In today's Hartford Courant, the article "Lieberman: Alone in the Center" implies that Joe Lieberman is essentially a "man of conscience" who votes with Democrats 88% of the time but is isolated by his party because of his stance on the war. To me, this piece merely drives home one simple point: People still don't understand how Lieberman's lack of honest, intelligent leadership continues to hurt our country.
We all know that Senator Joe Lieberman is capable of saturating the media on the issues he cares most strongly about, specifically bombing Iran and "surging" in Iraq.
However, on one issue vitally important to our nation's security -- protecting America's chemical facilities from terrorist attacks -- Joe has been far less vocal; in fact, sort of docile. Why?
Based on a story in the March issue of Washington Monthly about Republican attempts to kill chemical security legislation, and Joe's silence on the issue, it appears that Joe cares more about his strong "friendships" with Republicans Dick Cheney and Senator Susan Collins than he does about national security.
In the summer and fall of 2006, at about the same time that Joe Lieberman and Dick Cheney were calling Democratic Senate Candidate Ned Lamont weak on terror, Republican Senators such as Collins and James Inhofe (R-Okla), with the support of the Michael Chertoff, the White House and Dick Cheney's lobbyist/bureaucrat son-in-law, were working relentlessly to defang any sort of meaningful chemical security legislation -- legislation that had the potential to protect millions of Americans from the threat of a chemical catastrophe -- and which Lieberman himself sponsored and strongly supported!
Why wouldn't Lieberman call out the dogs on Cheney, Collins, Inhofe and the Bush Administration for risking American lives? Why not send Op-Ed pieces to the Hartford Courant or Wall Street Journal slamming Republican Party leaders for playing "partisan politics" rather than protecting our national security? Why, during the heat of the 2006 midterm elections when the Republican Party was at its most vulnerable, did Joe Lieberman suddenly go soft?
One look at the source of Joe's funding for his 2006 Senate campaign provides all the answers. Joe's campaign was bought and paid for by friends of Dick Cheney and the Republican Party. Rather than speak out on the real danger of an attack on our chemical facilities and how to prevent it, Lieberman chose to scare Americans with false threats from Iraqis fighting a civil war, all with Cheney's blessing.
The bottom line is this: When Lieberman had to choose between fighting for national security or fighting to protect his own security, Joe opted for the unprincipled, cowardly way out. And America suffers for it.
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