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You are here: Home / We both already know how it goes

We both already know how it goes

by DougJ|  March 11, 20133:26 pm| 123 Comments

This post is in: Nobody could have predicted, Our Failed Political Establishment

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I was never able to hate Joe Lieberman as much I hate Evan Bayh, mostly because Joementum was so comical to me. Commenters did a good job of describing why they felt differently — Connecticut is a liberal state (unlike Indiana), shanda fur die goyim, and Lieberman was a freaking Democratic vice-presidential nominee.

Anyway, no one could have predicted this:

Former Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) is joining the American Enterprise Institute, the conservative think tank announced Monday.

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123Comments

  1. 1.

    Schlemizel

    March 11, 2013 at 3:29 pm

    Actually I expected he would get a hammock at AIPAC but this is probably better as he will still be ID’ed as a liberal who supports AEI insanity whereas at AIPAC he would just be another American Jew supporting the Likkud.

  2. 2.

    dedc79

    March 11, 2013 at 3:29 pm

    I can’t believe nobody in the insurance industry hired him. Chris Dodd got a way more lucrative post-senate job when he retired.

    Going to AEI is maybe one step up from being a paid commentator at Fox News.

  3. 3.

    BGinCHI

    March 11, 2013 at 3:30 pm

    He’s also making out with chairing some international group that’s supposed to hide his grift with Jon Kyl.

    Or something.

    How about a revolving door rule. You have to work in retail or as waitstaff for a year after leaving the Senate. After you leave the House you have to work in a nursing home.

  4. 4.

    scav

    March 11, 2013 at 3:31 pm

    Baby needs a new pair of gilded shoes.

  5. 5.

    billgerat

    March 11, 2013 at 3:31 pm

    Surprise, surprise, surprise! [/gomerpyle]

  6. 6.

    ? Martin

    March 11, 2013 at 3:32 pm

    Yeah, I was betting on AIPAC, but AEI was on my short list for him. He’ll fit in quite well with the neocons, making the ‘liberal’ case for nuking Iran.

  7. 7.

    Zifnab

    March 11, 2013 at 3:33 pm

    Former Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) is joining the American Enterprise Institute, the conservative think tank announced Monday.

    What’s the opposite of a spit-take? I feel the need for physical comedy to express exactly how not-surprised I am.

  8. 8.

    Disco

    March 11, 2013 at 3:34 pm

    When you say “no one” I assume you mean “everyone.”

  9. 9.

    jl

    March 11, 2013 at 3:34 pm

    @BGinCHI:

    ” After you leave the House you have to work in a nursing home. ”

    Ex_Housies would have to work as staff in the Senate for a year? No way that will fly. That would hurt the dignity of the people’s chamber.

  10. 10.

    jl

    March 11, 2013 at 3:36 pm

    Also too, Since he was the drone king of the Senate, I assumed it would be something in domestic security.

    AEI seems like of low rent for an important august eminence like Joementum.

  11. 11.

    anu noy

    March 11, 2013 at 3:36 pm

    But holy Joe was wiith us on everything but the war.

  12. 12.

    balconesfault

    March 11, 2013 at 3:36 pm

    Huh … the AEI, which exorcised David Frum as a dangerous liberal, embraces Lieberman. Shocking.

  13. 13.

    Ted & Hellen

    March 11, 2013 at 3:37 pm

    Gosh, and who was it that Joementum the Douche guided and molded as his protege?

    For whom did Joe serve as a mentor and Senate godfather?

    Hmmm…I can’t quite remember…

    …but nothing to see here, I’m certain. Just as in the case of Jeremiah Wright. The characteristics of one’s mentors say nothing, nothing I say, about one’s own way of thinking. No nothing at all, I tell you.

  14. 14.

    Corner Stone

    March 11, 2013 at 3:38 pm

    @BGinCHI: Just a pipe dream but I wish there was a law forcing them to work for a year at a min wage job *before* they could take any other employment. Not a no show job either where they could live off their investments and wait, but had to clock in and out. Either stay retired or work it out for a year.
    I know it will never happen and is complete slash/pr0n fiction but if they lived large representing “teh people” they should look those people in the face every day for a year before they move on to CitiBank or Hartford, etc.

  15. 15.

    DougJ, Friend of Hamas

    March 11, 2013 at 3:38 pm

    @? Martin:

    He’s probably seen as too divisive by AIPAC. They’re a smart group that knows how to work about parties (unfortunately).

  16. 16.

    Culture of Truth

    March 11, 2013 at 3:38 pm

    Lieberman could sometimes be a good liberal, going back a long way, whereas Evan Bayh was always a conservative Dem who lived to push the Democratic party to the right.

    Having said that, Bayh could have served himself by switching to the GOP, especially after the Dems lost 49 states in 1984, but he stuck with Democrats, even in a red state, and after all, he was born into it.

    Holy Joe, for all of his liberalism is his youth, devolved into a sanctimonious necon, an insufferable hawk, who lived to whine and moan about the party that put on the freaking Presidential ticket, eventually embracing his inner asshole fully by committing as Independent, which no doubt made him feel pure and above-it-all, but there is still something to be said for loyalty. Not to mention he’s was clearly wrong on most big issues.

