Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Clinton Unendorses Lieberman

Clinton's backpedaling in public again, what an amusing sight to behold:

The former president slapped Lieberman over the latter's suggestion that he lost because party liberals wanted to purge a politician who shared Clinton's overall philosophy of being progressive on domestic issues while supporting a robust national security policy.

"If I were Joe, and I was running as an independent, that's what I'd say, too," Clinton told ABC's "Good Morning America." "But that's not quite right. That is, there were almost no Democrats who agreed with his position, which was, 'I want to attack Iraq whether or not they have weapons of mass destruction.' "
[...]
When it comes to Iraq, Lieberman may not be as far apart from Clinton and his wife, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), as the former president implied. Both Clintons supported the resolution authorizing the war. Neither has renounced that position, despite the absence of weapons of mass destruction.

Lieberman spokesman Dan Gerstein, in an e-mailed response, said Lieberman's posture was not the Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld position, but one signed into law by Clinton himself in 1998 as the Iraq Liberation Act. That measure called for regime change there but not solely because then-Iraqi President Saddam Hussein harbored a desire for weapons of mass destruction.

Gerstein noted that Clinton had told an Aspen Institute audience last month that he agreed with Lieberman that it would be a mistake to set a timetable for withdrawal, as Lamont favors, and said Clinton had called efforts to punish Democrats who backed the war "the nuttiest strategy I ever heard in my life."
If you believe that it would be a mistake to cut and run, why endorse someone who wants to do just that? And why should anyone listen to you now that you are endorsing the opponent of the man you originally supported? And why should anyone listen to a thing you say about Liberman's position because you are a known liar (who, as we can see above, continues to lie)? This is proof that Democrats put party before principle. It's a great object lesson for the voters and I'm so glad that the race has national exposure.

I'm feeling better about Lieberman's chances now, no one Clinton has endorsed has won their race.