Joe Lieberman- Damn Him with Faint Praise

I've just been listening to Joe Lieberman's speech to the Republican National Convention. It is maddening to watch a one-time Democratic Vice-Presidential nominee pandering to the Republicans. (On the other hand, if it hadn't been for a certain type of "Democrat" - hell bent on Revolution, and ignoring the wide spectrum of opinion in our party- we would still have Joe Lieberman on the INSIDE of the tent pissing OUT than OUTSIDE the tent pissing IN- so, I suppose he deserves a little bit of revenge. Still, I won't be buying him any drinks in the near future, that's for sure.)

But there is a silver lining in the cloud. Lieberman, in his praise of what makes McCain different from others of his party, inadvertently exposed and underlined what makes the Republicans repugnant and resistant to the change America needs. For example, Lieberman said:

Let me, as John would say, give you some straight talk here. If John McCain was just another go-along partisan politician, he never would have taken on corrupt Republican lobbyists, or big corporations that were cheating the American people, or powerful colleagues in Congress who were wasting taxpayer money. But he did.

If John McCain was another go-along partisan politician, he never would have led the fight to fix our broken immigration system or actually do something about global warming. But he did.

As a matter of fact, friends...

And this is where it got interesting. After Lieberman praised these qualities of McCain and his willingness to tackle "immigration" and "global warming" - there was a nice long pregnant pause in the auditorium...until, perhaps, some technician finally turned on the "Applause" sign to remind these Neanderthals that they were supposed to clap.

Left to their own, the right wing would have sat on their hands to be sure.

Also, Joe Lieberman actually got the GOP to applaud some of the great things accomplished by Bill Clinton.

In actuality, a lot of Lieberman's speech is pretty good...except that he reaches the wrong conclusions. John McCain may, or may not, be a decent guy, but it is the party he belongs to, in the end, which will set the agenda- and you can tell by the places where the Republicans sit on their hands where they will, and will not, let John McCain take the country (even if he wants to go there).

Check out the New York Times for a video and transcript of Judas's oooops, Joe's speech