    Anyway, there are some people who are good liberals but people you wouldn’t want to hang out with, and given the choice I’d share a beer or at least a glass of milk with Evan Bayh than Joe.

  17. 17.

    ? Martin

    March 11, 2013 at 3:40 pm

    @balconesfault: Frum was opposed to blowing everybody up as part of our ongoing global goodwill initiative. They have standards there at AEI.

  18. 18.

    kindness

    March 11, 2013 at 3:40 pm

    Fear not Juicers. Soon enough Joe will be embarrassing AEI, just like he did Democrats.

  19. 19.

    Peter

    March 11, 2013 at 3:41 pm

    @Ted & Hellen: Seek help. This isn’t the behavior of a healthy person.

  20. 20.

    Corner Stone

    March 11, 2013 at 3:42 pm

    @jl:

    Since he was the drone king of the Senate

    Joey L was a beekeeper?

  21. 21.

    Chris

    March 11, 2013 at 3:44 pm

    I have more loathing for Lieberman than for the entire Republican Party put together simply for the fact that he took the lead of the Blue Dog faction in the health care debate. He wasn’t the only one, but he was the chief one and as far as I’m concerned, nothing he’s ever done on any other issue can make up for that.

  22. 22.

    MattF

    March 11, 2013 at 3:44 pm

    We’ll see if Joe sheds his few remaining librul fig-leaves once his new colleagues at AEI explain real economics to him.

  23. 23.

    Corner Stone

    March 11, 2013 at 3:44 pm

    I really haven’t been happy with Fat Al Gore for quite some time.
    This isn’t making me rethink that position.

  24. 24.

    MikeJ

    March 11, 2013 at 3:44 pm

    @Corner Stone:

    Just a pipe dream but I wish there was a law forcing them to work for a year at a min wage job *before* they could take any other employment.

    I’d make it before they could take their house seat, not when they leave it. November election, then at least 6 months of “Welcome to Chili’s, my name is Joe and I’ll be your server today.”

  25. 25.

    gene108

    March 11, 2013 at 3:45 pm

    It’d be great, if Lieberman could use the same Joementum that got DADT repealed at the AEI and throw down a case for gay rights and the pro-choice agenda. It’d be wonderful for the AEI to come in favor of Roe v. Wade and gay marriage.

    I’m not holding by breath, but on social issues he pretty much matches the Democratic platform.

  26. 26.

    Ted & Hellen

    March 11, 2013 at 3:45 pm

    @Peter:

    So while BJ Bots are laughing/pointing at/mocking/condeming Lieberman, we are also going to pretend the same laughingstock wasn’t Obama’s Senate mentor, for whom he campaigned against Ned Lamont in CT and explicitly referred to as “my mentor?”

    Of course we are…

  27. 27.

    BGinCHI

    March 11, 2013 at 3:46 pm

    @Corner Stone: I’d like to see a chart of the average income of House members relative to the national average over time. Senate too.

  28. 28.

    Todd

    March 11, 2013 at 3:49 pm

    This is the kind of story that inspires me to donate money to both Hezbollah AND Hamas.

  29. 29.

    Corner Stone

    March 11, 2013 at 3:49 pm

    @MikeJ: I get your point but honestly, most of the egos going for public office these days would fuck a different corpse every day before being sweared in. If that’s what it took.
    I want them to have a break in power and connections after their time fucking us all right in the ass. And not the good kind of consensual sex.
    I want their constituents to be able to look them in the eye, like Gary Condit at the donut shop, and tell them they know what they did.

  30. 30.

    liberal

    March 11, 2013 at 3:50 pm

    @? Martin:
    Exactly. AEI is neocon central.

  31. 31.

    Cacti

    March 11, 2013 at 3:50 pm

    @Ted & Hellen:

    So while BJ Bots are laughing/pointing at/mocking/condeming Lieberman, we are also going to pretend the same laughingstock wasn’t Obama’s Senate mentor, for whom he campaigned against Ned Lamont in CT and explicitly referred to as “my mentor?”

    Jane should have shown Joe in blackface more often. That surely would have put Nutroots Ned over the top.

  32. 32.

    schrodinger's cat

    March 11, 2013 at 3:52 pm

    Why did Al Gore select him as the VP. Talk about an own goal. I never did like him. On the other hand many of my Republican friends liked Joe L during the 2000 elections.

    ETA: I have an allergy to moral scolds and I remember Joe L being one, after the Lewinsky scandal.

  33. 33.

    mk3872

    March 11, 2013 at 3:52 pm

    So finally we can put to bed any notion that Obama had a “60 vote filibuster-proof majority” in 2010, as many on the Professional Left like to argue ??

  34. 34.

    Villago Delenda Est

    March 11, 2013 at 3:54 pm

    Yet another good reason for a meteor strike on AEI.

  35. 35.

    Cacti

    March 11, 2013 at 3:54 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    Why did Al Gore select him as the VP.

    He scolded Clinton’s penis.

  36. 36.

    FlipYrWhig

    March 11, 2013 at 3:56 pm

    @Ted & Hellen: You are taking an exalted view of what a “Senate mentor” does or might do. Here’s an article from Politico from 2009: Won’t you be my mentor? If, as reported in that piece, Tom Carper and Olympia Snowe were jointly “mentoring” Johnny Isaakson, that doesn’t suggest any “guiding,” “molding,” or “godfathering.”

