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Tool-Trashing Time

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I never liked Joe “The Tool” Lieberman.  If you run that name (nickname included) on the search bar at the upper-right corner of this page, you will find a total of 13 previous entries wherein I discussed him in uncomplimentary terms.  What bugs me most about Lieberman is that so many people consider him as the personification of centrism.  I believe that Lieberman gives centrism a bad name because he is simply an opportunist.    The guy doesn’t really appear to stand for anything in particular – he is simply a tool for whatever lobbyist or other interest group is willing to play his quid pro quo game.  After Lieberman lost the Democratic Primary for his Senate seat in 2006, he chose to run as an Independent and in the process, he betrayed those individuals who contributed to his election campaign, believing that Lieberman would champion the causes he advanced before he had to sell his soul to Bush and Cheney in order to save his political hide.  It was only because Ned Lamont (the man who defeated him in the Democratic Primary) came down with a bad case of  The Smug – spending more time vacationing than campaigning for the November election – that Lieberman managed to win a fourth term as junior Senator from Connecticut.

Needless to say, Emily Bazelon’s recent article for Slate, “Good Riddance, Joe Lieberman – Why I loathe my Connecticut Senator” was a real treat.  It was nice to see that a good number of people were as thrilled as I to hear that The Tool was calling it quits.  While discussing the celebratory outpouring of enthusiasm by anti-Lieberman-ites Ms. Bazelon mentioned this:

Another friend, Judy Chevalier, burned up her iPad tonight when I asked her to enumerate why she hates Joe Lieberman.  She ticked off a half-dozen reasons and then said, “The thing is, I did not come up with most of these myself.  They come from many rounds of playing the peculiar Connecticut liberal cocktail party game ‘I hated Joe Lieberman before you hated Joe Lieberman.’ ”  Longtime Lieberman haters, she says, look all the way back to 1993, when Lieberman led a hedge-fund-friendly charge in the Senate against the Financial Accounting Standards Board, which at the time wanted to close the accounting loophole that let corporations duck the recording of stock options on their balance sheets.

As an aside, the first half of that passage was characterized as “the money quote” by the Red State blog and other far-right commentators, anxious to avenge Sarah Palin since her “crosshairs” SarahPac campaign ad was criticized after the attempted assassination of Representative Gabrielle Giffords.  The magic word, “hate” gave the hard right the opportunity to argue that “liberals hate politicians, too”.  Actually, the real “money quote” can be found by clicking on the highlighted language discussing the fight over the Financial Accounting Standards Board rules:

Corporate America aligned with the accounting industry to fight the FASB proposal, with the result that in 1994, the Senate, led by Senator Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.), passed a non-binding resolution condemning the proposal by a vote of 88-to-9.

“It wasn’t an accounting debate,” says Jim Leisenring, the vice chairman of FASB from 1988 to 2000.  “We switched from talking about, ‘Have we accurately measured the option?’ or, ‘Have we expensed the option on the proper date?’ to things like, ‘Western civilization will not exist without stock options,’ or, ‘There won’t be jobs anymore for people without stock options.’ … People tried to take the argument away from the accounting to be just plainly a political argument.”

Does that rhetoric sound familiar?

After his 2006 victory, Lieberman continued to betray the people of Connecticut by abandoning his duties in the Senate to follow John McCain all along the 2008 campaign trail (including McCain’s trip to Afganistan) in the hope of securing a place for himself in the would-be McCain administration.  The Tool knew he would never win a fifth term in the Senate.  His only hope was to latch on to McCain’s pantsleg and hang on for dear life.  In the wake of that fiasco, The Tool’s approval rating continued to slide and by October of 2010, it was down to 31 percent.  A fifth term in the Senate was definitely out of the question.  His campaign war chest could be put to better uses – such as buying “friendships” before beginning a new career as a lobbyist.

