More Adventures in Third Party History: Today, Connecticut for Lieberman

For those of you whose political memory is like unto the early morning dew, here are only a few of the highlights of the career of Holy Joe Lieberman, who ran as a Democrat but whose first loyalty was always to the regime of Bibi Netanyahu.

In 2000, Lieberman was instrumental in stabbing his running mate, Al Gore, in the back and helping to deliver the White House to George W. Bush.

For the duration of the Dubya Administration, Bush's Iraqi Clusterfuck had no more fervent defender than Holy Joe Lieberman.  In fact, Joe was such a dog-loyal war pimp that Dubya awarded him a big ol' kiss on the mouth just before his 2005 State of the Union address.

You might also remember this period as a time when Democrat Zell Miller was given a keynote address at the 2004 Republican National Convention in which to thoroughly slagged his own party -- my party -- as terrorist-lovin', Murrica-hatin' scum for daring to run against Dubya.  

Which, for the uninitiated, is what "bipartisan" usually amounts to:  some douchebag "Centrist" lining up with Republicans to shitting on Democrats.  Makes the media's toes positively curl in Both Siderist ecstasy.  

In 2006, Joe Lieberman was defeated in the Connecticut Democratic senatorial primary election, so he pulled what would later some to be called "a Yang":  quickly cooking up a brand new Centrist Third Party -- Connecticut for Lieberman, in this case -- to combat the, y'know, Terrible Extremes on Both Sides.

Lieberman's primary loss also caused his very good friend and fellow Iraq War pimp, David Brooks of The New York Time, to lose his mind.  In August of 2006, Brooks spent an entire column demanding that a McCain/Lieberman Party -- a "Party no 3" -- be summoned into existence out of his fury that his very good friend and fellow Iraq War pimp had lost an election.  

And it will surprise no one that David Brooks' tantrum from 16 years ago on the Terrible Awfulness of a two-party system that would allow his very good friend and fellow Iraq War pimp to lose an election sounds virtually identical to the boilerplate Both Siderist bullshit that virtually every other "Centrist" Third Party grift has used to this day.  

Yeah, looking at you Andrew Yang.

The flamers in the established parties tell themselves that their enemies are so vicious they have to be vicious too. They rationalize their behavior by insisting that circumstances have forced them to shelve their integrity for the good of the country. They imagine that once they have achieved victory through pulverizing rhetoric they will return to the moderate and nuanced sensibilities they think they still possess.

But the experience of DeLay and the net-root DeLays in the Democratic Party amply demonstrates that means determine ends. Hyper-partisans may have started with subtle beliefs, but their beliefs led them to partisanship and their partisanship led to malice and malice made them extremist, and pretty soon they were no longer the same people.

The McCain-Lieberman Party counters with constant reminders that country comes before party, that in politics a little passion energizes but unmarshaled passion corrupts, and that more people want to vote for civility than for venom...

Indulge me please for a moment and meditate on this thought: after witnessing the GOP's ongoing and exponentially accelerating plunge into out-and-proud fascism during the 16 years between Brooks' column and today, who but dilettantes, children, imbeciles and con men could possible still think that Both Sides Do It is a great idea?  A winning business plan?

In that three-way race, third party candidate Lieberman won, beating the Democratic nominee, Ned Lamont, and alleged-degenerate gambler, Republican Alan Schlesinger.  The final percentages for Lieberman were 33%,  of Democrats, 54% of independents and 70% of Republicans.

Yay independents!  

Yay striking a noble blow against the Corrupt Duopoly!

A couple of years later while campaigning for Republican John McCain, Holy Joe's unstinting support for right-wing lunatic pastor John Hagee got him crosswise with McCain.  Check out the roster of supporters.

Lieberman to share stage with Hagee

John McCain might be fleeing from Pastor John Hagee, but one of his strongest Capitol Hill supporters, former Democratic VP candidate Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.), seems to have no problem standing beside the controversial clergyman.

Lieberman will join Hagee on stage at a Christians United for Israel Washington summit July 21-24, joining a roster of speakers that includes former Sen. Rick Santorum, Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol, former presidential candidate Gary Bauer and nationally syndicated radio host Dennis Prager.

Speaking before the same conference last year, Lieberman, an orthodox Jew, spoke reverentially of Hagee: "I would describe Pastor Hagee with the words the Torah uses to describe Moses, he is an 'Eesh Elo Kim,' a man of God, because those words fit him; and, like Moses, he has become the leader of a mighty multitude in pursuit of and defense of Israel."

He went on: "Pastor Hagee, I pray that God will bless you with all that you pray for, and I do so with great confidence because I know what the Lord said to Abraham in Genesis 12:3. If ever there was a man who will be blessed because he has blessed Israel, Pastor Hagee, it is you."

"controversial" was putting it mildly, but McCain and Lieberman kissed and made up and Lieberman was again rewarded for his loyal Third Party/Fifth Column service to the GOP by being gifted a keynote speaking gig at the Republican National Convention.

Just like Zell Miller!  

I believe the title of the speech was, "Remember a couple of years ago when I was Al Gore's running mate?  Well fuck him!  Fuck 'em all!"

Well wouldn't you know it, McCain got pretty well stomped in 2008, and the man Holy Joe had campaigned against, Barack Obama, was elected president.  But Holy Joe still caucused with the Democrats, so he had one more service to perform for his Republican friends and his financial supporters in the insurance industry.  

By withholding his vote and threatening to filibuster the bill until he got everything he wanted and the Affordable Care Act had been gutted of its public option -- 

Why Lieberman Hates the Public Option

Theories explaining the senator's threat to filibuster the health care bill if it includes a public option

By Mara Gay

OCTOBER 28, 2009

The public option was on a roll. Then, on Tuesday, Sen. Joe Lieberman threatened to filibuster the health care bill if it includes a public option, which he says would create "trouble for taxpayers, for the premium payers and for the national debt." Liberals are once again at war with Lieberman, who has been on the outs with Democrats since ditching the party and campaigning for John McCain. Left-wing pundits are laying on the derision, while everyone else asks: what is Lieberman after?...

-- Lieberman transformed the passage of the ACA from a fast and substantial victory for the new Obama Administration during the tiny window when they had a 60-vote majority in the Senate...into an agonizing, two year slog that gave the GOP  -- which had sworn a blood oath to obstruct everything Obama proposed no matter the cost -- time to regroup, rebrand itself as the Fake Tea Party and bury the calm, civil no-drama Obama under an avalanche of Fox News/Hate Radio-sponsored racist hysteria.

Then, running on a single-issue campaign to "be the 41st vote" to kill the ACA in the Senate, former semi-nude model Scott Brown won a special election in Massachusetts and, almost before it had begun, the Obama administration's ability to pass any legislation at all was over.  

In 2012 Holy Joe opted not to run for re-election and instead devote his time to making lots of money and occasionally weaseling in invitation to appear on political talk shows to remind everyone that before there was a Joe Manchin, there was a Joe Lieberman.

And the mighty Centrism loving', Both Sides hatin' third party he had created?

It vanished like a fart on a Ferris wheel, because it was never more than a vehicle for his personal political ambitions swaddled in Both Siderist doubletalk.

And yeah, I'm still looking at you Andrew Yang.

Me?  I'm Partisan A F.