Lieberman, go away. Just go.

Earlier this evening I was flipping channels and I ran across the repeat of Press the Meat. Lanny Davis was on with someone from the Lamont campaign to talk about the Connecticutt primary. Now I haven't posted much (if at all) on this issue because I don't live in Connecticut, and others (namely Digby and Matt Taibi in Rolling Stone) have said just about all that needs to be said on the subject. But Mr. Davis truly and royally pissed me off.

Davis apparently has a new book out, in which he decries (oh, lawdy!!) the excess of vitriol and hate that abounds in political discourse, which he pointed out on MTP, is abundantly on display on blogs and has been unfairly leveled at Senator Lieberman.

Phooey.

We have a right to be mad. And nothing made me madder than when Lieberman lectured me on how wrong I was to criticise and undermine the President on his war policy. I took that very fucking personally. And I've been hearing for weeks about how mean bloggers and democratic "crazies" are opposed to Lieberman because he reaches across the aisle and attempts to work in a bi-partisan manner.

Let's address these one at a time. On the "bipartisianship" issue, yes, I oppose anyone who wants to work with the thugs and crooks who have systematically looted the treasury and turned congressional graft into a high art. Why in god's name would anyone want to be collegial with people who think it's appropriate to hold a minimun wage hike hostage to the repeal of the estate tax which would only benefit the very richest in american society? People so mean spirited that they want to stop states from using welfare block grants to send poor people to college so that they can get off welfare permanently? People who have shut democrats out of the legislative process for the past 6 years?

Give me a fucking break. I don't want bipartisianship. I want some new blood in there that will wipe the temple clean of the graft and bullshit that is business as usual on capitol hill. Lieberman can't be part of the solution because he's a big part of the problem. Hell, he can't even see that there's a problem.

As for the war, tonight Lieberman claimed that he never tried to squash dissent about the war in Iraq.

Lieberman also sought to clarify a December comment in which he appeared to upbraid Democrats for criticizing Bush, saying that "in matters of war, we undermine presidential credibility at our nation's peril." On Sunday he said the words were meant not to stifle criticism but to warn against the kind of partisan exploitation that he said Republicans had used against Cleland.

Appeared to upbraid democrats? Well, excuse me if I beg to differ. Mr. Lieberman's attempts at radical authorial revisionist intentionalism aside, his remarks were quite clear. Words have meaning, and a senator of Mr. Lieberman's experience knows enough to be careful and precise with language. It's too late to put that genie back in the bottle.

As for the war itself, Lieberman still defends his vote on the war, while claiming that he's been oh-so-critical of Bush and the gang who can't shoot straight. Nonsense. As Bob Herbert says today:

Despite the rationalizations now suddenly on the lips of so many, the problem with the current war in Iraq is not the way it was conducted, but the fact of the war itself. It was launched amid blinding, billowing clouds of deceit. There was never any legitimate reason for the war. Iraq had not attacked the U.S. and there was no imminent threat of attack.

The U.S. went in with guns blazing (“shock and awe”) like Matt Dillon shooting up the dusty streets of Dodge City. Only this was the real world, and the result has been unending tragedy.

snip

We went into Iraq with bombs falling and guns blazing, insisting all the while that we were bringing the Iraqis the gifts of freedom and democracy. Instead, we gave them terror, chaos and civil war — in other words, a whole new generation of misery and mass death.

Regime change. Preemptive war. These are ideas that are appalling atrocities visited on the world by the Bush administration and their enablers. Lieberman hasn't disavowed any of it. What part of "war is bad" and it kills people doesn't he get?

I have no doubt that if Lieberman survives his primary challenge he will immediately claim vindication of all of his misguided "principals." He thinks he's entitled to that seat. He thinks he knows better than the democatic voters of his state.

I hope they show him the error of his ways and send him packing.

Maybe Lanny Davis is right. Maybe we are full of vitriol and hatred. But by god, those wankers, and Mr. Lieberman in particular, have earned it in spades. Ye reap what you sow, assholes, ye reap what you sow.