Democratic "Centerists" - Digby gets it right

Anyone who reads this humble on line pamphlet knows I have no use for Joe Leiberman, Marshall Wittmann and his friends at the DLC. You can find a long list of posts here. Well digby gets it right when he discusses the article in the New York Times, Lieberman's Support for War Leaves Him Embattled on Left. On Lieberman - it's more than the war.

But the reason the netroots are taking on Joe Lieberman is because he enables Republicans on a host of issues and consistently shows disloyalty to the party in a hyper-partisan era. Alone among Democrats at the time, he went on the floor of the Senate and excoriated Bill Clinton for personal failures (that's what the speech was about) and gave support to the hypocritical Republican witch-hunters. Then, once again, alone among Democrats, he stood up for George Bush as it became obvious that the justification for the war in Iraq was based upon lies and hype. These are just two telling examples of where Lieberman tends to come out on issues that mean something to the Democratic party in a larger sense.

He comes from Connecticut. There is no excuse that he's in a Red State and has to pander to conservatives. He does this completely for its own sake. And inevitably, he gets the highest accolades from Republicans for doing so; he actually seems to revel in his position as George Bush's favorite Democrat. It is understandable that a Democratic senator lauded constantly by the right wing noise machine is going to be suspect among Democratic partisans.

And on the DLC:

Since the DLC became the guiding force in the Democratic establishment the Party has lost everything. We are making a lot of noise because assholes like Al From have allowed the Republicans to turn liberalism into a bucket of warm spit --- and put the government entirely in the hands of the far right. It's not about the war. That's just the most visible example. It's about having no standards, no loyalty, no principles --- and losing because of it!

Amen digby! Go read the entire thing.