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CNN's Situation Room Crowns Joe Lieberman King of the US Senate

by: CTPatriot

Tue Nov 14, 2006 at 06:12:26 AM EST

New Page 1

On Monday's "Situation Room", Wolf Blitzer and his sidekick, Carol Costello, made their contribution to the Joe Lieberman rehabilitation and victory tour, breathlessly describing his newfound position of power:

BLITZER: What a difference an election makes. Many people thought his political future was in peril only a few months ago. Yet now Senator Joe Lieberman of Connecticut could just be one of the most powerful people in the United States Senate.

...

CORAL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, Joe Lieberman certainly made many sit up and say, what did he just say? Could this longtime Democrat switch parties and allow the Republicans to maintain their edge in the Senate, just as the Democrats are ready to grab it?

We do know this: Joe has his mojo back.

That's right Democrats, I hope you're paying attention! Joe Lieberman and his friends in the media want to make absolutely certain that you're prepared to bow down to his majesty and accede to his every demand.

"Chairman of the Homeland Security Committee"? Well, that's ok for a start. He'll let you know what else he wants as the mood strikes. What's that you say? Blackmail? Please, he's Holy Joe LIEberME. He would never do that. He's simply making sure that his former party does what's best for his country. And only Joe is capable of judging what is best for America, just like he did with Iraq! And anyway, Democrats should never have allowed that snot-nosed neophyte, Lamont, to run against him in the primary. They obviously deserve any abuse he decides to heap upon them.

But really, let's get back to CNN's brilliant job of promoting King Joe's narrative noting that, in today's media, history doesn't exist before 24 hours ago, and critical thinking is not a part of the job description:

CTPatriot :: CNN's Situation Room Crowns Joe Lieberman King of the US Senate

COSTELLO (voice-over): It was an amazing achievement, a Democrat losing in the primary, losing his party support and money, only to run as an independent in the general election. And he took the high road, never attacking Democrats, even telling Wolf Blitzer in the SITUATION ROOM he remained blue through and through.

That's right folks. Joe Lieberman, the guy who distributed race baiting anti-Lamont flyers in Connecticut's black church parking lots, who started a whisper campaign that Lamont was anti-semitic, who sent his paid thugs to disrupt Lamont campaign events and intimidate Lamont supporters, who rejected the will of his party's voters, reentering the race as an independent after losing the primary, who told one lie after another about his record and his positions, took the high road. That must be some other Joe Lieberman we witnessed here in Connecticut.

And I guess that Arianna Huffington must have been referring to some other Joe Lieberman when she accused Lieberman of running his campaign:

...by attacking the Democratic Party and using Rovian slurs of the worst kind. That's why he's getting such strong Republican support and why Bush himself refuses to even endorse the Republican candidate in the race.

At least CNN got one thing right:

COSTELLO: But it could be Lieberman is just feeling the love for those who put him back in office. For a guy who's been a Democrat for decades, he sure got a lot of Republican support. Senator Susan Collins of Maine spoke glowingly of him. John McCain allowed two of his aides to consult with the Lieberman camp. Newt Gingrich endorsed his run. Even President Bush chose to support him deciding not to outwardly support Connecticut's Republican candidate.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm going to stay out of Connecticut.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO (on camera): Get this: 70 percent of those who voted for Lieberman in Connecticut were Republicans. Still, no Democrat I talked with today actually thinks he'll switch. It's more likely Lieberman is sending a message, and that message is, play nice with me or I can make your life really, really hard -- Wolf.

In one short segment, CNN not only managed to reinvent Joe Lieberman as the most ethical, deserving and powerful politician in Washington, but they also provided justification to the public for whatever future decisions King Joe makes during his 2 year game of Democratic blackmail.

Bravo, CNN. I can't wait for Act 2--I hear that's the part where "Independent Democrat" Joe Lieberman and "Maverick Republican" John McCain join forces for a 2008 Unity Party ticket in which they singlehandedly save the world from all forms of evil, including political partisanship and terrorism!!!

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CNN's Situation Room Crowns Joe Lieberman King of the US Senate | 5 comments

CNN (0.00 / 0)

sent all of what happened before and during the campaign down the memory hole. It's up to us to keep the truth in the public consciousness. We need to track Lieberman's voting record and expose his hypocracy, lies and double thinking votes for all to see. One can only play both sides against the middle for so long before everyone tires of it because no one benefits.

by: LAF @ Tue Nov 14, 2006 at 06:38:07 AM CST

by: you @ soon

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Send Wolf Blitzer a Reality Check (0.00 / 0)

Your favorite youtube refutation of a clean campaign, a link to his victory page and the bullmoose page, his cached full lamonty slime that has mysteriously disappeared from regular web pages -- it IS possible to make it much harder to be in the denial he is.

Or collusion. But let's start with denial.

Here's a link you might use:

http://www.cnn.com/f...

by: greenpeas @ Tue Nov 14, 2006 at 07:01:01 AM CST

by: you @ soon

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history lesson (0.00 / 0)

is there any way to note--without sounding anti-semitic--that wolf blitzer is a former aipac lobbyist and jerusalem post reporter?

by: glasskat @ Tue Nov 14, 2006 at 07:36:54 AM CST

by: you @ soon

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not to Joe Lieberman (0.00 / 0)

Who has nicely confused the issue by reverse racism. By implying that anyone criticize his particular stance on issues related to Israel is clearly anti-Semitic, he has managed to silence many.

But the Jewish community doesn't have one stance on Israel's actions. There are a variety of opinions, like in any other community. His kneejerk "pivot and accuse" mode pretends that he has a corner on the truth. Heck, even the Israelis dont have one stance -and it is in fact Lieberman's cries of racism that act to silence debate that is the biggest disfavor to Israel's future - because he is tamping down the hard questions that might resemble....that ugly little word, OVERSIGHT.

If Blitzer's credentials include AIPAC and reporting for the Jerusalem Post, and we know his credentials include a 24 hour news station, both angles make him likely to be part of another one of those benefits of incumbency, a rolodex as long as your arm of people you can find commonalities with and schmooze based on them, while steadfastly confusing your stance on the issues.

So much of the road to Joe's return, at least from my perspective, seems to be littered with favors, connections, and such a paucity of enthusiasm.

When history looks back, it's entirely possible that Israel's path to hell will be paved with Joe Lieberman's "good intentions". Just because you're quite good at making the connections for an opportunity to announce what a good friend you are to Israel does not uniquely endow you with good judgment or a long-term view of the relationship between the US position in the world and Israel's security.

Joe has never given a cogent description of how destabilizing Iraq by US invasion, causing a rapid change in the balance/counterbalance of mideastern power, taking loans from China and reducing our influence there, and continuing to beat the drums for more military action in Iran -- remind me again how this is not "ready/fire/aim"?

With friends like that who push the ethnic buttons while attempting to fan fear and minimize discussion of the issues, I am not sure Israel needs enemies. He is a danger to open dialogue on this issue, and ultimattely will be the cause of dissolution of support for Israel in this country, precisely because he DOES quash dissent and refuse to engage in intelligent debate and raise understanding of the issues.

Note to Joe: Take a lesson from George Bush. Silencing dissent, whether by calling people unpatriotic or anti-Semitic, BACKFIRES.

by: greenpeas @ Tue Nov 14, 2006 at 08:08:17 AM CST

[ Parent ]

MSM laziness and love of access. (0.00 / 0)

All of this is of out my hat but:

Some of this has to be that it is just too hard for these folks to try and understand. They're just not ready to handle the nuances. Joe relied on that for the election, and it was a smart move on his part. When they try, they come up with the formula of the most ethical blackmailer in the Senate. Where is Walter Cronkite when we need him?

The other thing has to be that Joe's PR team must be good. Joe must make it a priority to forge and preserve good relations with these shows. He is practically an analyst now. So they leave it up to him to define and spin and they just do the lazy thing.

by: drowsy @ Tue Nov 14, 2006 at 08:10:28 AM CST

by: you @ soon

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CNN's Situation Room Crowns Joe Lieberman King of the US Senate | 5 comments

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