"Let's not play the blame game"

Don't blame me! (4.00 / 1)

I can't help but thinking that his "let's not play the blame game" bull is largely a self-protective instinct.  He knows that he is responsible for giving the green light to Michael Brown's confirmation, and if Brown receives a large share of blame, it might trickle down to him eventually.  CYA.  So in his own self-interest, he moralizes about how we shouldn't place blame.

Ugh.

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by: Maura @ Fri Aug 25, 2006 at 13:52:36 PM UTC

Blame (4.00 / 1)

The always interesting wikipedia has this to say about blame:

Gerald Weinberg, held that the flow of blame in an organization was itself one of the most important indicators of that organization's robustness and integrity. Blame flowing upwards in a hierarchy, he argued, proved that superiors were willing to take full responsibility for their orders to their inferiors and supplying them with the resources required to do their jobs. But blame flowing downwards, from management to staff, or laterally between professionals, were signs of organizational failure.

Remind anyone of any governments you know?

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by: concorde @ Fri Aug 25, 2006 at 14:05:38 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Lieberman's responses in this interview are enough reason to vote against him (4.00 / 1)

let alone his blind support for the Iraq war.

Lieberman doesn't want to blame Repukes, but he has no problem blaming Democrats who challenge him.  What a moral hypocrite.

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by: Larkspur @ Fri Aug 25, 2006 at 13:54:30 PM UTC

Kudos to Scarce (4.00 / 2)

BTW, Scarce, you rock for finding this obscure but VERY telling clip at this critical time.  :-)

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by: Maura @ Fri Aug 25, 2006 at 13:59:02 PM UTC

Thanks go to my crack team (0.00 / 0)

..of internet sleuths who scour the 'net tirelessly 24/7 looking for such material.

P.S. Oh, and Tim for upping this one. ;)

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by: Scarce @ Fri Aug 25, 2006 at 15:14:33 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

It's good to be reminded (0.00 / 0)

of how effective the Collins-Lieberman Unity™ oversight was.

Looking forward, the Simmons-Shays-Johnson-Rell-Lieberman Unity™ party platform appears to be more of the same.

Remember, Unity™ is not just a stay the course™ slogan.

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by: notcho @ Fri Aug 25, 2006 at 14:40:54 PM UTC

Useless and Uselesser (0.00 / 0)

The CT Senate race aside, Collins and Lieberman--one as whiny, ineffective, conciliatory and weak as the other--represent the face of the "bipartisanship" and "moderation" so cherished by David Broder, Cokie Roberts and their ilk. Is that Gibson actually acting as the voice of common sense in the face of these two useless nitwits? This should be the end of both of their careers. How either one of them gets out of bed in the morning, much less has the gall to ask to serve in the Senate again, is simply beyond me.

A year later, and corpses a still being found in NOLA, and they still don't want to play the blame game.

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by: Jim4Lamont @ Fri Aug 25, 2006 at 15:09:14 PM UTC

Right (0.00 / 0)

As if "bipartisanship" was somehow a good in itself.

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by: jhayes @ Fri Aug 25, 2006 at 15:13:03 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Jean Hay-Bright (0.00 / 0)

For those of you who want to look beyond Connecticut for a few minutes, let me do a quick shout out for Jean Hay-Bright who is running against Olympia Snowe, the other Republican Senator from Maine.

Jean is fighting a tough uphill battle, but lets see what we can do about those Republican women from Maine.

BTW, Collins will be up for re-election in '08.

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by: Aldon Hynes @ Fri Aug 25, 2006 at 15:38:05 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

On Brown, Joe Sez: "It's Up To The Decider" (0.00 / 0)

Did you hear that???  Joe said that it was up to President Bush and Cheney/Chertoff to decide whether Brownie had screwed up.

I CAN'T BELIEVE IT - in the midst of what is probably the worst disaster in our lifetime, with "Heckuva Job Brownie", clearly culpable for the disastrous emergency response (or lack thereof) all Joe can say is "It's for The Decider to decide"...

I'm speechless - dumbfounded.  How am I supposed to get any work done today?

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by: OscarTheGrouch @ Fri Aug 25, 2006 at 15:31:31 PM UTC

"Let's" not use the Royal We, okay? (0.00 / 0)

I agree, "let's" not play the blame game.  So Joe, how about SHOULDERING RESPONSIBILITY FOR POOR DECISIONS AND INACTION, AND BEING ACCOUNTABLE/SETTING OUT TO QUICKLY CORRECT THEM?

Actions in fact do speak louder than words, and Joe continues to tilt at windmills to try to make his words speak louder than your actions.

When public officials seem to expect to be given more leeway on "taking responsibility" than e.g. most parents, good or bad, would give their five year old for screwups nowhere near the scale of this administration, we are indeed in trouble.

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by: greenpeas @ Fri Aug 25, 2006 at 16:35:39 PM UTC

Absent proof... (0.00 / 0)

THAT"S when you lay blame! 

Y'see, if someone votes for a candidate who supports witdrawal from Iraq, you blame them for encouraging terrorists, since there is a complete lack of empirical evidence proving this.  If, on the other hand, you can show a direct failure on the part of an individual or group (especially yourself), then you avoid blaming anyone, because that's just playing politics and not addressing the root cause of the problem.

Joe, your roots are showing.

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by: imajoebob @ Fri Aug 25, 2006 at 16:38:23 PM UTC

"blame game" (0.00 / 0)

Let's not play the blame game (phrase)

It means "Let's not take personal responsibility for our actions."

Joe Lieberman and George Bush believe that our govt should cut and run on capturing Osama Bin Laden so that Bush and the neocons could invade Iraq. Despite no Wmds and no links to 9/11, Lieberman supports that decision.

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by: bigdavefromqueens @ Fri Aug 25, 2006 at 17:32:16 PM UTC