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September 03, 2008 10:26 AM UTC

"...John McCain is no ordinary candidate." Joe Leiberman

  • 42 Comments
  • by: Stringer

( – promoted by Colorado Pols)

I want to speak directly to my fellow Democrats and independents who are watching or listening tonight. I want to – I want to speak directly to you out there.

I know many of you are angry and frustrated by our government and our politics today, and for good reason. You may be thinking of voting for John McCain, but you’re not sure yet. Some of you may never have voted for a Republican before. And, frankly, in an ordinary election, you probably never would.

But I want you to believe with me that this is no ordinary election, because…

(APPLAUSE)

And it’s no ordinary election because these are not ordinary times. And trust me:

(APPLAUSE)

You may not agree with John McCain on every issue, but you can always count on him to be straight with you about where he stands and to stand for what he thinks is right for our country, regardless of the politics.

http://elections.foxnews.com/2…

Comments

42 thoughts on ““…John McCain is no ordinary candidate.” Joe Leiberman

      1. Lamont wasn’t “far-left” – he was just against the war.  Lieberman won because he was the incumbent Senator from Connecticut, and because he pulled significant Democratic support in with the minority Republican support.

        Kos has been polling CT since the race (using the non-partisan Research 2000 as a polling outfit) – they regret re-electing him now.

            1. It looks like OnTheIssues.org has adpoted the PoliticalCompass.org two-axis rating system, kinda.  Their scale is relative to U.S. politics, so it exaggerates the “leftness” of people like Kucinich, who would be only mainstream liberal on a global scale.

        1. because the Republican Party refused to endorse their candidate.  Alan Schlesinger got the knife in the back by his party.  Lieberman also pretended to care about Democratic values and Democratic voters couldn’t believe that the little weasel would sell out their values once he got elected.

          As far as being far-left, we need to understand that what is the “center” today has been shifted so far right that Rush is considered a moderate.  Anyone to the left of Rush is now considered a “far left” candidate.  By today’s reckoning Barry Goldwater with his pro-choice positions would be considered a “far left” candidate.  That shows how screwed up it is to label anyone by today’s standards.

          Lamont was a definitely a progressive candidate but I think he lost the general by moving to the center like Mark Udall.  Progressive candidates like Polis win by staying true to their convictions.

              1. Jarred Polis has as much chance in a national election as Tom Tancredo does/did.

                It’s not a swipe at Jarred, its a fact.  Candidates that run in heavily one sided districts tend to not be centrists, but more blatantly partisan than those who need independents and moderates to win.

                Don’t believe me, ask David if that is not generally correct political wisdom.

                Polis is pretty far left on everything except education reform.

          1. move away from what made him authentic and it didn’t work.  Reagan stayed true to his philosophy and people respected that.  Whenever some one co-opts their message to appear to be “moderate” they end up reeking of phoniness.  McCain is a good example.

            Polis might not have won on the national stage but his message resonated with CD2 voters and he is going to end up doing good things in Congress for a long time so his strategy worked to a t.

  1. to do what’s best for HIS quest to sleep in the White House.  From allowing the Dobson crowd to pick his VP to rushing down to the Gulf for a chance for a photo op from the tragedies of others, John McCain can always be counted on to put his campaign above all else.  His devotion to himself stands out above all else.  A vote for John McCain is a vote for John McCain.

  2. Well, except when he lies about vetting Palin, or about his cozy relationships with lobbyists, or when he helps mitigate the damage Jack Abramoff did, or when he changes his positions on half the issues he’s voted for in the past just to please the conservative base.

    If that’s straight shootin’, he and Cheney ought to get along just great out in the field.

  3. Reid is in talks with Chuck Hagel to leave the Republican Caucus and join the Dem caucus so we can strip Lieberman of his committee assignments and maintain the majority.

    Hillary would be smart enough to make this happen were she majority leader…  

    1. I’d rather have Olympia Snowe or Susan Collins – or even Arlen Specter whenever he’s not too busy undermining his own causes in order to support his current party…

      Hagel is useful for the war issue and only for the war issue.

      PS – IIRC, one of the two ladies from Maine happens to be the ranking minority member on the Homeland Security committee with Lieberman, and the carrot of replacing him as the chair of that committee might be tempting.

      1. because he already has strained relations with his caucus, has not endorsed McCain and is not seeking re-election….he has nothing to lose by problem burning bridges (what few he has left with his caucus).

        Snowe, Collins and Specter have all endorsed McCain so they would have no incentive to leave their caucus.

        At any rate, we will bounce Lieberman after 1/20/09 anyway as we will no longer need him to have the majority.  Do we want Collins as chair of that committee at that point?  I doubt it.

