Rahm Emmanuel, correctly observing that proximity to the president will be toxic this November:
“This shows what blind loyalty to George Bush and being his love child means,” said Representative Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, the leader of the Democratic House Congressional campaign. “This is not about the war. It’s blind loyalty to Bush.”
The Republican party equals Bush. For example these bits of craven capitulation are especially amusing, if also tragic. Americans hate Bush. Breaking with longstanding tradition it appears that Democrats may grasp the obvious sufficiently to capitalize on that. A bit faster on the pick-up, this season’s GOP candidates (including, amazingly, Rick Santorum) have gotten lost in traffic, made inflexible appointments and scheduled middle-of-the-night invite-only fundraisers to avoid being seen with the president in public. Even Ken Mehlman suddenly wants people to think that the GOP welcomes (cough) independent thinking.
George Stephanopolous, today:
According to a close Lieberman adviser, the President’s political guru, Karl Rove, has reached out to the Lieberman camp with a message straight from the Oval Office: “The boss wants to help. Whatever we can do, we will do.”
Who wants to bet that this close Lieberman advisor will take part in the mass exodus that Lieberman’s staff threatened rather than work against the Democratic party? Something tells me that Lieberman did not authorize this leak.
But heck, as long as Republicans want to throw spoilers into this year’s contests rather than face their opponents honestly, let’s help a brother out. What sort of help should Karl Rove give? I think that with Lieberman’s coming staff shortages Rove should send over Sue Ralston. Discuss.
Dave
Well Bush himself isn’t running for re-election, maybe Karl himself can spare some cycles to help out.
keatssycamore
Of course Rahm would spin it that way, but it makes no sense. Proximity to Bush in a Democrat primary is far more of a liability than the same proximity in a general election. Because all the Dems hate Bush. Darrell told me so.
Heck, by this logic the fact that Chaffee is now trailing his more Conservative Bush mold challenger proves that proximity to the President is needed to win in November.
Andrew
I think Joe and Katherine Harris should birth a savior/love-child manimal hybrid that is 120% loyal to W.
Ancient Purple
Why wouldn’t there be a mass exodus from the Lieberman camp? The Lieberman staff had better realize that they will never work in Democratic circles again if they stick with Holy Joe on his independent campaign.
Unless they are foolish enough to believe that the Connecticut for Lieberman Party is going to be the new third party in America.
Punchy
Fixed.
ThymeZone
Like I said, I think Joe will melt down now.
The ground has shifted under his feet, and he is going to do some serious flailing before he falls all the way into the crevasse that is opening up under him.
This gaffe today is just the beginning.
Pb
He’s been self-destructing for quite some time now, but this is the first time he’s really had to pay a price, and I don’t think he’s going to like it. I’ll make the popcorn!
ThymeZone
From Tim’s Carpetbagger link.
It is so over for Joe, and this is just the beginning.
Apparently, he is going to go down ugly. Fine with me, the uglier the better. Every minute of his ugly is another opportunity for another politician, Donkey and Elephant, to get the point: The country is done with the bullshit. Move on, to coin a phrase.
ThymeZone
Word.
carpeicthus
Does anyone have a link for that great old cartoon that points out when you say “The Democrat Party,” you invariably sound like an asshole?
skip
Tony Snow, whose press conferences are more like stump speeches, had a nice spin on it today.
He said the close election shows the democratic split on the war is 50/50.
Nice. What a putz.
Derrick
The old quote is something like “watch what people do and not what they say” to judge their true feelings. Look at the number of Republican congressman in blue to purple states who won’t be seen in public with W. These are the same people who were begging to get him in town during 2002 and 2004. Face it, Bush is toxic at this point and even Republican’s know it. Chaffe’s challenger didn’t embrace Bush, he just proclaimed himself as a true conservative with the Club for Growth behind him.
Incumbents should be very afraid at this point. The point has been made today that the last time 3+ incumbents lost primary challenges was in 1994. People are pissed and there not going to take it anymore.
Paul L.
Who is Ross Perot?
As for Lieberman I’ll not cry too much over his defeat.
“Good riddance.
Look, Lieberman is a likeable guy (in the same way, as the lefty bloggers have noted, that Willie Tanner was). But he embodies so much of what’s wrong with Washington. He’s the prototypical David Broder candidate, a big government liberal who’s willing to engage in magnanimous gestures of bipartisanship . . . on issues where Republicans also support big government. So he’s cool with bombing and nation building, and state-sponsored health care. He’s okay with government censorship of video games and cable TV, and heavy-handed regulation of business.
