MWM seeks strong and muscular political party

[BurtWorm]

Very astute observation by Rosa Brooks of Democracy Arsenal:


http://www.democracyarsenal.org/2007/03/mwm_seeks_stron.html

Hey Republicans: feeling a little unloved lately? Don't lose hope: Lonely Joe Lieberman's available, and he wants to be swept off his feet by a political party with a "strong and muscular" approach to foreign policy.

Hey, GOP, I think he's talking about you! Look, I know some people-- well, okay, a lot of people-- think you don't have a lot going on upstairs. But don't lose heart: there are those who like that in a political party!

- Seriously, folks: when are we going to stop treating US foreign policy as a chest-beating contest? With all due respect to our friends at ThinkProgress, we don't need to respond to Lieberman's coy little hints by insisting that "the current Democratic presidential candidates want to sharply reduce or eliminate the U.S. presence in Iraq. That is strong and muscular." That misses the point.

I'm as fond of "strong and muscular" as the next girl, but not as the measure of US foreign policy. To paraphrase Zbigniew Brzezinksi, we need to resist efforts to frame policy debates in terms of strong versus weak, or hard versus soft power: the real question is whether we're going to be smart, or stupid. I don't know about Joe, but I'll take smart over stupid any day of the week.

[Bitwit1234]

1. Liberman's problem

Bush and the republicans gave him creditibilty by pushing him forward trying to say some democrats were on their side. Now that the don't need him anymore he is trying to jump back into the limelight. He wants and needs the attention. Change butthole and get striped of your committee and then sit in the shadows the rest of your term.

[Dhalgren]

2. The problem is that if he changes party affiliation, the Democrats lose the majority...oops.

[Rydz777]

3. Lieberman's string

Lieberman's string is running out. Odds are very strong that the Democrats will increase their hold on the Senate next year. Only 12 Democrats are up for re-election (many from safe seats) and 21 Repubs are up, quite a few from vulnerable seats. Lieberman's leverage comes from the present one seat majority and the Democratic majority is going to get bigger.