Looking Backwards
by digby
“This is an important program,” said Lieberman, who is seeking a fourth term this year. “I don’t find anybody in Congress who thinks we ought not to be listening to the phone conversations and reading the e-mails of people that we think are involved in and we have reason to believe are involved in terrorist groups. But it has to be done in America in my opinion pursuant to the Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable searches and seizures. It has to be done with a court order.”
Lieberman, who has been criticized by liberals for supporting Bush’s war policy, faulted a censure move against the president that was proposed last week by Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis.
“My own opinion, and it seems to be shared by most Democratic senators, is that it would be an unproductive use of our time,” Lieberman said. “Again, it’s looking backward. It would be divisive. The best thing we could do about this program is to bring it under the law and I’d prefer to spend my time and the Senate’s time figuring out how we can adopt a law that allows the administration to continue this program but force them to go to court to get a warrant before they do.”
I love these guys who claim to be our moral arbiters, don’t you? Yes, the president broke the law and defiled the constitution, but we shouldn’t hold him accountable because it would be divisive and “looking backward.”
It’s funny how he wasn’t concerened about wasting time or looking backward when he railed for half an hour on the Senate floor about President Clinton dragging down the moral values of the country for lying about his sex life, thus bringing the shrieking media harpies to full hysteria for weeks with the idea that the Democrats “were deserting Clinton.” Indeed, even after president Clinton was acquitted, Holy Joe thought censure was needed heal the divisions in our nation at the time.
I do believe the Constitution allows for one recourse that would provide a means for us as the people’s representatives to register our and their disapproval, and would, I believe, help us to bring appropriate closure to this terrible chapter in our nation’s history. It is well within the Senate’s constitutional prerogatives to adopt a resolution of censure expressing our contempt for the President’s misconduct, both that which is charged in the articles and that which is not. Such a censure would not amount to a punishment, nor would it be intended to do so. What it would do, particularly if it united Senators across party lines and positions on removal, is fulfill our responsibility to our children and our posterity to speak to the common values the President has violated, and make clear what our expectations are for future holders of that highest office.
And what it could do, I believe, is to help us to begin healing the wounds the President’s misconduct and the impeachment process’s partisanship have done to the American body politic, and to the soul of the nation. I have observed that roughly two-thirds of the public consistently expresses its opposition to the President’s removal. But I do not think we can leave this proceeding, especially those of us who have voted against the Articles, without also noting that roughly one-third of the American people have consistently expressed their belief that this President is unfit to lead this nation. That is a startlingly large percentage of our people who have totally lost confidence in our nation’s leader.
Hey Joe, you putz. Have you looked at the polls lately? And do you think it might be worth your notice that most of your fellow Democrats believe that George W. Bush has been unfit to lead this country since he stole the election, with you on the damned ticket for gods sake, in 2000? Maybe you don’t mind being punked by Karl Rove, but the rest of us kind of resent it. How about healing those wounds?
Lying and breaking the law and spying on Americans without a warrant, well, it’s wrong, but we needn’t punish anyone for it. It’s not like there’s anything important (like extra-marital sex) involved or anything. We should just make it legal and carry on. Oh hell, let’s just crown the half-wit and get it over with.
Joe Liebermann’s little eight year old grandkid asked him at the dinner table the other night if he thought the president broke the law, like the kids at school said he did.
“Is he gonna get in trouble?” he asked.
“No, son,” Liebermann replied, “we’re just going to change the law so what he did isn’t illegal anymore. We don’t want his friends to get upset.”
“Neat,” the kid replied, “I took four candy bars from 7-11 after school and the man said he was gonna call the police. Can you change the law for me so I won’t get into trouble either?”
Lieberman looked indulgently at the naive little pup and said, “I’m sorry son. You’re the grandson of a Democrat. You shall have to pay the price for your misdeeds. Breaking the law and having a private personal life is only OKIYAR. It’s time you learned that.”
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