Despite Lieberman’s crucial effort in the repeal of the military’s “don’t ask – don’t tell” policy, it is interesting to observe how many gay people are willing to overlook that good deed while celebrating Lieberman’s retirement.  A review of the comments at the joemygod blog exposes these reactions:

Good riddance.  DADT capped an otherwise awful career as a spoiler.

*   *   *

Thanks for DADT, but not terribly sorry you’re leaving the Senate.  And I really didn’t want the anxiety of watching a 3-way race in CT, which might have sent a wingnut from the Right to the Senate.

*   *   *

good riddance to the man who killed the public option to satisfy his insurance industry friends in Connecticut. a terrible person

So much for that legacy thing   .   .   .

Daniela Altimari of The Hartford Courant’s CapitolWatch blog, revealed a wide spectrum of reactions to Lieberman’s announcement.  As one might expect, the remarks from politicians were painfully cordial, polite and not worth our time here.  I’ll provide you with two of the more interesting quotes:

“Joe Lieberman took millions from insurance companies, Wall Street banks, and other corporate interests – and then did their dirty work in Congress, including killing the public option.  As a result, Lieberman’s poll numbers were disastrous in Connecticut.  His decision to quit in the face of assured defeat is a huge victory for the progressive movement and all Americans who want Democrats to put regular families ahead of corporate interests.”

—  Keauna Gregory, Progressive Change Campaign Committee

*   *   *

“Of all the horrible things Joe Lieberman has done in his hideous career, depriving everyone of the joy at seeing him lose is near the top”

—  Glenn Greenwald of Salon (via Twitter)

The Connecticut Mirror provided these reactions:

“It’s the first thing he’s done in 10 years to make Connecticut Democrats completely happy.”

—  Bill Curry, former state comptroller, as quoted in The New York Times

*   *   *

“He couldn’t leave the Senate fast enough as far as I’m concerned. He’s not only driving Democrats nuts down here, but he’s become a right-wing extremist on everything except the environment and gay rights.”

—  Ralph Nader, as quoted in The Hartford Courant

*   *   *

“He will leave behind a long list of achievements, from helping to consolidate the nation’s intelligence gathering services in a way that appears to make it more difficult to gather intelligence, to threatening to filibuster the health care reform act until it had been watered down to suit his own high principles.  You will find it all in my upcoming book, ‘Everything Bad Is Joe Lieberman’s Fault.’ ”

—  Gail Collins, writing in The New York Times

As we approach The Tool’s final days in the Senate, I will be looking forward to similar tributes.


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A Loner Named Loughner

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In the aftermath of the attempted assassination of Representative Gabrielle Giffords and the fatal shootings of six other bystanders (including Federal Judge John Roll), a huge debate has erupted over the motives of the gunman (who left notes admitting his intent to kill Congresswoman Giffords).  The accused killer, Jared Loughner, is now being subjected to a great deal of scrutiny to ascertain whether he may have been motivated (to any extent) by Sarah Palin’s now-infamous midterm election campaign advertisement featuring a map with crosshairs over those Congressional Districts whose Representatives who were being “targeted” by SaraPAC (one of whom was Rep. Giffords).  Palin’s defenders and apologists have contended that there was nothing unusual about the rhetoric used by Palin throughout the 2010 campaign, during which time Palin attempted to establish herself as an influential “power broker” within the Republican Party.

Among the most specious defenses of Palin was the assertion made by SarahPAC staffer Rebecca Mansour, who claimed that the crosshairs on the map identifying the Congressional Districts of targeted Democrats were actually “surveyor’s symbols”.  Amanda Terkel of The Huffington Post had no trouble exposing the dishonesty of that claim.