  37. 37.

    Culture of Truth

    March 11, 2013 at 3:57 pm

    Of course Obama sought him out. He was the VP nominee 4 years earlier. One problem I had with Joe was his lack of loyalty. It’s not a reflection on Obama Joe skewed right.

  38. 38.

    Hill Dweller

    March 11, 2013 at 3:57 pm

    @mk3872: Even if you count Lieberman as a “liberal”, there were 60 members in the Democratic caucus for a grand total of 72 days in 2009.

    But the larger issue is Republican nihilism, which the Village refuses to acknowledge.

  39. 39.

    Mandalay

    March 11, 2013 at 3:59 pm

    @Ted & Hellen:

    You make a valid point:

    Then, with applause beginning to build, he finished the thought: “I am absolutely certain that Connecticut’s going to have the good sense to send Joe Lieberman back to the United States Senate.” That time, people cheered loudly.

    Well I guess they did send him back, but not exactly in the way that Obama was proposing.

  40. 40.

    Nemo_N

    March 11, 2013 at 4:00 pm

    This only proves how bipartisan he is.

  41. 41.

    Comrade Dread

    March 11, 2013 at 4:00 pm

    Should fit in nicely with all the other sanctimonious gasbags there.

  42. 42.

    Scott S.

    March 11, 2013 at 4:00 pm

    @Peter: It should be noted, however that it’s exactly the kind of behavior people should expect from Republican trolls…

  43. 43.

    gene108

    March 11, 2013 at 4:01 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    Why did Al Gore select him as the VP. Talk about an own goal. I never did like him. On the other hand many of my Republican friends liked Joe L during the 2000 elections.

    Gore figured the election would be won by picking off middle-of-the-road independents and/or conservative independents, who had recently identified as Democrats.

    I personally didn’t have a strong opinion on Lieberman until the VP debate, in 2000, where he managed to make Dick Cheney seem “cuddly and loveable”. His perpetual “droopy Dog” impersonation really doesn’t do him any favors.

  44. 44.

    Keith G

    March 11, 2013 at 4:01 pm

    I was never able to hate Joe Lieberman as much I hate Evan Bayh

    For me it was just the opposite:

    1. Growing up next to Indiana I know what a mind fuck that state is. We Buckeyes always felt Hoosiers put the rash in white trash. Evan is a dick, but he comes bayh it honestly.

    2. Lieberman is a neocon which is repulsive enough, but even though he has supported important liberal issues, he personally is also a whiny shtick drek. I really want him to just go away.

  45. 45.

    FlipYrWhig

    March 11, 2013 at 4:02 pm

    @Ted & Hellen: And, to follow up, here’s another Politico story: Elizabeth Warren makes a Republican friend, from January 2013. The piece says that Elizabeth Warren’s official “mentor” from the Republicans (newbies get one from each party) is… Bob Corker. Do you think Bob Corker is molding Elizabeth Warren?

    ETA: There’s apparently a link between new senator prolife nutbar Deb Fischer and Amy Klobuchar, too. Seems like much ado about diddly squat.

  46. 46.

    Xecky Gilchrist

    March 11, 2013 at 4:02 pm

    Former Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) is joining the American Enterprise Institute, the conservative think tank announced Monday.

    He didn’t want to – liberals forced him to by being mean to him.

  47. 47.

    Corner Stone

    March 11, 2013 at 4:02 pm

    @Cacti:

    That surely would have put Nutroots Ned over the top.

    Ned LaMont was actually a pretty good candidate, overall. He made some interesting decisions while campaigning, but that didn’t cost him the seat. And the awful power that is eebil Jane Hamsher of The Fire didn’t cost Ned the seat either.
    Only morans think that.
    Holy Joe got all the ratfucking Republicans in the state to vote for him so he could keep the Groton money flowing in.
    This wasn’t difficult.

  48. 48.

    mk3872

    March 11, 2013 at 4:04 pm

    @Hill Dweller: Interesting term for 2012: “Democratic Caucus”. It included future AEI member & former McCain campaign cheerleader Joe Lieberman and Conservadems Landrieu and Nelson.

  49. 49.

    Mandalay

    March 11, 2013 at 4:04 pm

    @mk3872:

    So finally we can put to bed any notion that Obama had a “60 vote filibuster-proof majority” in 2010, as many on the Professional Left like to argue ??

    As will.i.am might say, yes we can.

  50. 50.

    Mike in NC

    March 11, 2013 at 4:04 pm

    Former Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) is joining the American Enterprise Institute, the conservative think tank announced Monday.

    Because the Heritage Foundation picked up his fellow dirtbag Jim DeMint and that job was taken.

  51. 51.

    Tom Q

    March 11, 2013 at 4:05 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat: Did any of those Republican friends vote for the Dem ticket as a result of the Lieberman pick? That was the problem with Gore selecting him: making people who’ll never vote for you feel better about your candidacy is not a winning electoral strategy. And given that Lieberman’s presence probably — even if microscopically — upped the Nader vote, it was a clear net loss.

  52. 52.

    danimal

    March 11, 2013 at 4:05 pm

    I’m sure he’ll have the civil rights foreign policy beat. He’s an expert policy analyst douchenozzle and I’m sure he will provide a unique perspectiveentirely predictable Sunday morning blather on behalf of AEI.

