The Case Against Neoliberalism

What do all these names have in common?

Dick Gephardt
Chuck Robb
Sam Nunn
Bill Clinton
John Breaux
Dave McCurdy
Joe Lieberman
Evan Bayh
Tom Vilsack
Harold Ford

The answer is all these men served as chair of the Democratic Leadership Council. Ask yourself if you want John Breaux, Harold Ford, Joe Lieberman, Evan Bayh or Dick Gephardt to be deciding the direction of the Democratic Party.

The DLC calls themselves New Democrats. They are too terrified to call themselves neoliberals. The DLC was extremely hawkish about the Iraq war. The DLC attack Howard Dean for being against the Iraq war.

So what does the Bull Moose think of the donkey? In the early primaries, I thought Karl Rove had induced a mass brainwashing of the Democrats as they flocked to Howard Dean. If the Deaniacs had seized the party, the Bush-Rovian dream of realignment might have been realized. Dean was their dream opponent -- a socially liberal, anti-war candidate from Vermont. However, the good centrist sense of the Democratic rank and file prevailed.

The DLC got their wish of John Kerry. How did that work out?

The DLC actively placed corporate interests ahead of unions. Rick MacArthur explained to Amy Goodman what happened in the 90s.

Well, this is the legacy of the Clinton administration, that the Clintons persuaded enough members of the Democratic Party that labor unions were finished. And they were, I think, largely right. Labor unions were finished as an important source of votes and power, or that they could be taken for granted. They were going to vote for the Democrats anyway, because they had no choice, and the place to raise money and to expand influence with the party was in corporate America. And Clinton says to these people, through Terry McAuliffe and all his friends, Gene Sperling, the corporate Democrats who came out of the Democratic Leadership Council, "Look, you can’t argue with results. I got elected president twice, and we almost had fundraising parity with the Republicans in the ’90s."

Current DLC chair Harold Ford has a history of being anti-abortion and against gay marriage. Ford voted for the Federal Marriage Amendment - barring gays from marrying. Ford supported an amendment that forbid gays from adopting in the District of Columbia.

Noted neoliberal economist Lawrence Summers has been a longtime advocate for deregulation. In the Clinton administration, Summers fought the Commodity Futures Trading Commission over financial derivatives. Summers was a champion of the Commodity Futures Modernization Act. The law barred derivatives from being regulated.

President Bill Clinton signed the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. The law abolished the Gless-Steagall Act. The latter separated commercial and investment banks. The neoliberal economics drive for less financial regulation helped create the climate for the Wall Street meltdown of 2008.

A person who as described himself as a New Democrat (code for neoliberal) is Barack Obama. This is why Obama promised to veto any bill that allows Medicare to negotiate prices with drug companies. Obama never backed universal health care or a ban on offshore drilling because he believes corporations should benefit from public policy. Nevermind that the health care bill is riddled with hole that won't lower the cost of health insurance. That was never the point of health care reform. Obama could have given a populist message on how no one who currently has health insurance should not be dropped after he or she gets sick. Obama instead mandated Americans to buy health insurance. If Republicans passed such a proposal progressives would be outraged.

David Patterson Caves to Bigots

Count Gov. David Patterson as those caving in to the intolerant rants against the Ground Zero mosque. Patterson is willing to give state land to the Cordoba House if it is moved farther away from Ground zero.

"Frankly, if the sponsors were looking for property anywhere at a distance that would be such that it would accommodate a better feeling among the people who are frustrated, I would look into trying to provide them with the state property they would need," Paterson said at a Manhattan press conference.

The Atlantic blogger Jeffery Goldberg notes, "Feisal Abdul Rauf, is an enemy of al Qaeda, no less than Rudolph Giuliani and the Anti-Defamation League are enemies of al Qaeda." That won't stop the anti-religious rants of Joe Lieberman John McCain or Sarah Palin from anti-Islanic attacks. Republicans have spents the last decade being wrong about national security issues. Even the Bush administration never publicly disrespected American Muslims at this level.