        1. is in most election years, John McCain would be at the top of your list of Republicans likly to flip to the Dem side

          (aka-Dark side).

          You were wrong then, and you’re wrong now.

          Joe Leiberman is the Independant you are most likly to flip to the Dem side.  He was YOUR VP pick just a few short years ago.  He is a Democrat through and through.

          He’s just a principled American ahead of partisan Democrat.  Joe was right on the war, right on the surge, and right when he said  ” John McCain had the courage to stand against the tide of public opinion, advocate the surge, support the surge, and, because of that today, America’s troops are coming home, thousands of them, and they’re coming home in honor.”

          And thats what galls you most.  A Democrat saying on national TV at a Republican convention, DEMOCRATS were wrong on the WAR, and Bush and McCain were right.  

          In fact, our first president, George Washington, in his farewell address, warned that the spirit of party could be the worst enemy of our democracy and enfeeble our government’s ability to do its job.

          My friends, I think tonight we can say that President Washington was absolutely right. The truth is, today we are living through his worst nightmare in the capital city that bears his name.

          (APPLAUSE)

          And that brings me directly to why I am here tonight. What, after all, is a Democrat like me doing at a Republican convention like this?

          (APPLAUSE)

          Well, I’ll tell you what: I’m here to support John McCain because country matters more than party.

          (APPLAUSE)

          I am here tonight for a simple reason. John McCain is the best choice to bring our country together and lead America forward.

          1. is not that Lieberman said what he said  (I didn’t watch it—rerun of America’s Funniest Home Video was on–more enlightening and more entertaining), it is that he caucuses with the Dems and chairs a committee in the Senate.

            Principles and republican politics don’t mix and the ascendence of John McCain is the best evidence of that.  In 2000 and shortly thereafter, he was prinicipled.  He opposed Bush’s tax cuts and predicted they would run up the deficit.  He was correct.  He opposed drilling in Alaska and along the coast lines as a “band aid” solution when we need to be developing renewable sources of energy that don’t add to greenhouse gasses–he recognized the real threat of global warming.  He has flipped on all of these positions for political expediency.

            1. He still believes drilling in Alaska is a short term solution, he has a comprehensive energy policy that includes natural gas, wind, solar, and new technologies. Its just 8 more years down the road, and the do nothing Democrats have lead us to the brink of $5 a gallon gas, and drilling now is the short term solution that is urgently needed.

              He still believes the Bush tax cuts should have been accompanied by spending cuts, and I agree with him.  There was just no collective will for that then from R’s or D’s.  Maybe there will be in the McCain administration.

              1. You’re kidding right?  Republicans held both houses of congress for the period from 1995-2007 (with the exception of 2002-2004 when the dems held the senate); and the White House from 2001-current.  Yet the failure to develop alternative forms of energy is the fault of Democrats?  What are you smoking?

                He did not believe spending cuts should be paired with Bush’s tax cuts…he opposed them as unfairly slanted to the wealthy.  Re-read some of his campaign position papers from the 2000 cycle.    

                1. Your solution to the lack of affordable gasoline is DO NOTHING, and let the price force conservation or make comparative alternative fuels more affordable by comparison.  

                  No Offence – I think that is an accurate summation of the Democrats energy policy.

                  1. I guess you are lucky that the dems gained control of congress last year (1/07)…or else you wouldn’t have anyone to blame.

                    Bush/Frist/Hastert had a very active energy policy until January of last year when it came crumbling down.

          2. He spoke out before the occupation saying that it was going to be a waste.  Wars of choice rarely achieve anything lasting.  Just look at all the wars of liberation launched by the Soviet Union if you want to see where Democracy on the March is heading.  If Republicans want to believe that a reduction in violence and the ascendancy of Iran in the Middle East is winning then they have set the bar pretty low for “winning”.  If we won the war then why are we still spending $10 BILLION a month on a country of 24 million when they have almost 80 BILLION in the bank?  I think they call it a Pyrrhic victory to win a battle while losing an economy.  You notice that Republicans try very hard to not mention the economy.  Everything is war and victory.  If you watched I.O.U.S.A about our national deficit which doubled from 5 to 10 TRILLION dollars during the last eight years, you would learn that fighting wars with tax cuts is a very very bad idea.  For what the American taxpayer has spent in that tiny nation and what our children will pay on the outstanding interest there better be less violence.  What it did do was show Russia that the US is tied up and Russia can push around their neighbors with impunity.  Brilliant winning the George W. Bush way.  McCain is the same trigger happy moron who thinks victory is a high body count.