  53. 53.

    Ted & Hellen

    March 11, 2013 at 4:05 pm

    @FlipYrWhig:

    Nice try. Obama used to speak frequently of how awesome Joe was as him mentor in the senate. Google it, Bot.

    You know, like he did when he was helping him get re elected in CT.

    Sort of like the way he used to talk about Jeremiah Wright until he didn’t. All of a sudden. For some reason.

  54. 54.

    gene108

    March 11, 2013 at 4:07 pm

    @Mandalay:

    Didn’t Lieberman take the lead or was one of the leaders on the repeal of DADT?

    That’s carrying some water for the President, who backed him in 2006.

  55. 55.

    El Cid

    March 11, 2013 at 4:07 pm

    Holy Joe was much more expressive — including literally his facial expressions — in his sanctimony than Bayh. He embodied this repulsive fake sanctimony, disapproval, and condemnation more than most politicians did or could.

    When you combine much more individualized behavioral and expressive styles with statements and attitudes which are themselves cartoonish, it’s not a moral but a performance distinction which leads to a Lieberman being more annoying and easily imitated and mocked than another.

    The notion of the ‘drama queen’ isn’t just about the person who exaggerates the impact of some negative undesired fact but a person who does so via exaggerated performance.

  56. 56.

    MomSense

    March 11, 2013 at 4:08 pm

    Sorry to hijack the thread but just learned that Maine’s Gov. LePage is now considering Medicaid Expansion and going to start a dialog with Sebelius.

    This is big news as Maine has some of the highest per capita health care costs.

    So Maine BJers–now is the time to contact him!

  57. 57.

    bemused

    March 11, 2013 at 4:08 pm

    Joe’s nasally, whiney voice was viscerally very offensive to me especially when he suddenly spoke from my tv screen while I was eating. Ruined a few snacks for me I had been enjoying.

  58. 58.

    Mandalay

    March 11, 2013 at 4:09 pm

    @FlipYrWhig:

    You are taking an exalted view of what a “Senate mentor” does or might do.

    True, but there is still no denying that Obama really backed Lieberman. I take it more as an indication of the crap that is foisted on the president to perform rather than a damnation of Obama.

  59. 59.

    ArchTeryx

    March 11, 2013 at 4:09 pm

    @Zifnab: Laughing your a$* off. That’s the opposite of a spit take.

  60. 60.

    schrodinger's cat

    March 11, 2013 at 4:10 pm

    @Tom Q: No.

    ETA: Most people vote for the top of the ticket. Not a great decision by Gore, although not as irresponsible as McCain choosing Palin.

  61. 61.

    Corner Stone

    March 11, 2013 at 4:11 pm

    @gene108:

    I personally didn’t have a strong opinion on Lieberman until the VP debate, in 2000,

    Do you mean you were ignorant of, or glossed over, his moral relativistic scolding of a sitting president from the floor of the Senate?

  62. 62.

    Turgidson

    March 11, 2013 at 4:12 pm

    @Culture of Truth:

    I’d share a beer or at least a glass of milk with Evan Bayh than Joe.

    Agreed. I doubt Joementum could go three minutes without either setting off on a horseshit sanctimonious lecture about some topic he’s wrong about but is 100% sure he’s right, or just talking about how awesome he is, or lamenting how partisan everyone is, but mostly the Democrats who are to blame for it (because they didn’t let him be president in 2004). Bayh is a horse’s ass, but I think he can probably go an hour without acting like one.

  63. 63.

    Joey Maloney

    March 11, 2013 at 4:12 pm

    @jl: Also too, Since he was the drone king of the Senate,

    It’s not nice to make fun of a person’s speech impediment.

  64. 64.

    PIGL

    March 11, 2013 at 4:13 pm

    Allow me to propose an alternate title: same decade, more appropriate sentiment:

    Beat on the Brat (with a baseball bat).

    Oh, yeah.

  65. 65.

    chopper

    March 11, 2013 at 4:16 pm

    @Ted & Hellen:

    I knew it was Obama. Even when it wasn’t him, I knew it was him.

  66. 66.

    Hill Dweller

    March 11, 2013 at 4:16 pm

    @mk3872: I’ll concede it is a contradiction of sorts, considering most of them were Democrats in name only, but I couldn’t think of a better description.

    That said, the overriding issue is/was still the Republicans’ abuse of the filibuster. Without that, we could get away with having some ConsveraDems in the caucus.

  67. 67.

    patroclus

    March 11, 2013 at 4:18 pm

    Lieberman was very very good on repealing DADT – constantly contradicting his BFF McCain and others on all their objections. On other issues, not so good. Personally, I’ll never forget his threat to filibuster the public option on the health insurance law – this from a member of the Group of 14 that supposedly loathed filibusters. And I’ll also never forget his “undermine our POTUS in times of war at our nation’s peril” comment – it was the very same wars in which he was consistently undermining Obama on issue after issue.

  68. 68.

    Mandalay

    March 11, 2013 at 4:19 pm

    I was never able to hate Joe Lieberman as much I hate Evan Bayh, mostly because Joementum was so comical to me

    It’s interesting that the thread seems to focus on how Lieberman was comical/irritating/whiny.

