Monday, July 14, 2008

Playing Both Sides

Lieberman has made me rather uncomfortable in the years since becoming an independent, tacking considerably right on issues of civil liberties. This article in the NYT, though, at first really bothered me until I realized that until a little more than a month ago the Democrats were working hard to bring down their own. The Clinton campaign sure did not pull any blows for the sake of a unified party until leaving the race on June 7th. Considering that Lieberman is officially an Independent I can't really fault him for attacking Obama when the Clinton campaign was saying much worse only recently.

4 comments:

Yehuda said...

Actually, it was the Obama campaign that did not stand down in the face of the Clinton campaign. If Obama would have given up the race earlier, Clinton would not have had to drop out.

Zev said...

What you say is both true and wrong. Austin would approve.

Anonymous said...

I'm curious which issues of civil liberties you're referrin to? Ther article you link to doesn't mention anythin. As far as the article, why would it have bothered you but for Clinton?

Zev said...

Don't feel like digging right now, but I remember he spoke out in favor of the Military Commissions Act 2006 and has voted with FISA and USA Patriot, etc. Yes, many other democrats have done so as well, but Leiberman appears less bothered than his D colleagues by what I consider to be civil liberties infringements.

Obama also voted for FISA and USAPA 2006, and I think he is a coward for it. But he did fight to have some provisions taken out of the Patriot Act, for what it is worth.