Progressive lawmakers slam Cheney-Lieberman pact

Ned Lamont, Russ Feingold and Howard Dean went out in full force on the Sunday talkshows and confronted Joe Lieberman head-on for using the latest terror threats as a pandering opportunity.

Joe Lieberman acting a lot like Dick Cheney.  Let's look at the similarity between the comment Dick Cheney made last week and what former Democrat Joe Lieberman also said. 

First, Dick Cheney:

"And as I look atwhat happened yesterday, it strikes me that it's a perhaps unfortunateand significant development from the standpoint of the Democratic Party ... I think there's a significant bodyof opinion that wants to go back -- I guess the way I would describe itis sort of the pre-9/11 mind set, in terms of how we deal with theworld we live in."

Now compare that with what Joe Lieberman said:

"If we just pick up (and leave Iraq) like Ned Lamont wants us to do, itwill be taken as a tremendous victory by the same people who wanted toblow up these planes in this plot hatched in England. It willstrengthen them and they will strike again."

Other than the simplicity in their statements, the two are feeding into Ken Mehlman's belief that Lamont's victory reflected a defeatist attitude on the part of the Democrats.  But just in case they didn't realize it, Connecticut voters, not Ned Lamont, decided the outcome.  Either Cheney and Lieberman reject democracy, or they are clearly out of touch with a majority of taxpaying Connecticut voters.

On ABC's Sunday show "This Week", Russ Feingold came out and defended Ned Lamont from Lieberman's attack:

This morning on ABC’s This Week, Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) responded toLieberman’s remarks. “Joe is showing with that regrettable statementthat he doesn’t get it. He doesn’t get it,” Feingold said.

Howard Dean called on Joe Lieberman to drop out of the race:

"I know how hard this is for Joe, and he is a good person, but thetruth is I lost one of these races and I got behind my party's nomineeand I think that is what you have to do if you want to help thiscountry," Dean, former governor of Vermont, said on NBC's "Meet thePress."

Ned Lamont also stood up and rebutted Lieberman's Cheney-like tactic of using national security to scare people:

"It surprised me," he said. "It seemed almost orchestrated. It's sortof demeaning to the people of Connecticut. … I thought the senator andthe vice president were both wrong to use that attack (strategy) on thevoters of Connecticut."

Yes, Connecticut voters -- you are exactly who Dick Cheney and Joe Lieberman were attacking.  They were trying to insult your intelligence.  They think you don't understand anything about how to keep this country safe.  This November, you can send Lieberman and Cheney the right message by kicking the bums out of Congress.

The Republicans have pretty much backed Lieberman in this race.  When RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman was asked to set the record straight on Sunday's Meet the Press, he dodged the question and would not endorse Republican candidate Alan Schlesinger.  Gee, I wonder who Cheney, Mehlman and Rove are rooting for!
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Other sites blogging about this issue: The Huffington Post, The Left Coaster, Lamontblog, Political Warzone, Unclaimed Territory, Blue and White, Angry Bear, Nameless Cynic, Hotline, Free Democracy, Russ Feingold Force, The Truffle, Getting Elected Blogline, The Astute Bloggers, Vox Mia, Unearth Connecticut, The Future was Today, Nasty Little Man, RW Research.