Sen. Joe Lieberman slammed the UN as having "lost its will" on Iraq and argues that the UN should not be brought in to help with reconstruction.
I’ve always had a bit of a liking to Lieberman. For a Democrat he’s not nearly as condescending as most, he’s hawkish on defense, and a generally intelligent individual. Too bad his pro-war stance will likely keep him from the DNC race.
Then again, perhaps that’s a good thing for the Republicans. They’d rather a radical like Howard Dean take the nomination than someone who might appeal to anyone other than the left-wing intelligentsia.
For the very fact that Lieberman aligns himself with the dark side as often as he does, not to mention his annoying demeanor and Jewish upbringing, Lieberman would perform as poorly if not more so than Dean. Unless Bush botches this war as badly as he botched the diplomacy leading up to war, it should be a distant memory by November 2004, save for the more than $100 billion in expenses likely to have been run up at that time.
It’s evident that you and Bush would like wartime to last forever since the public generally supports even a miserably underperforming President during wartime, but the Catch-22 you’ve set yourself up for is that weak-stomached Americans will not have the appetite to endure a sustained war, especially one as foolish and pointless as this one, and Bush’s support will slip with each week it drags on. And if the war ends tomorrow, the expensive cleanup and occupation of Iraq will take center stage during the campaign along with Bush’s ruinous and fiscally child-abusive domestic policy. Considering Bush’s marginal support earlier this month, I’d say you guys will have a problem on your hands when he has to face the public in a non-wartime era again.
Lieberman would be my last choice for the Democratic nomination. People like you would love it because once he runs and has to shift his positions to accommodate the DNC platform in August 2004, you can point your finger at what a hypocrite and liar he is and say you were all wrong about this guy. I’m voting Dean even though he’s a longshot and would most likely not become President if he were the nominee. He’s the best of the candidates nonetheless. John Edwards or Bob Graham would probably be the most electable of the Dems in 2004. Once the devastation of Bush’s domestic agenda starts to take effect, I anticipate that even a majority of thoughtlessly conservative Americans will realize a change of policy is desperately needed to avoid financial ruin.