet.