Why The Left Hates Lieberman

Cenk Uygur writes in The Huffington Post I am constantly amazed by how uninformed people are when their job is to inform others. Every press article or editorial I've seen on the Lieberman issue completely misses the point. We are not against Joe Lieberman because we are leftists who require ideological purity. We are against him because he aids and abets an out of control Republican Party.

He ignores the left wing anti war bloggers who want us to get out of Iraq immediately, regardless of what it will do to Iraq, and the threat that an unstable Iraq will pose to everyone.

I have been a centrist all my life and I was a Republican until five years ago. Lieberman doesn't offend my non-existent leftist ideology. So why would a centrist be so angry with a senator who claims to be a centrist and tries to find common ground between the two parties?

News Flash. That is what a centrist does.

Because the Republicans today are so far to the right that going over to their side is abandoning centrists in favor of siding with right wing zealots.

And you think he should side with the left wing zealots. That is not being a centrist. A true centrist would try to join forces with moderate Democrats (if there are any left) and moderate Republicans, and seek common ground.

He knows. Lieberman knows that these are the same guys who have been unabashedly using 9/11 as a political tool. He knows these are the same guys who linked Iraq and 9/11 when there was absolutely no connection.

At least that is what it says on your talking points.

He knows they campaign against gays, immigrants and anyone else they can focus people's hatred on.

There go those talking points again.

He knows they have devolved into a party of misinformation, propaganda, ill-conceived wars and religious zealotry -- and he still loves them.

And you think he should go with a party of misinformation, propaganda, ill-concieved withdrawal policies, and anti-religious zealotry.

He doesn't just vote with Republicans, he relishes it. He talks like them, he walks like them,

How does a Republican walk?

he is them. It's not the Iraq War vote people care about nearly as much as when he said, "It is time for Democrats who distrust President Bush to acknowledge that he will be commander-in-chief for three more critical years,

Do you have reason to believe that he will not be President till the end of his term, and if so would you mind explaining your thoughts to the Secret Service?

and that in matters of war we undermine Presidential credibility at our nation's peril." That's going out of your way to support not just their ideology and their war, but to support their demagoguery. It's ugly and it reeks. We get plenty enough of that from Republicans, we don't need any of that from so-called Democrats. That above quote is symbolic of Joe's whole state of mind. He'll go to any length to support this war and this administration. He didn't get roped in, he wasn't tricked, he was a willing participant.

He supports the war, but he has opposed many other Republican proposals.

It's very frustrating to see some Democratic politicians buy into Republican framing of the issues. But Lieberman is different. He isn't just buying Republican talking points, he's selling them.

He knows the Republicans have the White House and a majority in both houses of Congress, and if he is to have any opportunity to get his ideas heard, he knows he must reach out to them.

He shares an ideology, a mind-set and a worldview that sets him apart from the rest of us,

Yes, he wants to get things done, rather than just crying about how mean the Republicans are for not letting you control everything.

the reality-based community.

As viewed from your state of mind.

He isn't coerced or intimated by the Republicans like some of the other Democrats. He is part of the apparatus of coercion and intimidation.