Latest Poll on Lieberman

The latest Public Policy poll shows Sen. Joe Lieberman has a 25 percent approval rating with Connecticut voters. Lieberman has a 81 percent disapproval rating with Democrats. For all of the pandering Lieberman does to Republicans, his disapproval rating with Republicans is 48 percent. Only 39 percent of Republican voters approve of Lieberman. Lieberman's numbers are traveling in Mel Martinez territory

Quote of the Day

"I probably will support some Republican candidates for Congress or Senate in the election in 2010. I'm going to call them as I see them."

Sen. Joe Lieberman, giving Majority Leader Harry Reid another reason to strip to strip Lieberman of his chairmanship.

Time to Bid Lieberman Farewell

It is time to take away Sen. Joe Lieberman's chairmanship of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. Lieberman announced he would vote with Republicans for a filibuster of a public option health care bill.

"We're trying to do too much at once," Lieberman said. “To put this government-created insurance company on top of everything else is just asking for trouble for the taxpayers, for the premium payers and for the national debt. I don’t think we need it now."

Lieberman added the public option would cripple "the economic recovery we’re in." The General Accounting Office wrote the current health care system is "unsustainable" and in need of structural changes.

Unrelenting growth in health care spending has put pressure on policymakers to seek fundamental health care system reforms. Part of the stress comes from a wide gap in expectations among patients, providers, and payers: what patients and providers expect is not well aligned with what health care programs are able to deliver. The public and private sectors can both play an important role in educating the public about the differences between wants, needs, affordability, and sustainability at both the individual and aggregate level.

An American Journal of Medicine study found in 1981 only 8 percent of families filed for bankruptcy. In 2007, 62.1 percent of family bankruptcies for cost by health care expenses. The current health care system is killing the economy. The Congressional Budget Office found the public option would lower the deficit. Lieberman is either ignorant or grandstanding. My guess is both.

Nate Silver brings up a horrifying scenario.

But even if Lieberman will probably cave, this creates real problems for Democrats. For one thing, Lieberman has said he won't oppose the motion to proceed with the health care bill. Instead, he'll filibuster the end result, if he doesn't like the outcome. This is actually very devious. If Harry Reid determines that he doesn't have 60 votes on the motion to proceed on a bill with a public option, then he doesn't have to bring it to the floor. Progressives will be apoplectic, Reid will lose some face, pundits will talk about Democrats having lost momentum -- but the prospects for health care reform will probably not have seriously been damaged. The opt-out will get replaced by an opt-in or maybe a trigger or co-ops or whatever and Olympia Snowe will be very happy and the debate will proceed.

I say call Lieberman's bluff. If health care reform dies then Lieberman should own it or back down. If Lieberman doesn't back down then kick him out of the Democratic caucus. It will make progressives happy. The Republican base will not tolerate a former Democrat in the Republican caucus. Lieberman's voting record on social issues will drive the Christian Right nuts. Lieberman will have no power caucusing with the minority party. Lieberman won't get any attention or committee chairs from Mitch McConnell. I'm betting Lieberman will back down if the threat is real.

Maybe Lieberman is Not Kidding

Politico reports Joe Lieberman is joking about running as a Republican in 2012. Lieberman thought about joining the Republican Senate Caucus after the 2008 elections. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell could not offer a former Democrat a chairmanship. Conservatives do not like Lieberman on social issues. Lieberman and the GOP would be a weird marriage.

Lieberman may have to run as a Republican in 2012. A Quinnipiac poll finds Lieberman losing to Democtaic Attorney General Richard Blumenthal 58 percent to 30 percent. Those are horrible numbers for an incumbant. Lieberman has a favorable rating of only 18 percent with Democrats. Lieberman won't make it out of the Democratic primary.

The politically smart thing for Lieberman would have been joining the Republican caucus last year or doing some serious kissing up to the Democratic base. Liberman has never been known for being politically smart. Lieberman went from a vice-presidential candidate to becoming a man with no party. Way to go, Joe.

Quote of the Day

"We had hoped Vice President Cheney would be here tonight. I hope it’s not his back injury that’s keeping him away. Apparently, he hurt it moving some things out of his office. Personally, I had no idea that waterboards were so heavy."

Joe Lieberman, attempted humor at a black-tie dinner.

