Conason on Lieberman's Latest Ploy--Marrying HYPOCRISY to RACISM

[Crankie Avalon]

Whatever's best for Holy Joe
Lieberman's racially inflammatory strategy may backfire when people remember his history of pandering to Louis Farrakhan.

By Joe Conason

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The Lieberman campaign is trying to frighten white voters in Connecticut -- and Democrats in Washington -- by reminding them over and over again that Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson support Lamont. This week, the senator's aides told the New York Times that playing the two African-American preachers off against Lamont will enhance Lieberman's appeal on an independent ballot line. "Primary night was the first time that many Connecticut voters saw Lamont on TV, and he's surrounding himself with two of the more divisive and problematic figures in the Democratic Party," said Dan Gerstein, the Lieberman campaign's communications director.

It's true that Jackson and Sharpton, who bustled onto the podium the evening of the primary to grab their share of the Lamont spotlight, tend to be polarizing figures. But what if Lamont had praised an even more polarizing black leader? What would Lieberman say if his rival had reached out to someone really outrageous, like Louis Farrakhan?

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Lieberman can hope to get away with his racially inflammatory strategy only if everyone else forgets not only his habit of sucking up to Jackson and Sharpton but his history of stroking the most bigoted black leader in the world. Evidently he and Gerstein (who was also his spokesman during the 2000 presidential campaign) expect that nobody will mention the embarrassing episode when Lieberman's ambition (and opportunism) led him to praise Farrakhan. Given the laziness and amnesia that afflict the national press corps, they may be right.

After all, the truth about Lieberman's past flattery of Farrakhan (and Sharpton and Jackson) flatly contradicts the mainstream definition of him as a principled statesman. For someone who insistently presents himself as a moral absolutist, the "conscience of the Senate" is in fact a ruthless practitioner of situational ethics. Not so long ago, he liked to talk about his warm conversation with Jackson on the day that he became a major party's first Jewish vice presidential nominee, his eyes moist and his voice emotional as he recalled Jackson saying "something that went to my heart" about breaking down barriers for everyone. Not so long ago, he called Sharpton his "dear friend" and "brother" during the Democratic presidential primary debate sponsored by the Congressional Black Caucus and Fox News.

But that was then, and this is now -- and Lieberman is nothing if not a creature of the moment. When someone like Sharpton, Jackson or even Farrakhan can be used to his advantage, he eagerly sidles up and pours on the unction. And when Sharpton and Jackson turn up on the other side, he demonizes them with equal sincerity, which is to say none. Divider or uniter, friend or foe, principle or pander: It all depends on what is best for Holy Joe...

http://www.salon.com/opinion/conason/2006/08/18/lieberman/print.html
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There is no way to gauge Joe Lieberman's lack of character other than to say he will make an excellent Republican once he gets things over with and formally switches his registration to them.

[Lerkfish]

1. wow. just how republican can Holy Joe get?

this is really playing to the repub base, not the independent base.
Only repubs are comfortable voting for racists.