Golly. What a moderate!
In other words, he’s wrong on every issue. He’s a culture warrior, a values cop, a Nanny Statist, and a big government foreign policy hawk. He favors high taxes, and a massive welfare state. He’s pro-pork, pro-status quo, and pro-business as usual.”
Nutcutter
Well, you know that the line was cooked up beforehand.
The real point is, he’s an irrelevant putz. And in three months, all of those whackjobs in the White House will be irrelevant, to a large extent.
LITBMueller
Actually, what this all confirms is “Bush equals Bush.” What I mean by that, is, Bush is all about himself. He does whatever the hell he wants, without taking into account the Republicans in Congress (examples: immigration, torture, stem cell research).
The White House has worked incredibly hard to surround Bush only with those that are completely loyal to him – from the highest White House officials down to NASA bureacrats and even Park Service rangers.
Isn’t it amazing that Rove would be willing to bend over backward to help a Democrat keep his seat? This isn’t about the Republican party, or the Democratic Party. For the White House, its about maintaining the Cult of Bush.
That begs the question: “why is that so important?” Its easy to let your imagination run wild… ;)
Pb
This is just too rich…
— All quotes by Joe Lieberman, in 1988. As ye sow, so shall ye reap, Joe.
keatssycamore
I need to fix my previous comment because it’s sooo wrong. I misread the poll I saw about Chaffee. That poll was Chaffee against a Democrat in the general election. Not a poll of Chaffee versus whack job in the primary. Sorry.
Pb
keatssycamore,
Here you go:
Par R
While lines like this get Tim and most of the moonbat regulars all hot and excited, I’m not sure how well it will play out in the world where real Americans live and work.
Pb
Par R,
Tell it to Coulter, Limbaugh, Mehlman, Malkin, O’Reilly, Cheney, Darrell, Mac Buckets, and… yourself!
Ancient Purple
I’ve taken the liberty of bolding the words above that having nothing to do with Par R.
Mike S
Couldn’t President Bush just nullify the primary? It’s not as if he is afraid to ignore the constitution.
Tim F.
LOL. In a less civilized environ somebody might tell you to go Cheney yourself.
The Other Steve
– General(ret.) Wesley Clark
The Other Steve
When you’ve got an environment where over 50% of the people strongly disapprove of something… The fact is you aren’t in the mainstream by claiming you strongly approve.
Just might want to keep that in mind, Par T.
Perry Como
Much like global warming, being against the war requires 100% consensus for the idea to be taken seriously.
Pooh
Wow, Paul L actually posted something that makes sense. Of course he didn’t actually, you know, write any of it, but it’s actually worth RTWT at his link…
Andrew
Lieberman comes off as the most self-satisfied, smug arsehole in the universe everytime I see him talk. Like just now on the Newshour.
However, this is also a wonderful opportunity for a new stupid test!
If you like Joe Lieberman because he’s a moderate, tough on terrorism centrist, YOU’RE STUPID! You, Marty Peretz, and Jon Chait can cry yourself to sleep every time we don’t bomb a new country.
(This replaces the previous test question concerning intelligent design.)
Pooh
Speaking of Marty, he’s the asshole of the week.
ThymeZone
Holy Bat, Crapman.
Did ya see the Chris Matthews smackdown of Ken Mehlman today?
Jesus. If this is what the GOP has for this cycle, they are certainly toast.
Mehlman had to dodge rotten fruit to keep from basically saying that Ronald Reagan caused Arab terrorism.
You, because he cut and run from Lebanon. Which, of course, he did.
Hilarious. Mehlman tries to support the idiotic comments of Snow, and gets snared by Matthews like a hungry fish.
Tsulagi
How well will it play? I’ll take a little stab at answering that.
Of course you have one large self-lobotomized segment of the population firmly ensconced in their auto fellating message echo chambers that make them feel all good and tingly. They’ll wait for the pre-recorded message to know how that love child thing will play with them.
Then you have the majority of the population that now see little Bush as the lying, gutless, greatest ooze of spoiled brat baby shit ever to be propped upright. They may think that love-child statement is understated, but it’ll be okay with them.
ThymeZone
But … wait! The Giant Jackalope is being prepped in the pens just off the yard.
John Fund describes a coming — imminent — “crisis” with Iran, in which Iran is seen as attacking Israel By Proxy and the United States has to “engage.”