The End of Lieberman

Senator Joe Lieberman hints he will caucas with the Senate Republicans. Lieberman talks about being against partisanship. Lieberman has freely attacked Democrats since the start of the Iraq war. Lieberman is now paying the price for going against his caucas.

Bolstered by a newly expanded majority, Harry Reid met with Joe Lieberman on Thursday to sketch out the conditions by which the Connecticut independent could continue to caucus with Senate Democrats. But Lieberman did not accept Reid's initial offers, leaving his future in the caucus uncertain, and potentially setting off a campaign to pressure the Democratic steering committee to decide Lieberman's fate.

Reid offered Lieberman a deal to step down as chairman of the homeland security committee but take over the reins of another subcommittee, likely overseeing economic or small business issues officials said.

Lieberman's political instincts have been horrible. He was the only Senate Democrat to be openly friendly to President Bush's Social Security privatization plan. Both parties expected Republicans to lose Senate seats. Lieberman seems surprised that Reid is contemplating removing him from the caucas.

Firedoglake is running a petition asking the Senate Democratic Steering and Outreach Committee to remove Lieberman as chair of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committee. Lieberman practiced his own brand of partisanship, at the expense of Katrina victims.

In a statement released by Leslie Phillips who is Senator Joe Lieberman’s chief committee spokeswoman and as reported by Newsweek she stated, “The senator now intends to focus his attention on the future security of the American people and other matters and does not expect to revisit the White House’s role in Katrina,”

Lieberman aligned himself with a highly unpopular President. There is no way he can not escape the political consequences.

Joementum Blues

Joe Lieberman went from vice-presidential candidate in 2000 to being on the verge of being kicked out of his own party.

Lieberman's legislative director Joe Goffman resigned. Goffman did not give a reason. The timing is strange. Goffman resigned the day Lieberman returned to Congress. Lieberman gave a speech bashing Barack Obama, at the Republican Convention.

Harry Reid spokesman Jim Manley told the media, "The Democratic Caucus will likely revisit Lieberman’s situation after the November elections." Reid has privately been telling Democtats that will lose the chairmanship of the Homeland Security and Government Affairs, if Democrats get 55 or 56 seats. Things have gotten so bad that Lieberman will not attend the Democratic policy lunches.

"I think it's probably wise for me and for my colleagues in the Democratic caucus to dine somewhere else for the next few weeks," Lieberman said in an interview with The Hill.

That is the understatement of the year.

Quote of the Day

"That’s why Senator Graham and I are introducing a resolution recognizing the strategic success that the surge has achieved in a central front — the central front of the war on terror against the enemies who attacked America on 9/11/01, and expressing our thanks to our troops who’ve made that success possible."

Joe Lieberman, contending that Iraq was the staging grounds for the 9/11 attacks.

Why Lieberman Will Go To GOP Convention

Photo by Larry Downing

The suspense is killing no one. Tom Brakaw asked Joe Lieberman if he will speak at the Republican convention. Lieberman give a feeble "we’ll see." Crooks and Liars has the video. Senator John Kerry was also on the panel.

Brokaw: Are you going to speak at the Republican convention? […]

Lieberman: That decision hasn’t been made. If Senator McCain feels that I can help his candidacy, which I think it’s so important to elect him our next President, I will do it. […] And frankly, I’m going to go to a partisan convention and tell them — if I go — why it’s so important that we start to act like Americans and not as partisan mud-slingers. […]

Brokaw: Sounds like you’re going to go.

Lieberman: Well, we’ll see.

Kerry: Sounds like that to me too.

One obvious motivation is Lieberman has always been a DINO. Lieberman made is national reputation trashing Bill Clinton, Grand Theft Auto and Melrose Place. Lieberman is conservative and unprincipled. In 2006, Lieberman begged Obama to endorse him. Lieberman vowed that he would help get a Democrat in the White House. He is reneged on that promise.

Lieberman's poll numbers dropped in a July Quinnipiac University poll.

Sen. Joseph Lieberman gets a 45 - 43 percent approval, down from 52 - 35 percent March 27 and his lowest score ever.