In order to determine whether Jared Loughner’s videotaped shooting spree was politically motivated – or whether he was politically aligned with any group, a close analysis of his YouTube page can be helpful.  (Loughner also had a page on MySpace, which has been removed by that organization.)  Take a look at what can be gleaned from a review of Loughner’s YouTube page and ask yourself whether some of this stuff reminds you of anyone famous:

  1. He apparently did not expect to survive this event because his upload entitled, “Hello” began with the statement that what followed were his “final thoughts”.
  2. He constantly addressed his intended audience as “listener”, suggesting that he may have been emulating someone with a radio program.
  3. He opposes the use of fiat money, preferring instead, the use of currency based on gold or silver.
  4. He is an abstruse advocate of citing the United States Constitution in discussions of subjects that involve no Constitutional issue (e.g. the tuition at Pima Community College).
  5. On his YouTube page, Loughner uses his “electronic blackboard” to explain his theories about how the American public is being subjected to mind control.
  6. He is critical of what he describes as the poor grammatical skills of the people in District 8, while at the same time personally exemplifying the potential validity of that claim.
  7. He is apparently obsessed with transitive relations.  Nearly every assertion posted on his YouTube page is couched in terms describing some sort of transitivity.  Most noticeable among these was what I refer to as his “Transitive Law of Moneyprinting” — which must have scared the hell out of Ben Bernanke:

If you create one new currency then you’re able to create a second new currency.

If you’re able to create a second new currency then you’re able to create a third new currency.

You create one new currency.

Thus, you’re able to create a third new currency.

Any guesses as to who Jared Loughner’s hero might be?

It obviously does not take a licensed clinical psychotherapist to realize that Loughner is suffering from some sort of Axis II personality disorder.  Nevertheless, that does not excuse whomever may have been responsible from giving this guy that extra nudge from the realm of the delusional to the ranks of the homicidal.

Despite the claims of Sarah Palin’s apologists that the controversial “crosshairs” campaign advertisement was part of a “normal political discourse”, consider the following:

—  Representative Giffords complained about the ad during an interview conducted by Chuck Todd on MSNBC.  Here is what she said about the ad:

We’re on Sarah Palin’s targeted list.  But the thing is the way that she has it depicted has the crosshairs of a gun site over our district.  When people do that they’ve got to realize there’s consequences to that action.

In spite of the eerily prescient objection raised by Representative Giffords, Palin and her minions refused to remove the ad.

—  Two versions of the “crosshairs” ad remained posted on the Internet for 65 days after the mid-term elections were concluded.  This raises the question of whether Palin was attempting to provoke what Sharron Angle might describe as “a Second Amendment solution” to the continuing political viability of Representative Giffords.  The “political discourse” was over on November 4, 2010.  Why did SaraPAC wait until Gabrielle Giffords was actually shot in the head before a decision was made to take down the ads?

—  Regardless of whether Jared Loughner was motivated by the “crosshairs” ad campaign, the BBC News reported this interesting bit of information provided by the Pima County Sheriff:

Sheriff Dupnik said the congresswoman had been threatened by someone with a gun during her re-election campaign in November, adding that there had been other threats.

It should come as no surprise that Palin’s apologists are now criticizing Sheriff Dupnik for laying blame where it properly belongs.  Because Loughner had a history of smoking marijuana, Team Palin is now attempting to characterize Loughner as a “Leftist”.  Nevertheless, in the event that any of Loughner’s writings might reference an entity known as Aqua Buddha .  .  .  you know what will happen.

Prior to this tragic event, many astute conservatives, such as George Will, had pointed out that Sarah Palin was in over her head with her attempts to become a Presidential candidate.  Although elections often become “beauty contests”, the Republican Party’s cynical decision to actually put a former beauty contestant on their national ticket in 2008 didn’t work out too well.  Experience as a beauty contestant does not necessarily qualify one for a position of political leadership.  I have always considered Sarah Palin to be a gumball.  At this point in her political career, Palin has gone from being toast to toxic.  I cannot imagine why any political candidate with an I.Q. above 80 would want to have anything to do with her.  In the aftermath of the Tucson killings, Palin’s cherished “brand” may have no greater value than that of Lehman Brothers.

Let’s all hope that Gabrielle Giffords has a successful recovery and that the grieving relatives and friends of those slain in this tragedy can regain the strength to continue enjoying their lives to the fullest extent possible.


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