Wednesday, January 24, 2007

The Toxicity of Joe Lieberman

Yesterday I blogged extensively on the Senate Armed Services Committee confirmation hearings on General Petraeus. I only blogged on the latter half of the hearings, where much of the discussion invovled the striking remarks of Sen. Joe Lieberman. I was going to post later on what he said, but of course, yesterday was a busy day, what with the Libby trial, and the State of the Union address. Glenn Greenwald, a writer I enjoy very much (and have addedd to my blogroll) covers Lieberman's remarks today on his blog.
This is the link: Glenn Greenwald

Here is an excerpt:

"Yesterday, Lieberman reached what might be a new low. During the confirmation hearings of Gen. David Petraeus, Lieberman provoked this truly reprehensible exchange with Gen. Petraeus, as summarized by The Washington Post's Thomas Ricks:

Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.) asked Army Lt. Gen. David H . Petraeus during his confirmation hearing yesterday if Senate resolutions condemning White House Iraq policy "would give the enemy some comfort."

Petraeus agreed they would, saying, "That's correct, sir."

Using the terms to" give comfort" and the "enemy" in the same phrase has no conceivable objective other than to invoke accusations of treason. The Constitution's definition of "treason" is exactly that -- giving "Aid and Comfort" to the enemy. For Lieberman to purposely track the Constitution's treason language when describing opponents of the "surge" plan -- and to invite the new Iraq War Commander to agree with his accusation -- reveals so inescapably what Lieberman is. That's just the basest and most despicable smear one can imagine.

– Glenn Greenwald

Well put.
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