Lieberman fires a blank.
The first thing to be said about Lieberman's speech is how bad it was. His constant throat clearing between paragraphs really was off putting. He also seemed to be having some kind of strange conversation with himself whilst the audience applauded, at points bizarrely muttering, under his breath, things like "USA!" and "country first!" He's an odd little man.
Leaving aside the delivery, the content of the speech was fanciful to say the least. It started with Lieberman describing himself as a Democrat, a lie of such magnitude that it was impossible to believe anything he said after that point.
The theme he opened with was the Republican attempt to harness Hurricane Gustav for political advantage, a notion that left me open-mouthed at their brazenness. Is this the best tactic to adopt by the people who sat on their arses whilst Katrina ripped New Orleans apart? But I think we can expect more of this as the week goes on. I hope they do run with this, it'll be interesting to see the Republicans remind the electorate about hurricanes just before the nation goes to the polls.
He then went on to punt the lie that the McCain/Palin ticket is the one that puts "country first", despite the fact that Palin's very presence on the ticket undermines that claim.
He then made a plea to Democrats and Independents who "had never thought of voting Republican before" to realise that "Maverick" McCain - and his sidekick from Alaska - are what the US needs more than anything else.
It was a lightweight speech with no lines that lived with me even after I had listened to it twice.
But it gave us some indication of where the Republicans are going to go this week. They are the people now fighting for country over party, McCain is a "maverick" and the hurricane - and the fact that the Republicans scaled back a day of the convention - proves that they put country over party.
The very fact that they are clinging to Hurricane Gustav in the way that Lieberman did, shows how very little they have to run on. And to hear the Republicans argue that what is needed is to put party aside and country first ignores the fact that they are the incumbents, they have been running the country for the past eight years, and what we have witnessed is far from the kind of "reaching across the aisle" behaviour that Lieberman is talking about. They have actually been shockingly partisan. Perhaps he means that the 72 year old man is going to bring change to the Republicans, which only makes one wonder what the past eight years were for. It's like running on, "We mucked it up but we know where we went wrong and would like a second chance. Please."
The whole notion that they are the bipartisan party is simply a clumsy attempt to steal Obama's clothes, to adopt the very rhetoric that they have been mocking Obama for using. I'm not sure who will buy into this level of baloney.
However, on second hearing I note that Lieberman claims that Obama "has not reached across party lines to achieve anything significant".
This is simply false:
In fact, as Media Matters for America has documented, Obama was a key co-sponsor of the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act (S.2590) with the bill's primary sponsor, Republican Sen. Tom Coburn (OK). In a press release upon Senate passage of the bill, Coburn himself referred to the legislation as the "Coburn-Obama Bill."But even that line didn't annoy me at all. The Republicans are talking to themselves this week, it's a little like a child talking to their imaginary friend, and of about as much significance.
Obama also worked with Republican Sen. Richard Lugar (IN) to produce the "Lugar-Obama proliferation and threat reduction initiative," which President Bush signed into law on January 11, 2007, and which received funding on June 28 of that year. The initiative, according to Obama's Senate website, "expands U.S. cooperation to destroy conventional weapons. It also expands the State Department's ability to detect and interdict weapons and materials of mass destruction."
It's a world in which Lieberman can be thought of as a Democrat, McCain - the man who has flipped in whatever direction the theocons demanded him to - is still a "maverick", and Sarah Palin - the commander in chief of the Alaska National Guard - is ready to fill Dick Cheney's shoes in an instant.
It's a simply ridiculous view that only diehard Republicans could ever believe was anywhere near reality.
If they thought Lieberman was some kind of secret weapon, then the sorry truth is that the weapon proved to be a dud.
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