I think he tips the GOP hand. They intend to link Iran with the mess we’ve created over there, and then point to Lamont as the poster boy for Cut and Run, which as we all know, leads to “another 911.”
If you think I am making this up …. well, you are partly right. It is being made up, but by Republicans, not by me.
Giant Jackalopes coming to a theater near you.
Perry Como
With WMDs on their freakin’ heads.
This administration reminds me of dotcom conslutants. They would come into a company and make a huge mess, charging obscene amounts of money. Then they would offer to fix the mess for even more money and the company had to pay since it was for proprietary software (Vignette anyone?). More often than not the “fix” remained a huge clusterfuck after they were gone.
Bush foreign policy: Kind of like Vignette
Machs
Now here’s a bright, independent riser sure to give Dennis Kucinich a run for his 10th Congressional seat.
capelza
Sort of off topic, though Joe brought it up elsewhere. Anyone here from Oregon or the PNW remember that Hatfield was getting the cold shoulder from the Newt GOP before he retired? Because he didn’t tow the party line? Voting against the first Iraq war didn’t endear him, but after that there was some noise. I’d appreciate any response, thanks.
Andrew
Sweet, sweet Joementum!
ThymeZone
From Andrew’s link.
Well, maybe “strong national defense” means not bogging the country and the military down in useless wars that are ill concieved and poorly executed, and then staying engaged for years with no particular end in sight?
Maybe “strong national defense” means what it meant when Bush’s father decided not to go to Baghdad? Maybe it means what Colin Powell told the stupid sonofabitch president it meant before he threw us into this war? Namely, knowing when to hold ’em, and when to fold ’em.
Maybe “staying the course” doesn’t work in the nation’s defense any better than it works in gambling at a Las Vegas casino? Maybe “strong defense” means knowing when to cut one’s losses and move on? As opposed, you know, to throwing more and more resources at a bottomless pit of clusterfucked chaos?
I’m just asking.
Andrew
Oh no! Joe’s web site is still under attack by the evil forces of Ned Lamont.
Luckily, his new campaign has multiple sites up and running!
DougJ
RINO.
RINO and a half.
RINO except for the WWIII stuff.
Kind of a RINO — he thinks we shouldn’t nuke Iran, only use conventional weapons.
RINO — doesn’t like Joe Lieberman.
RINO.
RINO — supports gay marriage.
Will someday have a gay marriage.
RINO — listens to too much Elvis Costello.
Nope, no real Republicans in this thread.
rachel
Andrew:
Of course he fired his campaign staff.
1) They are Democrats (we must suppose), and he is no longer the Democrat candidate. Better to fire them before they quit because that way he can claim…
2) …they didn’t do that good a job.
ThymeZone
Mehlman spoke today on Hardball. Matthews nailed him with this stuff, asking pointedly whether Lamont was to be charged with being weak on defense unless he supported the particular “no end in sight” strategy of Bush, and no other strategy. Mehlman repeated the talking points. Matthews then nailed Mehlman with a charge that under these rules, Ronald Reagan must be charged with capitulating to Arab terrorism because he cut and ran from Lebanon after the Marine bombing there. Mehlman again recited the talking points.
BTW, tipping point fans, Matthews basically endorsed Lamont and said that he couldn’t “endorse” him but was really glad that he was running. We haven’t seen Matthews this chipper in a long time.
LBNL, I mention again, Mehlman’s linking of problems in the Middle East now to Iran’s “war by proxy” on Israel. This is the big jackalope that the Republicans want to float to the election in November. This is probably the reason why the US keeps talking but doing exactly nothing to advance a cease fire or other abatement of hostilities in Lebanon now. Bush’s interests are best served by having a war going in the Middle East that can be marketed, since the one in Iraq is in the shitter. Even if the new war did nothing but take lens time away from the Iraq war, it would be serving its purpose to the Administration.
Pb
ThymeZone,
Yeah, I saw that, it was great; I wrote about it too: The GOP Lets Osama bin Laden Run Their Foreign Policy.
SeesThroughIt
Oh, tut tut. “Strong national defense” = Bush. That’s it. That’s all. Everything else is just terrorist-coddling pussy shit.
Welcome to the Rightwingoverse!
ats
Lieberman is Sabbatai Sebi, returning to lead the neocons to a new Independent Promised Land.*
*Water of the Litani River included.
ats
Andrew wrote, “I think Joe and Katherine Harris should birth a savior/love-child manimal hybrid that is 120% loyal to W.”
There went MY Fruit Loops.