"Sen. Lieberman's approval rating has dropped below 50 percent for the first time in 14 years of polling, with nearly two-thirds of Democrats giving him low marks, probably because he is campaigning for Sen. John McCain," Dr. Schwartz said.

Lieberman will not have a political party to back him in the 2012 election. Lieberman needs John McCain to appoint him to a cabinet position.

Personally, I am glad that Lieberman is a McCain surrogate. Joementum was a horrible running mate for Al Gore. Getting beat in a political debate by Dick Cheney isn't anything to brag about. Republicans may enjoy listening to Lieberman bash Obama. There didn't love him when he was the Vice-President candidate and they don't now. People find him grating. This explains why Lieberman went from VP pick, crash and burn presidential candidacy, kicked out of his own party to low approval ratings.

Side note: I question Obama's judgement for endorsing Lieberman. Obama tends to play it safe and get burned. In politics: if Lieberman pleads for an endorsement then Obama should be able to call in an IOU. Obama didn't even get that. That is incredibly stupid.

A Lonely Joe

Joe Lieberman talks to his friends in cable news about his lack of friends in the Democratic Party. Senator, you left the party and endorsed the Republican nominee for President. Do you expect a big wet kiss from the DNC?

Quote of the Day 2

"I only work for Republicans — and Joe Lieberman."

Karl Rove

Lieberman vs Democratic Party

Joe Lieberman's support for John McCain has forced Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to give him a verbal slap on the wrist.

“I think it’s wrong what he’s done, and I told him that,” Reid said.

But, as he has done before, Reid praised Lieberman as being “very good on issues,” except for the war.

In the same interview, Keith Olbermann asked Reid if Joementum could lose the Homeland Security chair. Reid said yes, but would not elaborate.

I doubt Lieberman cares. He is pinning his hopes on a cabinet position in the McCain White House. (The thought of Lieberman as Sec. of Defense is terrifying.) Lieberman knows he is a backbencher, if Democrats win more seats. He might as well stump for McCain.

S.2248 Voted Down

The Russ Feingold amendment S.2248 is to "prohibit reverse targeting and protect the rights of Americans who are communicating with people abroad." The amendment only received 38 yea votes. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama dodged the controversial wiretapping issue by not voting.

Democrats voting against the Feingold amendment.

Jay Rockefeller
Dianne Feinstein
Tim Johnson
Mary L. Landrieu
Blanche Lincoln
Daniel K. Inouye
Mark Pryor
Ken Salazar

As usual, Joe Lieberman broke from the Democratic caucas. Joementum is stumping for McCain. There is less reason to let Lieberman chair the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

In other exciting news: John "the Maverick" McCain did not vote on S.2248 or the economic stimulus bill. The latter bill failed to pass a filibuster 59 to 40. Harry Reid changed his vote for parliamentary reasons. So the tax rebate bill can be voted on again.

Political courage is in short supply. But the media can still call McCain a maverick.

Lieberman in Florida

Joe Lieberman stumps for John McCain in Florida. Joementum tells a Jewish audience Democrat opposition to President Bush's Iraq policy is pure hatred.

"I fear ... that a lot of the opposition (to the war) is really opposition to President Bush. And that's wrong when our security is at stake. There is a visceral response among Democrats to this president, which frankly is not unlike the visceral response of some Republicans toward President Clinton in the '90s," he said.

"That visceral anger toward President Bush for some Democrats comes from the results of the 2000 election," Lieberman said.

Lieberman publicly stated he had "personal anger" over Bill Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky.

My immediate reaction to this statement was deep disappointment and personal anger. I was disappointed because the President of the United States had just confessed to engaging in an extramarital affair with a young woman in his employ and to willfully deceiving the nation about his conduct. I was personally angry because President Clinton had by his disgraceful behavior jeopardized his Administration's historic record of accomplishment, much of which grew out of the principles and programs that he and I and many others had worked on together in the New Democratic movement. I was also angry because I was one of the many people who had said over the preceding seven months that if the President clearly and explicitly denies the allegations against him, then, of course, I believe him.

Lieberman was the first Democrat to come out and against Clinton and mention the possibility of impeachment. Lieberman ultimately voted against impeachment.