    That shitwipe did this country real harm by aggressively supporting foreign policies that were reckless, dangerous, wrong and downright evil. I don’t get the lack of hatred for him.

  69. 69.

    FlipYrWhig

    March 11, 2013 at 4:20 pm

    @Ted & Hellen:

    Obama used to speak frequently of how awesome Joe was as him mentor in the senate

    This would only be incriminating if a “mentor” did any of the things you allege. The mentor just simply does not do any of that, unless you think Bob Corker is pushing Elizabeth Warren to the right, Amy Klobuchar is pushing Deb Fischer to the left, and that Obama also learned terrible evils from George Voinovich.

    The first many pages of Google hits are all people misinterpreting the link the way you are. Some are bloggers, and some are professional media. What they have in common is that they fail to ask what a “senate mentor” does (have friendly lunches), how many mentors a new senator has (one from each party), etc.

  70. 70.

    Petorado

    March 11, 2013 at 4:20 pm

    Joementum is going to AEI for the exact same reason Willie Sutton walked into banks.

    The AEI will get what it deserves. Having to sit in meetings with Lieberman’s whiney monotones droning on over a powerpoint presentation about conservative policy would be a fate worse than death.

  71. 71.

    FlipYrWhig

    March 11, 2013 at 4:21 pm

    @Zifnab:

    What’s the opposite of a spit-take?

    Drinking calmly.

  72. 72.

    Hill Dweller

    March 11, 2013 at 4:23 pm

    @FlipYrWhig: Also, too, Lugar was the closest thing to a mentor for Obama; and that was mostly on nuclear (non)proliferation.

  73. 73.

    FlipYrWhig

    March 11, 2013 at 4:24 pm

    @FlipYrWhig: Following up on myself: This is from the Elizabeth Warren article I linked above.

    The informal freshman senator mentoring program was started in 2004 and is led by Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.). It aims to connect each incoming member to two senators — one Democrat and one Republican — and ensure that every new lawmaker has a veteran senator to lend them a hand.
    __
    While some freshmen submit their mentor preferences, others are paired up on availability. No freshman is required to participate in the program.

  74. 74.

    Corner Stone

    March 11, 2013 at 4:25 pm

    @Petorado:

    Joementum is going to AEI for the exact same reason Willie Sutton walked into banks.

    The classic marble foyers?

  75. 75.

    Turgidson

    March 11, 2013 at 4:25 pm

    @patroclus:

    Not only did he threaten to filibuster the public option, he threatened to filibuster the next-best alternative being discussed, the Medicare buy-in for people 55 and up. Which was an idea the fucker had championed and campaigned on as recently as 2006. He justified this by lying that either idea would explode the deficit even though all the non-partisan research was saying they would do the opposite or be neutral. Can’t stand that guy.

  76. 76.

    FlipYrWhig

    March 11, 2013 at 4:27 pm

    @Hill Dweller: That’s a different meaning of “mentor,” though, based on issues and expertise. The Lieberman thing is drawn from the quasi-official Mark Pryor “freshman senator mentoring program.” I don’t remember ever hearing that Obama Skywalker learned about issues while at the knee of Yoda Joe Lieberman; I remember that Lieberman was more like his pledge class Big Brother. And apparently George Voinovich was in that role too, which I didn’t know until checking around just now.

  77. 77.

    lol

    March 11, 2013 at 4:28 pm

    @Ted & Hellen:

    Obama gave one speech with one line of support for the incumbent Democrat (who he referred to as ‘the elephant in the room’) at a CT Dems fundraising dinner. Other than that, he stayed out of the primary.

    In the general election, Obama supported Lamont.

    But somehow it’s become an article of faith in the Netroots that Obama campaigned for Lieberman in the general election… most of it driven by Tim Taggaris who’s still bitter that Obama didn’t lavish enough attention on a candidate who was down by double-digits in the polls.

  78. 78.

    DougJ, Friend of Hamas

    March 11, 2013 at 4:28 pm

    @chopper:

    I knew it was Obama all along. He broke my heart, he broke my heart.

  79. 79.

    Trollhattan

    March 11, 2013 at 4:34 pm

    Jeez, what a bloodless fuck.

    For eight long, long years we endured Bush and Cheney speechifying from a dias in front of an AEI backdrop–frequently enough I have involuntary nausea spasms whenever I read the AEI name. Suppose now that Lieberman can stop pretending, he can just let his freak flag fly while cashing the Koch checks.

    Just great.

    http://i3.ytimg.com/vi/RVkPWtz9Rf8/mqdefault.jpg

  80. 80.

    Frankensteinbeck

    March 11, 2013 at 4:38 pm

    @FlipYrWhig:
    Guilt by association is big with conspiracy theorists.

  81. 81.

    FlipYrWhig

    March 11, 2013 at 4:39 pm

    @FlipYrWhig: To be fair, it looks like there are a fair number of stories out there where a politician humblebrags about how his choice of mentor shows how moderate and bipartisan he is: I just saw one from 2006 where Ken Salazar says he deliberately picked John McCain. In this story, Mel Martinez in 2005 talks about how great it is to confer with Lamar Alexander and Ben Nelson. But, oh my God, are these stories full of the fluffiest fluff. It’s all about how they chat about being grandpas and how to find a good repair man and other shit.

