Okay -- I'm sick of the Lieberman bashing

[liberalpragmatist]

I'm not even a Joe Lieberman supporter! He ranks 5th on my scale, behind Kerry, Edwards, Gephardt, and Dean. I'm a good deal to the left of him on the issues and I find him charismatically-challenged and disagree with his characterizing Dean as an unelectable "extremist".

Lieberman's wrong abt that in my opinion, and I don't agree with all he says. Yet, at the same time, I am SICK and TIRED of people bashing Joe Lieberman as though he were to the right of Attila the Hun! Anybody can see when you examine his voting record that HE IS A DEMOCRAT -- a mainstream one too! He is the most conservative democrat running (on most scales, some rank Graham and/or Edwards as more so), but he is still a CENTRIST, slightly left of center, centrist-conservative on economic policy and socially moderate. He supports gay rights, abortion rights, and gun control. Economically, he's no more conservative than Bill Clinton, nor is he any more conservative than Al Gore pledged to be in the 2000 campaign! I certainly don't agree w/ everything the man does, but I find it incredibly unfair when people say that Lieberman is a Republican. He voted against the Bush tax cuts for the same reasons all the Democrats opposed it.

With his voting record and his positions, there is no doubt in my mind that if he WERE a Republican, there'd be thread after thread treating him like Chafee and wishing out loud that he would switch parties. The man IS NOT A Republican -- you may disagree with him, but to cast doubt on the fact that there are many, many Democrats with views identical to his -- voters who are democrats b/c they, on the whole, agree w/ us far more than the Republicans, who they see as to the right of them. You all know that we need these voters to win in 2004, in addition to the LEFT. Lieberman is perfectly at home as a Democrat, and though I won't be rooting for him in the primaries, I will enthusiastically support him if he is the nominee (true, I'll be enthusiastic abt ANY nominee -- enthusiastic at getting the chance to kick Bush outta the WH).

Ok -- I had to get that off my chest. I expect a million and a half flames now. Please refrain from flaming -- if you feel the urge to, just don't post anything. I want some well-thought out, intelligent comments about Joe Lieberman.

[MercutioATC]

1. You bastard! How dare you post your opinion here!

I'm guilty of the occasional slap at Lieberman, but I agree that he's not really a Republican. My brother-in-law is a Jewish Republican. He's also politically active and while I might not always agree with his views (o.k., almost never), I respect his knowledge of issues and know that he's put thought into his positions. He says that Lieberman has put himself in a difficult position...orthodox Jew/Democrat in a time when Dems are trying to draw clear lines betwen themselves and Republicans. I think that's valid. Lieberman wouldn't look NEARLY as conservative to many of us were we not trying to distance ourselves from conservative idealogy so vehemently.

[jiacinto]

2. You won't get that here

Lieberman is the anti-christ and/or Satan here and nothing will change that.

[maggrwaggr]

6. he's considered a bit of a traitor

So that elicits strong emotions.

There's not much worse than a traitor.

[diamondsoul]

3. He just doesn't register much reaction from me

I'm not sure why that is. Maybe because I don't hear him saying anything that jibes with my views on the issues. I do have to wonder if I'm just so inspired by Kucinich that the others don't have much of a chance to get to me.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

4. We don't need to bash Lieberman,

We don't need to bash Lieberman, he does it himself every time he speaks. All your points are a fine reason for him to stay a Democratic Senator. His Presidential bid is ludicrous.

[wtmusic]

5. How can you bash an idiot like Lieberman?

But seriously, the guy's always sucking up to the latest press frenzy. His 'ideas' always come out about a month after someone else has already thought of them. Is there an echo in here?

[DedEye]

7. My utter distate of him springs from his stance...

On video games. He's been one of the most outspoken critics of violent video games out of every talking head and politician. Democrat that he is, I don't like having him in my party. However, that doesn't mean I'd like to see the repubs gain another senate seat by seeing him switch.

