CORPORATE TOOL - JOSEPH LIEBERMAN "It is time for Democrats who distrust President Bush to acknowledge that he will be Commander-in-Chief for three more critical years, and that in matters of war we undermine Presidential credibility at our nation's peril." - Sen. Joe Lieberman on December 6, 2005 It's time, Joe. Come out of the closet, there's no shame in being who you are. Look at yourself in the mirror and admit it: I’m Joe Lieberman, and I'm a Republican. At least if Senator Lieberman admitted his true political leanings, he would be honest. As is, he's destroying the Democratic Party with his disgraceful lack of party loyalty. And any time you hurt the Democrats, you help the Republicans, and when you help them, you've just launched a torpedo against the common man in the War on Corporate Evil. The problem is that Senator Lieberman is a wolf in sheep's clothing. When he goes on TV, they put "D" next to his name. They constantly refer to him as "Democratic Senator" Joe Lieberman. They ask him what other Democrats think of his ideas. To the talking heads on TV, the only reasonable Democrat is the one who is least to the left. As such, Lieberman sets a misleading standard for Democrats everywhere. THE MISDEEDS OF A CORPORATE TOOL Joe Lieberman's misdeeds first entered my life when he was hell bent on taking away my copies of Mortal Kombat and Night Trap. Millions of dollars were wasted on Congressional Hearings that focused on the "violent" content of both games. I played both extensively as a child; I turned out completely normal. The games were less violent than the news. No one realistically dies, no one suffers from lack of health care, poor people aren't dying in the streets. Senator Lieberman used this distraction to take our attention away from the real problems in America: poverty and race. This is a classic trick of Corporate Tools such as the Senator -- distract people from the real issues, focus on nonsense that the Corporate Media can exploit for ratings. Lieberman next made his conservative self known when he publicly bashed President Clinton prior to the the Republican Party's illegal impeachment. Joe took the Senate Floor and bashed our Democratic President at the time when he needed support the most, right before Ken Starr made his decision to impeach. One of Lieberman's hateful comments reveals him to be a hypocrite: The president is a role model. And because of his prominence in the moral authority that emanates from his office, sets standards of behavior for the people he serves. Recap: Clinton was a role model and he has set a terrible example for Americans everywhere. Lieberman doesn't care, however, that Bush has been a far worse role model. President Bush lied to start a war that has killed over 100,000 people and 2100 American Troops. The 9/11 commission just announced that we are less safe now than 9/11, in part because of the Iraq distraction. How is lying that results in massive killing not setting a terrible example for our kids? Are you prepared to call out President Bush for being a terrible role model? Further, isn't the President's actual work provide more guidance to citizens than his sex life? How does Bush set a "good example" for Americans by cutting taxes on the filthy rich and cutting Medicare for the poor? How does Bush set a "good example" by increasing pollution that makes small children sick? How does Bush set a "good example" by purposely appointing a madman to be our UN Ambassador, which undermines the UN mission world wide? How does Bush set a "good example" by disrespecting the Constitution and using religion to justify controlling women's choice in medical procedures? President Bush sets an appaling example for humans everywhere.He has disgraced his office by catering to the wealthy, privileged, and religiously inclined at the cost of all others. Lieberman felt fit to attack Clinton over his sexual encounters even though they were of the same party. He refuses, however, to attack Bush over his moral bankruptcy regarding poverty and abortion even though Lieberman generally is pro-poor and pro-choice. Why? Because Joe Lieberman is a Corporate Tool who wants to please the conservative movement at all costs. He gets on TV because he's the Conservative Democrat, he gets invited to private breakfasts with Donald Rumsfeld, he gets a kiss from President Bush before the State of the Union Address. In short, Lieberman has his niche and it works for him -- and gets him the influence and power he so desperately craves. When it comes to Progressive Causes, Joe sides with the interests of the Christian Right and Corporate Evil. School vouchers? Joe loves 'em; who cares about public schools when the state could be giving out cash to religious schools! If Joe had his way, my hard earned tax dollars would go to fund religious education. That's a far right position, and if adopted by the Democratic Party, would mean the end of public schools in this nation. Affirmative Action? Joe thinks that society is colorblind and people just need to