With apologies to everyone I've ever sat with at a seder

If Joe Lieberman had only taken to the Senate floor during Clinton’s nonsensical impeachment proceedings to bloviate and bluster at the President ‘for having extramarital relations with an employee half his age … in the vicinity of the Oval Office. Such behavior is not just inappropriate. It is immoral.’ … Daiyenu.

If Joe Lieberman had only gone on record saying that the Florida legislature, Jeb Bush, and the U.S. Congress acted correctly when they tried to have the government intervene in the Terri Schiavo issue debacle horrorshow case… Daiyenu.

If Joe Lieberman had only voted for the Defense of Marriage Act… Daiyenu.

If Joe Lieberman had only voted to authorize the Iraq War … Daiyenu.

If Joe Lieberman had only said, “It’s time for Democrats who distrust President Bush to acknowledge that he will be the commander in chief for three more critical years and that in matters of war we undermine presidential credibility at our nation’s peril,” … Daiyenu. [my emphasis]

If Joe Lieberman had only said that Rumsfeld should keep his job because “it is neither sensible nor fair to force the resignation of the secretary of defense, who clearly retains the confidence of the commander in chief, in the midst of a war. … Secretary Rumsfeld’s removal would delight foreign and domestic opponents of America’s presence in Iraq,” … Daiyenu.

If Joe Lieberman had only defended Bush’s non-plan for Iraq by saying, “Does America have a good plan for doing this, a strategy for victory in Iraq? Yes, we do. And it’s important to make clear to the American people that the plan has not remained stubbornly still, but has changed over the years,” … Daiyenu. [my emphasis]

If one month after his wife went to work for a pharmaceutical lobbying group, Joe Lieberman had introduced legislation giving huge perks to the very same big-pharma company, GlaxoSmithKline … Daiyenu.

If Joe Lieberman had only voted for cloture when creepily-conservative Samuel Alito was nominated to the Supreme Court … Daiyenu.

If Joe Lieberman had only supported Bush’s energy bill, which doesn’t address energy independence, supports drilling in ANWR, and gives massive amounts of federal money to the already-obscenely-profitable oil companies … Daiyenu.

His defenders say he’s a “moderate.” I call bullshit. The above actions aren’t “moderate,” to my eyes. “Moderate” might be weirdly hawkish Joe Biden, or pro-life Stefanie Herseth, all by her lonesome in the Dakotas. Lieberman represents progressive Connecticut, and despite it, has walked way, way, to the right of “moderate.” His much-vaunted “willingness to cross the aisle” has not served to accomplish any great bi-partisan compromises (name one! Seriously!), but rather to weaken his own party’s feeble attempts at backbone and provide much needed cover for the topless carousing and bodyshots by the Neocons-Gone-Wild crew currently in the White House. He’s the token Democrat they trot out while protesting that “Some of my best friends are Democrats,” but in that he’s just like the Log Cabin Republicans; they’re nobody’s respected friends. They’re just convenient cover.

Ann “I’m the reincarnation of Leni Riefenstahl” Coulter endorsed Joe Lieberman, for gods sake. This alone should be a warning sign; if the author of “Treason: Liberal Treachery from the Cold War to the War on Terrorism” endorses your campaign, you’ve probably left “moderate” some miles behind you.

We (and when I say “we” I mean the entire country, liberal and conservative) need some concerted efforts on the things which will actually affect our lives in years to come: our burgeoning budget and trade deficit, our embarassing healthcare “system,” our national debt in China’s hands, our blindly pro-oil energy policies, the coming effects of climate change, our piss-poor funding for education, and, perhaps most urgently, our profoundly stupid, expensive, misguided, embarassing, presence in Iraq. I don’t need a party who only opposes stupid policies when their feet are in the fire. I don’t need a party who only holds positions when the wind starts blowing that direction, or when the cameras are on them during an election cycle. I need a party that thinks that it’s possible to govern well, balance budgets, accomplish domestic good and international good in decent proportions, play well with others on the world’s stage, and neither lend too much help to keeping rich people rich nor poor people poor.

“Holy Joe” was an embarassing choice for VP candidate (shame on you, Al Gore), and he’ll be a doubly embarassing Senate candidate as an independent. If the Congressional Democrats could pull together on issues as consistently as the Republicans pull together, we’d see some progress this fall. If they’re weakened by mealy-mouthed “gotta get along to go along” sorts who have no other trick in their arsenal than “schmooze the guy at the top even though he’s wiping his barbecue-covered hands all over the back of your shirt,” well, the Dems will totally deserve the voters’ apathy their poll-watching, overly-considered fumbling has earned them in the past.

UPDATE: Dave correctly points out the Lieberman only voted for the President’s energy bill once the ANWR drilling provision was removed. My bad.