Republican contempt for Clinton was stronger than Democratic opposition to Bush. Democrats did not shut down government and will not impeach Bush. Lieberman's argument doesn't pass the laugh test.

Lieberman to Stump for McCain

I will celebrate the day when Joe Lieberman can no longer caucas with Democrats. The only reason Lieberman has power is by holding the Dems ransom and obstructing the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. Lieberman's refusal to hold hearings on FEMA's and Homeland Security's handling of Katrina is a digrace.

"We don't want to play ‘gotcha' anymore" and that "looking back… would be a waste of Congress' time."

Senator, it is called oversight, which is Congress's responsibility in the Constitution. It is called checks and balances.

Lieberman is coming to Florida to campaign for John McCain.

Eight years after campaigning in Florida as a Democratic virtual favorite son, Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman is expected to campaign in the Sunshine State this month for Republican John McCain’s presidential bid, a source close to the McCain campaign says.

Details haven’t been announced, but Lieberman visits to Palm Beach and Broward counties are expected.

This is the same Lieberman that was endorsed by Republican Congressman Chris Shays. President Bush refused to endorse Lieberman's Republican Senate opponent Alan Schlesinger.

"We are not making any endorsement in Connecticut. The Republican party of Connecticut has suggested that we not make an endorsement in that race and so we're not," said White House spokesman Tony Snow.

Like Democrats Zell Miller and John Breaux, Lieberman can hold both parties hostage because of a razor thin majority. Miller is a former segregation. The New Republic's Jon Chait described Breaux as a "repellent sleazebag." Pls like this is why I don't support a Unity ticket.

Quotes of the Day

"To reject the nomination of Judge Michael Mukasey because he refuses to say what some members want him to say on this question, and he refuses as a matter of sincerely held legal belief...would be grossly unfair, an unjust act to this judge. May I suggest an alternative course...confirm him!"

Joe Lieberman, on Attorney General nominee Michael Mukasey refusing to say on-record if waterboarding is torture.

""I am confident he would not condone such practices. I have been briefed enough to know we are not doing that today anywhere in America's government."

John McCain, stating the United States does not use waterboarding and that Musasey would not allow the practice.

The fact that we are even debating if waterboarding is torture say much about how polluted public discourse has become in the Bush/Fox News years. Strapping a man to a board and drowning him is most certainly torture. The Spanish Inquisition and Khmer Rouge used the practice. Malcolm Nance trained Navy recruits in the SERE program to withstand torture. He wrote definitive article destroying the "waterboarding is not torture," nonsense.

Waterboarding is not a simulation. Unless you have been strapped down to the board, have endured the agonizing feeling of the water overpowering your gag reflex, and then feel your throat open and allow pint after pint of water to involuntarily fill your lungs, you will not know the meaning of the word.

Waterboarding is a controlled drowning that, in the American model, occurs under the watch of a doctor, a psychologist, an interrogator and a trained strap-in/strap-out team. It does not simulate drowning, as the lungs are actually filling with water. There is no way to simulate that. The victim is drowning. How much the victim is to drown depends on the desired result (in the form of answers to questions shouted into the victim’s face) and the obstinacy of the subject. A team doctor watches the quantity of water that is ingested and for the physiological signs which show when the drowning effect goes from painful psychological experience, to horrific suffocating punishment to the final death spiral.

Waterboarding is slow motion suffocation with enough time to contemplate the inevitability of black out and expiration –usually the person goes into hysterics on the board. For the uninitiated, it is horrifying to watch and if it goes wrong, it can lead straight to terminal hypoxia. When done right it is controlled death. Its lack of physical scarring allows the victim to recover and be threaten with its use again and again.

Call it “Chinese Water Torture,” “the Barrel,” or “the Waterfall,” it is all the same. Whether the victim is allowed to comply or not is usually left up to the interrogator. Many waterboard team members, even in training, enjoy the sadistic power of making the victim suffer and often ask questions as an after thought. These people are dangerous and predictable and when left unshackled, unsupervised or undetected they bring us the murderous abuses seen at Abu Ghraieb, Baghram and Guantanamo. No doubt, to avoid human factors like fear and guilt someone has created a one-button version that probably looks like an MRI machine with high intensity waterjets.

