Political Cortex: Brain Food for the Body Politic

Cheney's pathetic voting record as a Wyoming Congressman and his highly controversial stint as CEO of Halliburton were ignored as the two men behaved as friends and flashed smiles before and after the joint meeting.  

There was one basic difference in the presentations, however, that being that Cheney leveled frequent attacks at the Clinton Administration, making certain that he stuck to his message despite the amiable mood of the moment while Lieberman, on the other hand, offered no more than a tepid defense of the two term presidency of the party on which he was running.  

The lackluster debate performance by Lieberman was a harbinger of bigger problems ahead in the 2000 campaign.  The Bush-Rove campaign deceitfully sought to secure additional votes in Florida by making a false claim that service personnel within the state were being denied their voting rights.  

The team that had systematically prevented thousands of African Americans from casting legitimate ballots through the machinations of Jeb Bush and Katherine Harris were crying crocodile tears over Democrats allegedly mistreating our men and women in uniform by depriving them of their right of vote.  

Demonstrations were held and veterans appeared in uniform castigating the allegedly cruel behavior of Democrats.  One of the participants was General Norman Schwarzkopf, a high profile figure who had led the Desert Storm invasion in the 1991 Gulf War.  

As customary with Karl Rove full court propaganda presses, the underlying reality revealed a far different story.  The deprivation of which the Republicans complained was nothing more than equal application of the law.  

Since service personnel of Florida residency were stationed at various outposts throughout America and the rest of the world a deadline was imposed.  Therefore all votes needed to bear a specified postmark to be counted.  

The Republicans displayed tear-jerking emotion and ignored reality, realizing that beclouding the issue was their most successful approach.  The same law applied four years earlier in the Clinton-Dole election without protest.  

To challenge the law's application in the midst of the Florida recount atmosphere for the reason mentioned would be the same as stating that veterans such as General Schwarzkopf who did not show up at the polls on election day or did not file absentee ballots within the period specified by law should receive the opportunity to vote later with no questions asked.

While Democrats within the Gore campaign stated the foregoing, one figure jumped into the fray and took the Republican side.  Senator Lieberman appeared on Sunday talk shows during the controversy, expressing sympathy for the service personnel who had allegedly "been deprived of their voting rights" and stating that all late votes should be counted without any questions being asked.  

Once that the Democratic vice-presidential candidate expressed himself on the subject the issue was decided.  Democrats back off and the resulting Republican vote grab, occurring over the Thanksgiving holiday period, was referred to by media figures outside the snake oil circuit as "the great Republican Thanksgiving stuffing."

Four years later Lieberman was back as a very brief and poorly received presidential candidate who trained his guns on Howard Dean.  Who can forget his statement that Dean had forfeited his right to ever be considered for the presidency after the former Vermont governor stated that the capture of Saddam Hussein changed nothing in terms of the Iraq occupation.  Time has proven Dean correct.  

In another instance Lieberman saw Dean hypocrisy in his refusal to release all correspondence from his tenure as Vermont's governor while he was advocating that Vide President Cheney release minutes of conversations he held with oil executives prior to the Iraq War.  

Dean's response was that he was holding back on releasing certain personal letters written to him by male constituents during the period when a gay rights bill was being debated.  

Dean indicated that many of the men who wrote to him were married and had written to him expressing their innermost thoughts under expectation of confidentiality.  He indicated that he would honor all other specific requests that did not fall within that one carefully circumscribed area.  

In short, Lieberman cheaply propagandized by creating an apples and oranges non-analogy for political purposes.  In this case who was the hypocrite?    

For progressives who are sick and tired of the steady diet of Bush Lite advanced by Senator Lieberman there is a viable alternative on the Connecticut ballot in this August's Democratic primary.  

Ned Lamont is a progressive seeking real change.  He is appalled by what is occurring in Iraq while Lieberman is a glowing supporter of the Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld agenda there and throughout the Middle East.  Lieberman voted for Justice Roberts and for cloture to terminate debate and assure a vote on Justice Alito.  

Joe Lieberman has richly earned the Fox Democrat label along with the endorsement of Sean Hannity.  He is troubled by the failure of progressive Democrats to see American values within his limited perspective.  

Should Connecticut Democrats vote to send Lieberman back to the Senate?  Should Connecticut Democrats endorse the Bush-Cheney agenda?  Should a real Democrat instead be chosen to represent one of the nation's most traditionally progressive states?

The choice is crystal clear.  Ned Lamont is the candidate who richly deserves your support.  You can find out more about him at his newly revamped website at nedlamont.com.