Lanny Davis: Liberal McCarthyism

[question everything]

Liberal McCarthyism
By LANNY J. DAVIS
August 8, 2006; Page A10
Mr. Davis, former special counsel to President Clinton between 1996-98, is the author of "Scandal: How 'Gotcha' Politics Is Destroying America," forthcoming from Palgrave.

WASHINGTON -- My brief and unhappy experience with the hate and vitriol of bloggers on the liberal side of the aisle comes from the last several months I spent campaigning for a longtime friend, Joe Lieberman.


(snip)


• "Ned Lamont and his supporters need to et real busy. Ned needs to beat Lieberman to a pulp in the debate and define what it means to be an AMerican who is NOT beholden to the Israeli Lobby" (by "rim," posted on Huffington Post, July 6, 2006).
• On "Lieberman vs. Murtha": "as everybody knows, jews ONLY care about the welfare of other jews; thanks ever so much for reminding everyone of this most salient fact, so that we might better ignore all that jewish propaganda about participating in the civil rights movement of the 60s and so on" (by "tomjones," posted on Daily Kos, Dec. 7, 2005).
• "Good men, Daniel Webster and Faust would attest, sell their souls to the Devil. Is selling your soul to a god any worse? Leiberman cannot escape the religious bond he represents. Hell, his wife's name is Haggadah or Muffeletta or Diaspora or something you eat at Passover" (by "gerrylong," posted on the Huffington Post, July 8, 2006).
• "Joe Lieberman is a racist and a religious bigot" (by "greenskeeper," posted on Daily Kos, Dec. 7, 2005).


And these are some of the nicer examples.

(snip)


I do not blame Joe Lieberman's political difficulties on the liberal blogosphere. Most Connecticut Democrats voting for Mr. Lamont are genuinely outraged at President Bush for his Iraq War policies. They are entitled to express that outrage by voting for him and against Sen. Lieberman on that basis alone, although Sen. Lieberman's record as a progressive Democrat and his opposition to President Bush not only on most domestic issues but also on the conduct of the war cannot be disputed -- despite egregiously distortive ads paid for by Mr. Lamont with $4 million of his own money.

Moreover, the support he gets from these haters should not be attributed to Mr. Lamont -- nor should he be blamed for their extremism, bigotry and intolerance. But he ought to denounce them. He hasn't as yet. Mr. Lamont and all other liberal Democrats should remember the McCarthy era and not fall into the trap of the hypocrisy of the double standard -- that it's not OK when Ann Coulter dispenses her venomous hatred, but it is OK when our side's versions of Ann Coulter do.



URL for this article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB115500107192229459.html (subscription)

[SteppingRazor]

1. Um ... if this guy thinks comments by random Kossacks or DUers...

is equivalent to "liberal bloggers," he's so far out of touch that he risks irrelevancy anyway.

Not to belittle our posters here or the ones over there at Kos, but commenting on a message board is not the same as blogging.

This dude could've at least tried to find some salient quotes by actual bloggers. I'm sure there's a few he could've used.

[question everything]

9. Not only bloggers

From the same op-ed

But the issue is not just emotional outbursts by these usually anonymous bloggers. A friend of mine just returned from Connecticut, where he had spoken on several occasions on behalf of Joe Lieberman. He happens to be a liberal antiwar Democrat, just as I am. He is also a lawyer. He told me that within a day of a Lamont event -- where he asked the candidate some critical questions -- some of his clients were blitzed with emails attacking him and threatening boycotts of their products if they did not drop him as their attorney. He has actually decided not to return to Connecticut for the primary today; he is fearful for his physical safety.

[Spazito]

2. How ironic...

Mr. Davis titles his upcoming book, How 'Gotcha' Politics Is Destroying America," and then proceeds to use the same "Gotcha Politics" to slime Lamont.

He needs to look into a mirror to see someone who practices "Gotcha Politics", imo.

[MrBenchley]

3. He's absolutely right....

The scorched earth campaign against Lieberman has been shameful (the racist carciature was an especially nice touch).

Now if the Unknown Millionaire pulls out a victory, he and his followers will have pissed off about 40% of his own party with no one but themselves to blame.

[Moochy]

7. Aww he's crying in his beer

It's so cute when we catch you crying in your beer. :beer:

[MrBenchley]

8. Poor little moochy....

[Ken Burch]

14. So now, will you rejoin the Democratic Party and endorse Ned Lamont?

You can't dodge this any longer, you know.

Days, weeks, months of your insults, slurs and abuse failed to work. The people of Connecticut rejected your hatred.

Time to do the right thing and redeem yourself.

We're waiting.

[Ringo84]

4. Re:

Ya mean RWers are still whining about McCarthyism? Do they even know what it means, or is that just a convenient buzz-word to pin on anyone with whom you disagree? (sigh)

By the way, fellow DUers: sorry I've been gone so long. I've basically been on vacation, if anyone cares.
Ringo

[question everything]

10. If you will read it closely you will find that the writer is far from

being RW..

Was in the Clinton White House (unless you consider that administration RW? On DU, everything is possible)

[Ringo84]

12. question everything

Sorry. I should have read it more closely. I stand corrected.
Ringo

[question everything]

16. Thank you! (nt)

[mcscajun]

5. Random posters on message boards are the equivalent of Ann Coulter

because LANNY J. DAVIS Says So???

Not Bloody Likely. Maybe when they get syndicated newspaper columns, book contracts and TV appearances; until then, no. Ned Lamont is under no obligation to go around denouncing every extreme anti-Lieberman opinion found on the net, any more than Senator LIEberman is under obligation to go around denouncing every extreme anti-Lamont opinion out there (I'm sure there are some on FreeRepublic, but where's the percentage in denouncing them, eh, Joe?) If he publicly accepted support from people who went on to make hateful remarks, or they were associated with his campaign, then yes; otherwise, No. So, Mr. Davis, and I say this as someone Totally UNaffliated with Mr. Lamont,

Go Fuck Yourself.

[acmejack]

6. Lanny was on the Washington Journal the other day.

He was busy being condescending to Kristina vanden Heuvel and calling everyone with whom he disagreed an anti-Semite. Lanny's a real gem.

[MysteryToMyself]

11. I always like Lanny

But now he acts like someone pooped in his post toasties.

Foxites like Carl Cameron are all shook up. The Foxites/Dinos/Bushites must have had it all planned out and then those voters messed them up!

The plan was what, I wonder?

They keep lying that Lamont is a one issue candidate. I had a lot of issues against Lieberman. Mainly that he is a republican and his votes and plans were republican.

[Blue_Tires]

13. cherry-picking random quotes from anon message boards?

that is SOOOOOOOOOO 2002 :thumbsdown:

then again i would expect nothing less from the wsj and their affinity for the status quo:puke:

[depakid]

15. Lanny Davis -put an "R" behind your name

or get out of the way.

NO ONE with any intelligence has one ounce of respect for you anymore.

[eccles12]

17. I am really diappointed in Mr. Davis. But that neocon agenda is very

powerful and the money is spread very widely. But there is something very sad about people who will give up their humanity for a sinister agenda clothed in "self-defense."