        2. Obama will need 60 center-left senators to move anything.  And we aren’t likely to win enough seats to close the deal in Nov.  We need to bring over some RINOs to hit the magic number.

    2. he is rabidly for the war.

      Hagel is a conservative on everthing except

      he is rabidly against the war.

      Do you really think that their swapping parties makes sense, Arvadonian?

      1. He’s also been a Bush Administration protector.  His chairmanship of the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, and to a lesser extent his chairmanship of the Homeland Security Committee, have been disgraceful displays of inaction and butt-covering for the Bush Administration.

    3.    He’s retiring come Jan. ’09.  Here’s hoping Reid is talking to Susan Collins and Gordon Smith about coming over to the Party of the Donkey.  Collins can be chair of Homeland Security Committee again if she comes over.  All she has to do is swap seats with Lieberman.

        1. If you go by 538’s Senate Rankings update yesterday, the last polling in OR-Sen was back at the beginning of August; Smith was ahead by 12 in SUSA’s poll, 6 in Rasmussen’s.

          These are both old polls, so it’s possible that Merkley’s pulled up, but no recent data is available.

  4. Must be the Republican convention going on.

    Everyone is lethargic about now with no new Palin revelations or McCain sightings.  The real test for Palin will be at an unscripted press conference.  Reading someone else’s words from a teleprompter should be a slam dunk for a professional politician unless of course you are George Bush.  After listening to so many speeches last week it was shocking to see Bush plow through his.  Eight years as president and it still looks like it is the first time he has read his speech.  And he had to wait for the crowd to figure out he was stopping so that they could applaud.  One can only hope that Palin get’s up and really kicks butt on what a swell job Republicans have done on fighting wars with tax cuts.  A real cutting edge speech on the blessings of a great economy compliments of Republicans.  Go Sarah!  Show us that you can do more than stumble through your speech like George W. Bush did.

  5. I was surprised when the McCain campaign and his handlers choose Gov. Palin. On the surface, it seemed to be a shrill and superficial pick designed to scoop up the shrill and superficial Hillary supporters who were still hooting and screeching like petulant teenagers who were told they couldn’t go to the Mall.

    On that level, I gave the McCain folks some credit.

    But not, it seems the idea wasn’t even his – the Australian News Network ABC is now reporting that McCain had picked a different VP, but was forced to chose Palin.

    It seems that McCain was going to continue to play a moderate to the American People, and choose “Turncoat Joe” Liebermann has his VP. Partisan Politics aside, Turncoat Joe knows the Senate, is Pro-Choice and very independent, and would’ve scooped up a bunch of Independent Voters this fall, and possibly helped McCain win.

    According to Aussie ABC News:

    “After weeks of vetting his potential vice-presidential picks, Senator McCain was set on his old friend and Al Gore’s running mate in 2000, Senator Lieberman.

    But 10 days ago Senator McCain was called into a meeting by several of his most senior and trusted campaign advisers.

    He was told if he proceeded to nominate Senator Lieberman, who is pro-choice on the issue of abortion, the conservative Christian base of the party would take the issue to the floor of the convention and try to overturn the selection.

    Senator McCain was told that without the base he would certainly lose the election.”

    Link: http://www.abc.net.au/news/sto

    So, when Senator McCain was called on to make a choice – a tough choice, one that would decide the fate of his campaign, a presidential-quality choice…he sold out. He caved.

    He showed he does not deserve to be President.

    If Sen. McCain wants to run a campaign based on judgement and experience, then this was the deciding factor on who the American People should vote for. Because, if he folds this easily under pressure, then we are assured that this will be the way he handles ALL crises under his watch.

    If every time there’s a tough decision to make, this means he’ll fold up like a Transformer in a effort to appease a tiny part of the electorate. If all it takes is the threat of difficulty to make Sen. McCain change his mind, then he’ll be incapable of making a decision of any substance once he’s in charge.

    1. McCain’s cave in to the Religious Right was an act of abject cowardice.

      It puts in to question the one character trait that almost no one, including me, questioned:  His  courage.

      He may not of been afraid of the NVA, but he sure is afraid of the religious right.  

      1. it was money.  I don’t have specifics but McCain pulled in 47 million last month (August) and the Palin announcement resulted in something like 10 million for that day.  He was going to get the fundie vote regardless.  What he needed was their money.  It was a classic case of doing what they wanted so that he could get what he wanted.  I don’t see it as cowardice as much as pure political calculation with little to no regard with how his decision would affect the entire country.  McCain before party and party before country.  They can wave their “Country First” signs all they want.  The reality is that John McCain puts his campaign before the the good of the country whenever it is necessary for his good.  A typical Republican interested only in himself.

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