I was reading this post at Crooks and Liars. Once again a journalist that is actually in Iraq and has a real idea of what's going on is popping Sen. Joe Lieberman's neocon fantasy bubble.
SEN. JOSEPH LIEBERMAN (D), CONNECTICUT: The war is not lost in Iraq. In fact, now American Iraqi security forces are winning. The enemy is on the run in Iraq. But, here in — in Congress, in Washington, we seem to be, or some — some members seem to be on the run, chased, I fear, by public opinion polls.
COOPER: Is the enemy on the run in Iraq, Michael?
WARE: No, certainly not. And I think we need to be aware that it’s enemies. I mean, America doesn’t face just one opponent in this country, but a whole multitude, many of whom are becoming stronger, the longer the U.S. occupation here, or presence here, in Iraq continues. So, unfortunately, I’m afraid that Senator Lieberman has taken an excursion into fantasy.
I noted the "D" that the CNN transcript surreptitiously snuck next to Joe's name and thought to myself, "Joe Fucking Lieberman is no Democrat". Then, it occurred to me that he obviously once was a Democrat and was even the Democratic nominee for Vice President.
Then it hit me. Joe Fucking Lieberman. This Joe. Crazy neo-con Zealot Joe could be the Vice President of the United States right now. Even worse, he could be the next president. AGH!
Let's play this thought experiment out to its conclusion. Let's say we evaded the whole "Sore Loserman" escapade of a Supreme Court appointed president Bush. Gore would have been the president. Let's imagine that even if he did maintain the Clinton Era focus on Terrorism 9/11 would not have been avoided. I imagine that just like the country did around Bush, they'd rally around Gore (I suspect that many republicans would find it far more acceptable to criticize leadership in this scenario, however). The War in Afghanistan would probably have been prosecuted in the same manner. The War in Iraq would not have happened at all. Global Terror War would be fought and Gore would work to build alliances with other nations rather than go it alone. He'd have the same immediately high approval ratings as Bush and would win a second term. Without the failed escapade in Iraq to bog him down along with illegal wiretapping, gitmo and ludicrous domestic policies like gutting Social Security and immigration going over like lead balloons, there'd be little to wear away at the Gore Administrations approval but tedium over one party presidential rule.
The logical successor? Loyal Joe Lieberman.
So let's continue the thought experiment even further. What if Joe had won the election as President? Let's imagine that in the second Gore term North Korea and Iran were both making noise about nukes. What would President Joe do about that? We would be back in the same fucking boat. A neo-con president with a ton of goodwill to burn and who relishes fighting wars over seas. Right where we are now. Except that the one thing we have going for us is that the game clock is running out on the lame-duck Bush presidency, where Lying Joe Lieberman's would be just beginning. I don't think I could have lived through that.