[tedoll78]

8. My lack of support..

Is more for the style of his campaign and his Iraq vote. I'm not much of a one-issue man, and if he were to support the war without being so loud and whiny about it, it'd be a lot more tolerable. The way he nuzzles his chin into Dubya's bosom.. no thanks.

Still, I very much like his voting record in Congress, and if he's the nominee, I won't have to hold my nose when voting for him. He'd be infinitely better than Dubya. That's more of a testament as to how very HORRIBLE Bush has been.

[George_Bonanza]

9. Excellent, great post, should open some eyes

If you look at Lieberman's record carefully, his voting record is pretty liberal. He fully deserves to be labelled a Democrat. I think I can forgive him for his anti-video game stance awhile back. After all, Al Gore's wife tried to punish Judas Priest, but we seemed to get over it. I think we should put that in the past.

If Lieberman got the ticket, I don't think Dem voters should be so outraged in intentionally letting Bush win by not voting. Lieb's a vast improvement over Bush anyday. That's ridiculous. Lieberman may not be perfect, but he's hardly the devil that should weigh against your conscience so much that you'd be willing to burn your house in order to save it. Not by a long shot.

This article by MSNBC, http://www.msnbc.com/news/928307.asp, shows the limited difference between the "conservative" Lieberman and the "liberal" Dean.

However, I plead Lieberman to shut up about Dean. It's obvious he has no clue on Dean's stances, or else, he wouldn't be labelling him some liberal wacko that will destroy the party. That image is so March 2003.

[CarlBallard]

10. Agreed

I've been trying to make similar posts whenever I saw a Lieberman bashing thread. I'd point to the American Conservative Union giving him a 20% lifetime rating. I've complained to no end about the phrase Republican light. It seems to me that even though he isn't perfect, he's not only a damn spot better than Bush, he's not bad in his own right. I've also asked the Lieberman supporters on the page (and there are one or two) to point to this stuff instead of just saying he's electable. But really, shouldn't us folks who are favoring other people not have to do that?

[unfrigginreal]

11. As long as Joe continues to bash...

then I'll continue to bash him. He is trying to position himself as the only Democratic candidate that is not a left wing wacko. That just plain sucks.

[Larkspur]

12. You forgot that Lieberman led the crusade to override Clinton's veto of

the bill to deregulate the accounting industry. This act led to the current crop of corporate scandals we have today.

Lieberman, as reported by Michele Jacklin, the Hartford Courat political columnist, was more concerned with stock options for the corporate fat cats than he was about workers losing their jobs.

Lieberman is an "emergency Republican" for his corporate donors.

[GOPBasher]

13. I always defend Lieberman

because of all the reasons you just mentioned. I do have to say that I'm really upset at the way he's going about this campaign. He tries to say that Dean is some fringe left-wing nutcase, when that's not true at all. He always balenced the budget in Vermont and cut taxes. He's also pro-gun. That doesn't sound much like a left wing nut to me.

It's true that there is much less difference between Dean and Lieberman than everyone seems to think. But, if that's true, Lieberman should aknowledge that as well.

[George_Bonanza]

16. Agreed, Lieb is totally wrong on Dean

I get pissed off when Lieberman says Dean's too extremist. That's just so untrue. It just further spreads the false image and confusion of the ultra liberal Dean, instead of the more truthful centrist Dean. He has said it over and over, Dean has, that he's on the center, but nobody wants to listen!

[DagmarK]

14. He bashes me and every other liberal dem........

tit for tat.......

*

[DrFunkenstein]

15. A Lurch To The Left Will Destroy The Party

Liberman is the only man that can save the Party from the suicidal tendencies of Howard Dean.

<>

[Kanola]

17. I am not a Lieberman supporter but will not engage in future disagreements

[SyracuseDemocrat]

18. You're absolutely right...

Joe Lieberman is a solid Democrat, and I will support him unconditionally if he gets the Democratic nomination.