Mukasey's exchange with Senator Shelton Whitehouse was an Alberto Gonzales moment. He is too smart of a man to not understand if waterboarding is torture.



Mukasey used covert operatives as a shield by saying, "When there are people who are using coercive techniques and who are being authorized to use coercive techniques. … And for me to say something that is going to put their careers or freedom at risk simply because I want to be congenial—I don't think it would be responsible of me to do that."

What is clearly implied is Mukasey will disreregard the Constition and Geneva Conventions to save a few careers. Including people in the Bush administration.

Waterboarding is being used because it leaves no longterm physical damage on detainees. The Bushies learned their lesson from Abu Ghraib. No more dog bite marks or detainees strung up on razor wire. The Bushies hide the evidence as well as the Corleone family.

Lieberman-Kyl Amendment

Jim Webb gives a powerful speech against the Lieberman-Kyl amendment. The legislation

We haven’t had one hearing on this. I’m on the Foreign Relations Committee, I’m on the Armed Services Committee. We are about to vote on something that may fundamentally change the way the United States views the Iranian military and we haven’t had one hearing. This is not the way to make foreign policy. It’s not the way to declare war.

The rush to war is how we got into the Iraq mess.

Josh Marshall has a vlog on the amendment.

Lieberman, on the Senate floor, beats the war drums. The man sees violence as a solution to all foreign policy problems.

First, it will send a clear message—both to the regime in Teheran, and to our allies in the region—that the United States will not stand idly by and allow Iranian-backed terrorists to kill hundreds and hundreds of American soldiers, and dominate Iraq. It acknowledges what our military commanders and top diplomats are telling us, which is that, regardless of what we might desire here in Washington, the government in Tehran has made a decision to wage a proxy war against us—and we must respond.

Our amendment states that it should be the policy of the United States to stop the violent activities and the destabilizing influence inside Iraq of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, as well as its foreign facilitators like Lebanese Hezbollah, and its indigenous Iraqi proxies.

Our amendment also recognizes that thwarting Iran’s campaign of terror must be among the crucial considerations for any plan for the transition and draw-down of our forces in Iraq. As General Petraeus warned us in his testimony, the threat of Iran may in the long run prove an even greater danger to the stability of Iraq than al Qaeda. We cannot ignore it.

For that reason, the amendment also calls on the State Department to designate the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps as a foreign terrorist organization and place the IRGC on the list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists. This is the organization that is responsible for the murder of our soldiers. They are launching terrorist attacks against our troops—and so we should treat them as terrorists.

Democrats should not vote for this garbage just so they look tough on national security. Any foreign policy legislation with Lieberman's name isn't worth wiping your ass with. Money qoute:

(4) to support the prudent and calibrated use of all instruments of United States national power in Iraq, including diplomatic, economic, intelligence, and military instruments, in support of the policy described in paragraph (3) with respect to the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran and its proxies.

Lieberman wants war. Nevermind that are troops are bogged down in Iraq and the United States would be waging a three front war on countries that border each other. Joementem want to get his war on and he will let nothing stop him.

Quote of the Day

Joe Lieberman is publicly stating there is no possible way America will lose in Iraq.

“You know, Harry Reid said a while ago that the war in Iraq is lost. It’s wrong. It’s not lost. In fact, I would say we’re beginning to win it. We’ve turned the tide with the new strategy. And in fact, I cannot conceive of a circumstance in which American forces would lose the war in Iraq, on the ground in Iraq. If we lose it, it’s gonna be lost here at home, in a different kind of war for public opinion and political support.”

Lieberman does the weasal by blaming dissenters (most of America.) If The United States lose in than it's the Left's fault. Blame it on the side that has had little political sway during the war.

Lieberman fails to note that violence has increased in Iraq. Twenty mortar rounds hit the once safe Green Zone. 130 people were killed by a suicide bomber in Norghern Iraq. 8 U.S. soldiers were recently killed in Baghdad. Lieberman has a bizarre idea of what victory is.