Extremists on Parade: George and Joe Together at Last

View the Video The caption captures it all.

Bush treated us to a talk on 9/11, er terrorism. There's a new term: “The Freedom Agenda”. Joe will be using it soon. It's “hard work”, but the best line was whether we are willing to support young democracies. I guess Lebanon doesn't count in the George and Joe equation. It was Iran-Iran-Iran in his speech, which will likely be Joe's line very soon. Oh, and Bush doesn't advise Israel's military. Okay, that's enough for me.

Look, I love Israel, the Jewish people and feel for their plight and believe we must
defend and support Israel… right up until the moment that they make the world
more dangerous and thumb their collective country's nose at America's strategic
interest, which is what Olmert did with his overreaction and incompetent war
planning; all the while we were holding on to Iraq with our fingernails. Israel gets a lot more out of this relationship than we do, folks, especially in the middle of a war that IF we lose will affect Israel's hopes and dreams forever. We may soon have bookend victories between Iraqi insurgents and Hezbollah, never mind the Shia crescent that will run from Iran to Baghdad to Beirut.

First we had George W. Bush messing up Iraq, making it a haven for terrorists,
which has not made any of us safer.

Now we've got Prime Minister Olmert handing Hezbollah a political victory of
enormous proportions, as they continue to arm during the “ceasefire”,
which will last about as long as President Bush's contemplation over announcing
the first RED ALERT.

The Bush and Olmert strategy, which Joe Lieberman backs, should send every
thinking person who loves Israel and wants peace in the region fleeing for freedom's
sake to Ned Lamont and every Democratic candidate running for office in November.
Throw the bums out doesn't even come close to the bottom line. Because if you
think the neocon strategy of bombing newly formed democratic countries like
Lebanon into oblivion, killing mostly civilians and destroying businesses, helps freedom's cause then
you're as crazy as the wingnuts. They've even resorted to calling Lamont “the al Qaeda candidate”. The extremists have got to be stopped.

Howard Dean nailed Joe yesterday, but he's not listening. Maybe that's because he doesn't feel he
has to, because, baby, the man's going to have big bucks on his side, not to
mention the party establishment of both parties (not to mention the
special interests).

Big donor base to draw on In his presidential campaign in 2003-004, Lieberman got nearly 15,000 individual contributions; in his primary campaign this year he had received more than 5,700 individual contributions by July 19, according to the Federal Election Commission. (Lamont had gotten 1,100 individual contributions by July 19, according to the FEC.) That’s a base from which Lieberman can start. If even a third of those donors write his campaign a $1,000 check, he’d have nearly $7 million, enough to mount a robust campaign. That figure does not include new Republican donations which will soon begin to flow in. Contributions from political action committees (PACs) will be somewhat crimped. A number of corporate PACs, such as the National Beer Wholesalers' PAC, have already given Lieberman the maximum amount permitted, $5,000 for the primary, and $5,000 for the general election Democrat Mitchell Berger, a Florida lawyer who has given money to the campaigns of Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. John Kerry in the past and who was finance chairman for Lieberman’s 2004 bid for the Democratic presidential nomination, said he will donate money to Lieberman’s independent run and help raise money by talking to other donors. “It would be tragic for the country to lose a man of his ability if he’s willing to serve,” said Berger. … Donors say Lieberman will be well-funded Supporters of Israel from both parties will be crucial to senator’s effort

Notice that second line above?

It doesn't matter that the Democratic Party and Ned Lamont are standing right
alongside of Joe Lieberman on Israel. The fact that Lamont beat Lieberman is
going to make Israel a wedge issue, especially if friends of Joe have anything
to say about it. Or maybe we should call it a two-by-four platform instead of a wedge issue, because they plan to beat us all over the head with it. As I've stated again and again over
the last weeks, the real water's edge in American politics isn't war. It's Israel.

I've been telling anyone who will listen that it's time for Democrats to take
back the honest broker status, represented by both sides of the aisle, for which
our country has been known. However, as far as I can tell, everyone is just
too afraid of what sounding “neutral”, as it's being called, will
do in the upcoming elections. So be it, but I'm getting enough emails from people that prove that however large our love for Israel Americans realize that the extremists are not making us safer.

Now we've got Iran's Ahmadinejad doing vanity interviews on “60 Minutes.” Retire already, Mr. Wallace,
because this kind of shtick only makes matters worse. We've got enough extremists on parade.

It may be summer, but the November general election is off and
running, with Ned
Lamont v. Joe Lieberman front and center, though there is plenty amidst
the sideshow to watch.

Oh, and one more thinh about Lebanon, Bush and Olmert are blaming — drumroll, please —
Iran. See Seymour.