    The larger point is this: I’ve never seen anyone try to implicate any other senator by association with a “mentor” other than Obama/Lieberman. “Mentors” only go back to 2004 and Mark Pryor.

    (Because I’m bored I’ve been googling senators elected since then and “senate mentor,” and sometimes I come up totally empty, like with Vitter and Burr.)

  82. 82.

    kathleen

    March 11, 2013 at 4:40 pm

    Everything Joe ever joined suffered from his membership. Here’s hoping the streak continues. What a putz.

  83. 83.

    gene108

    March 11, 2013 at 4:41 pm

    @Corner Stone:

    I turned 24 in 1998 and was not that plugged into what politicians were scolding Clinton about his BJ.

  84. 84.

    Tonal Crow

    March 11, 2013 at 4:42 pm

    I’m so surprised…not.

    P ~= 0.7 that Bobo writes a column praising Lieberman’s move as “a beginning at reaching across the aisle” within the next 2 weeks.

    Also too, P ~= 0.99 that Lieberman makes it onto at least one TV talk-show this coming Sunday.

    ETA: and P ~= 1.0 that McCain praises Lieberman for the move.

  85. 85.

    Soonergrunt

    March 11, 2013 at 4:44 pm

    @? Martin: ” I was betting on AIPAC, but AEI was on my short list for him”
    Is there really a difference?

  86. 86.

    I am not a kook

    March 11, 2013 at 4:51 pm

    Ah, the troll with two names must be seething after nobody took exception gave attention to him pissing in Cole’s corn flakes in the “happiness” thread. He is now a fully Frist-certified remote diagnosis psychiatrist, also too.

    We’re still supposed to be mad at Obummer for being assigned Lieberman as his mentor as a newbie Senator in frakkin’ 2005? If your Obama Derangement Syndrome lasts for more than seven years, please consult a mental health professional. Really, if you’re in so much pain that any mention of any political figure fires the “but but but Obama!” synapses in your brain, get help. And meditate why you felt compelled to diagnose Cole bipolar to make the point that his happiness CAN NOT LAST.

    BTW, that Lamont guy endorsed Obama over Clinton in 2008.

  87. 87.

    Tonal Crow

    March 11, 2013 at 4:53 pm

    @BGinCHI:

    How about a revolving door rule. You have to work in retail or as waitstaff for a year after leaving the Senate. After you leave the House you have to work in a nursing home.

    That would needlessly imperil thousands of diners, not to mention many nursing-home residents. Instead, you should have to bust big rocks into little ones for a year somewhere in Texas, no breaks, no ifs, no ands, and no buts.

  88. 88.

    lol

    March 11, 2013 at 4:57 pm

    @I am not a kook:

    Lamont’s diary at DailyKos announcing his endorsement is fairly epic.

  89. 89.

    I am not a kook

    March 11, 2013 at 5:03 pm

    @lol: Thanks for the link, maybe all three people on the internets (Ted, Hellen, Jane – anybody else?) who still care that Obama attended a fundraiser for Holy Joe could read it and explain how and why they still (still!) disagree with their idol.

    Yeah, I’m holding my breath here.

  90. 90.

    Bill Arnold

    March 11, 2013 at 5:15 pm

    @Corner Stone:

    Holy Joe got all the ratfucking Republicans in the state to vote for him so he could keep the Groton money flowing in.

    I recall JL got around 70 percent of the self-reporting Republican vote in that election.

  91. 91.

    eemom

    March 11, 2013 at 5:17 pm

    @Ted & Hellen:

    Sort of like the way he used to talk about Jeremiah Wright until he didn’t. All of a sudden. For some reason.

    IIRC he gave a very high profile speech explaining exactly why he parted ways with Rev. Wright.

  92. 92.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    March 11, 2013 at 5:23 pm

    I thought AEI was more domestic policy oriented? I would’ve thought XIanist Heritage Foundation would be a better fit for Senator Neocon T. Holyland.

    @FlipYrWhig: I just saw one from 2006 where Ken Salazar says he deliberately picked John McCain.

    I think Salazar and Lieberman have in common an ostentatious quality to their self-serving, moralistic weaseling– Salazar made a great show of introducing Alberto G to the Senate as Bush’s AG, after the freakin’ Abu Grahib and torture memo revelations. He’s a scumbag. Evan Bayh is (IMHO) a guy whose delusional vanity is matched only by his stupidity, the quintessential deficit peacock. But I have to say I’m pleasantly surprised by how quiet he seems to have been since that bullshit, Broderist, both-sides NYT farewell op/ed

  93. 93.

    SixStringFanatic

    March 11, 2013 at 5:28 pm

    Evan Bayh also waited until almost the last second to announce that he was retiring, thus fucking over the Democratic Party at the national and state level, essentially handing his seat to Republican retread Dan Coates. Admittedly, winning any state-wide election as a Democrat in Indiana is a tall order but Bayh never gave us a chance. Plus he was a douchebag long before that.
    Fuck Evan Bayh.

  94. 94.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    March 11, 2013 at 5:35 pm

    @Tonal Crow: ETA: and P ~= 1.0 that McCain praises Lieberman for the move.
    You mean you don’t follow Senator WarHero on the tweets? (from TPM)

    Congrats to @ joelieberman on joining @ aei – a superb addition to a venerable institution. aei.org/press/foreign-…
    — John McCain (@ SenJohnMcCain) March 11, 2013

  95. 95.

    gogol's wife

    March 11, 2013 at 5:37 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    Yes, I already couldn’t stand him before that, but that really tore it for me.