stop talking about race. His former running mate, the amazing yet flawed Al Gore, said that conservatives hide behind the word "colorblind" like hunters behind a "duck blind." Gore knows that saying we have a "colorblind" society is saying we should ignore racism; Joe loves it. Why? Because Joe isn't black and he doesn't have to worry about race. How nice for him. In the 1990s, Joe Lieberman sided with the far-right Project for a New American Century in saying that Bill Clinton was a terrible President for not going to war in Iraq. In fact, he fought Clinton nearly every step of the way with regards to foreign policy. Now, Lieberman and his Project for a New American Century cohorts have gotten their way -- and because of their bloodthirst, over 2100 American troops are dead, over 100,000 Iraqi civilians are dead, hundreds of billions of dollars have been diverted from American needs into the pockets of war profiteers like Halliburton. And most importantly, Iraq is now a dangerous haven for terrorists instead of the isolated Iraq of the 1990s that presented no threat. And yes, unfortunately, Al Gore made the worst decision of his life when he chose Lieberman to be his running mate in 2000. Lieberman criticized Gore's populist message in the campaign. To Lieberman, he didn't want to work for the people or call out the powerful -- because he was sitting at the table with the powerful getting waited on by the people. Lieberman continued to show his Corporate Tool side when he undermined the recount campaign as well. When the Gore campaign was fighting Republican efforts to have invalid military votes discounted, since those votes were made after the Election without the postmarks the law requires, Lieberman went on TV and blabbed that the Republicans could have those votes. In a single moment, no Democrat could make the counter argument because the running mate had just punted. Of course the Democrats aren't against lawful military votes, but we can't allow people to vote who didn't do it until the day after Election Day. These votes helped turn the election to Bush and Lieberman is to blame. And this sordid past leads us back to now. At a time when it's become painfully obvious that 1) we have no prayer of stopping the freedom fighters in Iraq, 2) Bush knew we couldn't win and lied to us by promising things like "flowers in the streets" and 3) Bush knew that Iraq was no threat but viciously lied to the American people. Worse, Iraq has completely distracted our military from the real war on terrorism -- the one against actual terrorists. Right now, the Democrats need to come together to get us out of Iraq as soon as practicable. So what does Lieberman do? Just like in 1998, he decides to bash his own party in an editorial. He claims that Bush didn't lie about Iraq (which is itself a complete lie) and that Democrats are helping the terrorists by questioning Bush. This is pure lunacy. Under Lieberman's "rationale", people should never speak against their President while the nation is at war, even if the President lied to get us to war and there is no reason to keep fighting the war. The counterargument is more sound and painfully obvious: Anyone who doesn't speak their mind and feels that Bush is needlessly killing has a moral and ethical obligation to speak the truth. Under Lieberman's rationale, he would support Adolph Hitler if he were a German in the early 1940s because "in matters of war we undermine Presidential credibility at our nation's peril." Lieberman's call for Democrats to censor themselves should be no surprise considering his chilling hatred of free speech. From his bizarre, pointless war on Video Games, to his attack on Marilyn Manson, to his outrageous public speech against President Clinton's private sexual affairs, Joe Lieberman has made it clear that government should be a tool to control speech and limit freedom of choice to only those choices that meet the approval of himself and his fellow moral conservatives. Most importantly, Joe Lieberman has no respect for party loyalty. The Republicans have extraordinarily high party loyalty and as such, are more effective at attaining Republican goals than Democrats are at attaining Democrat goals. Our party is completely fractured. We have Corporate Tools like Lieberman saying "Keep on fighting in Iraq, boys, I'll be watching you on Fox News" while other Democrats are saying "For the love of God, stop the slaughter." There isn't a comparable divide in the Republicans. Mr. Lieberman, if you don't like the Democrat position on Iraq, leave the party or shut your mouth. Sometimes it's ok to speak against party leadership, but on an issue as important as this, any dissent destroys the party loyalty necessary to effectuate change. 99% of Democrats are on board and Lieberman is breaching his duty to the party that got him elected by destroying our message. Since Joe Lieberman has worked so hard to undermine the Democrats and assist President Bush, he's the perfect choice to be War on Corporate Evil's first Corporate Tool.