The profanity of opposing Joe Lieberman

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Originally uploaded by vegacura.

Like Atrios, I'm awfully weary of being told that supporting one candidate versus another in a primary is some sort of "purge" or, in David Brook's formulation, a liberal inquisition (sorry, Time$elect).

What's happening to Lieberman can only be described as a liberal inquisition. Whether you agree with him or not, he is transparently the most kind-hearted and well-intentioned of men. But over the past few years he has been subjected to a vituperation campaign that only experts in moral manias and mob psychology are really fit to explain. I can't reproduce the typical assaults that have been directed at him over the Internet, because they are so laced with profanity and ugliness, but they are ginned up by ideological masseurs who salve their followers' psychic wounds by arousing their rage at objects of mutual hate.

Oh my, such delicate sensibilities. And so touching that a conservative columnist cares so deeply about a "liberal" -- albeit "heterodox" -- Senator.

But, geez, how much does he get paid to write such drivel? He may as well phone it in if he's going to use shadowy figures of unquoted "vituperation" because the "assaults" on Lieberman are too dirty for the pages of the New York Times. What an easy job.

It would be far harder to actually answer an argument...but, oh, the language.

No wonder the Republicans love him so much --- the only time he gets nasty is when he's debating a Democrat. When he debated Dick Cheney he practically gave him a blow job on national TV. But then, that makes sense. He and Dick Cheney both agree that Ned Lamont "and his supporters" are a threat to the nation.

[...]

There is nothing to lose by Democrats running against this ridiculous cabal of incompetents. Yet Lieberman arrogantly criticizes those who call him on his inflexible loyalty to a failed, ill-advised strategy. What a putz.

You can't say "putz" in a family newspaper (as Al D'Amato well knows).

But Davey could have simply read another newspaper in the region for an argument against Lieberman's "heterodoxy" that is cuss-free!

Lieberman wants to make this election about whether he is a likable guy.

But this is not a two-bit popularity contest. This is a critical election about whether Connecticut Democrats believe Lieberman is representing their party and mainstream America in the Senate, or whether he has lost his way and become part of the corrupt establishment in Washington.

A look at Lieberman's record shows he is most decidedly the latter - a senator who has "gone Washington" and forgotten about the people who elected him. Lieberman may call himself a centrist, but the record shows he has used his platform to push policies that are far out of step with what ordinary Americans want from their government.

And when you look at Lieberman's supporters and their capacity for well-reasoned argument, then, really, Davey has a great point.