    I am so happy to now have two senators and a representative that I am proud of. When I call their offices it’s always to thank them and encourage them, not to scream at their staffers, as was often necessary with Lieberman. What a relief. And yes, that was the worst thing Gore ever did.

  96. 96.

    I am not a kook

    March 11, 2013 at 5:38 pm

    @eemom: Not only did Obama confront the clamor caused by those Rev. Wright quotes head on in a big frigging speech, in that speech he did not throw Wright under the bus (sic). Only after Wright got back on the podium and tried to reignite the whole thing, Obama had to distance himself and resign from the church.

    Some definitions of “all of a sudden” obviously diverge.

  97. 97.

    lojasmo

    March 11, 2013 at 5:44 pm

    @Ted & Hellen:

    And Al Franken, probably one of the, if not the most liberal member of the Senate is Rand Paul’s democratic mentor.

    Senate mentorships; you does not understand it (among a very great number of things)

  98. 98.

    Turgidson

    March 11, 2013 at 5:58 pm

    @I am not a kook:

    I may just not be cynical enough, but I think Obama’s reaction to the Rev Wright episode was one of his finest moments in public life – particularly the Philadelphia speech.

    [cynic] Maybe Rev Wright’s subsequent jackassery, which gave Obama the room to cut ties and move on even after deliberately NOT throwing him under the bus in his speech, was all contrived stagecraft for the candidate’s benefit. In which case Obama is worse than Bush he sold us out blahblahblah [/cynic]

  99. 99.

    Higgs Boson's Mate

    March 11, 2013 at 6:13 pm

    “Even the liberal Joe Lieberman…”

    Bet that’s already on a hotkey at AEI.

  100. 100.

    danielx

    March 11, 2013 at 6:15 pm

    @Culture of Truth:

    I wouldn’t care to have a drink of anything with either one of them, but it is – almost – as to which of the two is more insufferable. The big difference is that our boy Evan, as a Democratic Senator in (ahem) a fairly Republican state, never took a leak in the morning without checking a public opinion poll first. I ought to know, I wasted enough time writing letters to the sonofabitch. However, to give the dung his doo, he had little choice if he wanted to get elected in 1986 and re-elected in 1994 in my fair state, which has as high a percentage of wingnuts as anywhere north of the Mason-Dixon line. He was still a Democrat, more or less, even if he did act like a goddamned weather vane. On the other hand, in his valedictory in Indianapolis magazine
    he was talking about teaching or being a university adminstrator or something, while delivering the usual moans about partisanship. Of course, he ended up hiring on with a tony DC law firm, with Apollo Global Advisors, and…wait for it…as a contributor to Fox News as of 2011.

    Holy Joe, on the other hand, from what I can tell has done nothing but deliver one long fuck-you to his constituents for oh, the last ten years or so. He acted like a Republican, beloved of David Broder with all that implies. That he will now be feathering his nest at AEI is something less than shocking, although hopefully we’ll be graced with his views somewhat less often.

    You know what? I take it back, Evan Bayh is in no way superior to Joe Lieberman. They’re both first class doucerockets and there’s not much to choose between them. One is a hypocritical political whore, the other one is…a hypocritical political whore. Although I bet Evan ends up making more, he’s getting a better quality of tricks.

  101. 101.

    YoohooCthulhu

    March 11, 2013 at 6:15 pm

    @Corner Stone:

    I want their constituents to be able to look them in the eye, like Gary Condit at the donut shop, and tell them they know what they did.

    You know that Gary Condit was exonerated on the allegation of killing Chandra Levy and that it was essentially a TV-news fantasy that got out of control, right? A Guatemalan immigrant was arrested for her murder.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeff-cohen/will-tv-news-ever-apologi_b_168961.html

  102. 102.

    TriassicSands

    March 11, 2013 at 6:16 pm

    The AEI. Sigh.

    David Broder throws a party in Heaven to celebrate the historic teaming up of two former Senators — John Kyl and Joe Lieberman. Once they battled each other from opposite sides of the aisle; today they join forces to fight for a better tomorrow.

  103. 103.

    FlipYrWhig

    March 11, 2013 at 6:37 pm

    @lojasmo: that just proves that Paul is a seekrit liberal!

  104. 104.

    SenyorDave

    March 11, 2013 at 6:42 pm

    Liberman is loathesome, he did real long term damage in the health care debate. Both he and Bayh have wives who are/were whores for the health care industry. I can’t say for sure whether they were whores in general.
    In a just world, people like Lieberman and Bayh, who sold their souls for money, should experience what it is like to need health care and not be able to afford it.

  105. 105.

    Ted & Hellen

    March 11, 2013 at 6:46 pm

    @Mandalay:

    That shitwipe did this country real harm by aggressively supporting foreign policies that were reckless, dangerous, wrong and downright evil. I don’t get the lack of hatred for him.

    They know he and the Prez were close, and as such are treading lightly around the topic, trying to pretend you know, old Joe was a harmless doofus, not a harmful cretin.

