(cross-posted at Deny My Freedom and Daily Kos)
It’s time to cut the crap. Joe Lieberman is no longer a part of the Democratic Party. While he technically remains one, for all intents and purposes, this is no longer true. I don’t think anyone can dispute that he has been embraced by the dark side, and he has crossed the line of no return. To wit, this entry really writes itself…
In an interview, McGavick, former chief executive of Safeco Insurance, said he and his wife are sending Lieberman’s campaign $1,000 from their personal bank account.
“I like the man and I like his civility and his bipartisanship,” he said. “He’s one who is willing to stand apart and oppose rank partisanship.”
–Mike McGavick, GOP U.S. Senate Candidate, Washington
U.S. Rep. Mark Kennedy, the GOP Minnesota Senate candidate, threw his support Thursday behind U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman’s re-election campaign.
[…]
“While very liberal Democrats have decided that they don’t want Joe Lieberman in their party, America definitely needs men of Joe Lieberman’s stature in the United States Senate,” Kennedy said in a statement.
“There are many things the senator and I disagree on,” he added. “In fact, I doubt he wants many Republican endorsements, given that millions of dollars have been spent attacking him for being too close to Republicans in fighting terrorism.”
–Mark Kennedy, GOP U.S. Senate candidate, Minnesota
“It’s an unfortunate development, I think, from the standpoint of the Democratic Party,” Cheney said, “to see a man like Lieberman pushed aside because of his willingness to support an aggressive posture in terms of our national security strategy.”
–Dick Cheney, Prince of Darkness
“I called him. He’s a personal friend,” Rove told reporters traveling with Bush to Wisconsin. The call was made late Tuesday afternoon, the day of the primary won by challenger Ned Lamont, who painted Lieberman as too cozy with Bush.
–Karl Rove, Bush’s brain
In a speech Wednesday Republican National Committee chairman Ken Mehlman hailed Lieberman as a “different kind of politician, and a different kind of Democrat.”
“Like the proud history of so many Democrats before him, Joe Lieberman believed in a strong national defense. And for that, he was purged from his Party. It is a sobering moment,” Mehlman said during a speech in Ohio.
“For a man like that to be defeated in a Senate primary is without historic precedent,” calling the outcome of Tuesday’s Democratic primary election “a shame.”
–Ken Mehlman, RNC Chairman
This is a defining moment in some ways for the Democratic Party. I know a lot of people have tried to make this a referendum on the President; I would flip it. I think instead it’s a defining moment for the Democratic Party, whose national leaders now have made it clear that if you disagree with the extreme left in their party they’re going to come after you. And it is probably worth trying to trace through some of the implications of that position, because it is clearly going to be one of the central issues as we get ready for the election campaign this year, that is, the mid-term elections.
–Tony Snow, White House mouthpiece
Shays, who has endorsed Lieberman, did not address how he thought the primary results would affect his own re-election, but said in a statement, “Joe Lieberman is my friend. I have tremendous respect for him. I’m sorry he lost the primary, but unlike my opponent, I look forward to voting for him in the general election.”
–Representative Christopher Shays (R), Connecticut’s 4th District
“I have the highest respect for Joe as a statesman and public servant who has conducted himself with dignity and honor representing Connecticut,” Johnson said. “Joe certainly has every right to run as an independent in the general election when every voter in Connecticut can decide who they want as their next senator.”
–Representative Nancy Johnson (R), Connecticut’s 5th District
And if those rousing endorsements weren’t enough, perhaps this will convince you whose side Joe Lieberman is really on.
“If we just pick up like Ned Lamont wants us to do, get out by a date certain, it will be taken as a tremendous victory by the same people who wanted to blow up these planes in this plot hatched in England,” Mr. Lieberman said at a campaign event at lunchtime in Waterbury, Conn. “It will strengthen them and they will strike again.”
–Senator Joe Lieberman (CT for Lieberman-CT)
There’s no need to equivocate about what Lieberman is doing anymore. Following the lead of the Lamont campaign…
“Did Karl Rove write this attack line for Joe?”
-Tom Swan“Wow…that comment sounds an awful lot like Vice President Cheney’s comment on Wednesday. Both of them believe our invasion of Iraq has a lot to do with 9/11. That’s a false premise.”
-Ned Lamont
Make no bones about saying it. Joe Lieberman is a Republican. He is being endorsed by Republicans, he is receiving campaign contributions from Republicans, and he is attacking the Democratic Party using GOP talking points. Hang it around his neck every single day, from now until November 7. Keep it simple, stupid.