    Among the Bots it is always and foremost about protecting the image and career of Barack Obama. All else is secondary, including facts.

  106. 106.

    The Golux

    March 11, 2013 at 6:50 pm

    Can I retroactively withdraw the votes I cast for this fuckwad, before the scales fell from my eyes and I saw that he was an irredeemable douchenozzle?

  107. 107.

    Ted & Hellen

    March 11, 2013 at 6:51 pm

    @eemom:

    IIRC he gave a very high profile speech explaining exactly why he parted ways with Rev. Wright.

    You are adorbs when you pretend to be dense. ;D

  108. 108.

    Turgidson

    March 11, 2013 at 6:57 pm

    @Ted & Hellen:

    All else is secondary, including facts.

    You’re the guy trying to argue that Obama is kindred spirit bff’s with a guy who campaigned aggressively for the other guy in 2008 and then publicly threatened to fuck up the biggest parts of Obama’s domestic agenda in the first two years of his presidency for no particular reason other than being a bitter fuck who wants attention, and basing your view on the single fact that they were paired in a mentorship program when Obama first joined the Senate.

    So I guess you’d know something about facts being secondary to a good shitty argument.

  109. 109.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    March 11, 2013 at 7:13 pm

    @Turgidson: I’m never sure if Timmy believes his own shit, if he really hates Obama this much, or if he just flings poo for the sake of flinging poo. Kind of like Ann Coulter, but at least with Coulter, it would make sense if she’s just spewing. She makes a nice living flinging poo, whatever her actual beliefs. What does Timmy get out of trolling if he really is just trolling?

  110. 110.

    Corner Stone

    March 11, 2013 at 8:59 pm

    @YoohooCthulhu:

    You know that Gary Condit was exonerated on the allegation of killing Chandra Levy and that it was essentially a TV-news fantasy that got out of control, right? A Guatemalan immigrant was arrested for her murder.

    Yeah, that was somewhat sloppy construction on my part. Actually, I never thought Condit was guilty and was just getting the Scandal Sensation Treatment in an otherwise horrific situation for the family and loved ones of Chandra Levy. I didn’t care if they were having a relationship if it was consensual.
    I was really referring to Condit’s brief stint working in customer retail where it was briefly publicized.
    Not that he should be shamed for something he didn’t do.
    I probably could’ve worded that a lot better.
    I blame it on being temporarily Popeless in Seattle.

  111. 111.

    White Trash Liberal

    March 11, 2013 at 9:04 pm

    @Turgidson:

    What is even worse about his argument is that he cites the mentorship of Wright as well. Lieberman, at least in terms of foreign policy, is on the antipodal side of the foreign policy sphere.

    So, which evil Obama are we supposed to wake up to?

  112. 112.

    burnspbesq

    March 11, 2013 at 9:10 pm

    @Ted & Hellen:

    No one cares what you think. About anything.

  113. 113.

    Ted & Hellen

    March 11, 2013 at 9:51 pm

    @burnspbesq:

    I care. And that is enough.

  114. 114.

    VBKim

    March 11, 2013 at 11:47 pm

    Joe Lieberman is NOT comical. Gaaaaah!

  115. 115.

    VBKim

    March 11, 2013 at 11:49 pm

    A-MEN!

  116. 116.

    xian

    March 12, 2013 at 3:15 am

    @Peter: aw, and people were doing such a good job of withholding the crack attention a troll needs so desperately

  117. 117.

    xian

    March 12, 2013 at 3:17 am

    @FlipYrWhig: oh, sure, like reason is going to penetrate the skull of someone who knows his conclusions and works backward to fit any conceivable premise to them.

  118. 118.

    xian

    March 12, 2013 at 3:52 am

    @I am not a kook: wow, I bet this well reasoned argument will completely convince a troll to drop his idée fixe.

  119. 119.

    xian

    March 12, 2013 at 3:53 am

    @Turgidson: I had to pull over in my car to listen to it all, and because driving with tears in your eyes isn’t safe. It honestly was one of those mlments when I felt truly proud of my country.

  120. 120.

    xian

    March 12, 2013 at 3:56 am

    @Turgidson: no, no, no, it’s the Obots who are obsessed, not our valiant tribune

  121. 121.

    Tonal Crow

    March 12, 2013 at 11:29 am

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Oh man.

  122. 122.

    No One of Consequence

    March 12, 2013 at 6:04 pm

    This odious Senator is a shambling pile of oozing fecal material. He should be flushed with all due haste and quickly forgotten.

    Permanently.

    – NOoC

  123. 123.

    El Cid

    March 12, 2013 at 6:09 pm

    @Mandalay:

    It’s interesting that the thread seems to focus on how Lieberman was comical/irritating/whiny.

    That shitwipe did this country real harm by aggressively supporting foreign policies that were reckless, dangerous, wrong and downright evil. I don’t get the lack of hatred for him.

    Next time, at least consider the prospect that people who may hold that very same general view are choosing to mention — in a comments thread of a web blog named “Balloon Juice” and not in an official summary thread of ‘My Official Declaration of Most Importan Outlooks On Subject X’ — some particular aspect of a phenomenon.

    It’s likewise okay for somebody to discuss how some historically evil figure had a funny voice or mustache or weird hobby without having to clarify that any such mention must only follow a flatly declarative moral review of said persona.

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