Lieberman tells Florida Democrats to get revenge (SoreLoserman Alert)

Union Leader ^ | 12/08/03 | BRENDAN FARRINGTON, AP

[kattracks]

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Joe Lieberman rallied Florida Democrats yesterday by telling them that he and Al Gore should have won the 2000 election and calling for them to seek revenge during next year’s Presidential election.

“So, here I am back in Florida,” Lieberman said during the state party convention. “I love this state and its people, and I won’t ever forget how hard you worked for Al Gore and me in 2000. You helped us win this state until others took it away. And we got mad, didn’t we, but now let’s get even.”

The 2000 election and the recount that followed was a recurring cry throughout the three-day convention, with candidates, party leaders and delegates still expressing their anger over a race they feel was stolen from Gore.

Gore lost Florida to George Bush by 537 votes after the U.S. Supreme Court voted 5-4 to end a recount of Florida ballots five weeks after the election. Democrats believe Gore would have carried the state and the 25 electoral votes he needed to win the Presidency if the recount were allowed to continue.

Lieberman blamed Republicans for not allowing all the votes to be counted and compared their actions then to the recent leak of CIA agent Valerie Plame’s identity. Her husband, former Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson, has said he believes her identity was disclosed as retribution for his assertions that the Bush administration exaggerated Iraq’s nuclear capabilities to build the case for war.

“Look at what they did to the CIA agent who was the wife of the ambassador who dared to tell the truth about the allegation of uranium being purchased from Niger. It is the politics of personal destruction, but it’s not unique to that case,” Lieberman said. “It is what they did to Al Gore and me and you here in Florida, denying African-Americans, Haitian-Americans, senior citizens the right to vote and to have their vote counted.”

But after the speech, the Connecticut senator insisted he is not trying to make the recount an issue in the campaign.

“Campaigns are always about the future, the recount of 2000 is the past,” he said. “It’s fact. I don’t dwell on it. Coming back to Florida for me is like coming back to your family after you’ve been through a crisis in the family together. We went through a trauma together here and it would have been thoughtless of me not to talk about it.”

Lieberman was the last of seven candidates to address the delegates. Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, retired Army Gen. Wesley Clark of Arkansas, Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, Reps. Dick Gephardt of Missouri and Dennis Kucinich of Ohio all spoke Saturday. The other two Democrats running for President did not attend. Rev. Al Sharpton opted to host NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” and Illinois Sen. Carol Moseley Braun was sick with the flu.

About 5,000 delegates attended the convention.

Lieberman attacked Bush on the war in Iraq, his environmental record, the loss of jobs during his three years in office and the lack of health insurance for millions.

“He said he was going to be a compassionate conservative,” Lieberman said. “So many of the policies of his administration have been the opposite of compassion.”

[Prince Caspian]

Not worth the effort of a response. It must be miserable to be Joe Lieberman.

[Ingtar]

I'm hoping that the Republicans will get their revenge in 2004 in Florida.

[Democratshavenobrains]

This is why I hope Dean gets the nom, not just because he would be easier to beat, but because at least he isn't whining about this stolen election crap.

[Bonaparte]

No mention in this article of all the independent recounts done by the media, etal. All the recounts that showed Bush won Florida, hanging chads or no.

[KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle]

“I love this state and its people, and I won’t ever forget how hard you worked for Al Gore and me in 2000. You helped us win this state until others took it away."

Just another 'Rat who doesn't understand (or, at least, pretends not to understand) how the Electoral College works.

Sad, really. :)

[Howlin]

"I'm back here first and foremost to say thank you," Clinton said at
Albany International Airport. "We are a very different country than we were
200 years ago, and I believe strongly that in a democracy, we should respect
the will of the people and to me, that means it's time to do away with the
Electoral College and move to the popular election of our president."

http://www.hench.net/z111000a.htm

[ex-Texan]

Joe Lieberman is toast and he knows it.

[jwh_Denver]

Not worth the effort of a response. It must be miserable to be Joe Lieberman.

Agreed and agreed. Old Joe is freakin sawdust, thing is he doesn't know it.

[KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle]

"I believe strongly that in a democracy, we should respect the will of the people and to me, that means it's time to do away with the Electoral College and move to the popular election of our president."

Oh, absolutely; I've heard him propose this, as well... but: no 'Rat politician will ever, ever actually be able to SELL such a nakedly East/West Coast-centric scheme to the infinitely greater majority of citizens living in such markedly less populous states as Nevada, Arizona, Utah, the Carolinas, Tennessee... hell: pretty much ANYplace that ain't New York or California, really. :)

The 'Rats all but openly slaver at the prospect of a "simple majority" nationwide voting scheme, as such a boondoggle plays powerfully to their traditional strongholds, electorally speaking -- i.e., the ultra-liberal Left Coast and the Northeastern Corridor -- at the expense of precisely those sorts of people they've long loathed and despised the most: southerners, the openly religious, and conservatives.

It'd take a majority (and, quite possibly, a supermajority, if I'm not very much mistaken) of votes in both the House and the Senate to get such a Constitutional amendment passed... and: somehow, I just can't see that many small-state, southern and western politicians (of either party) voluntarily surrendering that much power for their respective peoples and districts, quite frankly. That sound reasonable to you, too...? :)

[jagrmeister]

Dean has demagogued a lot worse- called President Bush a "turkey", lied about the President's Texas records, etc. If Dean hasn't talked about the election being "stolen" (and I don't know he hasn't), give him time. He is a rabble-rouser and will say anything.

[OldFriend]

Hope the seniors in Florida remember lying Joe telling them that if elected, President Bush would be cutting their social security benefits.

Hope the military families in Florida remember what lying Joe tried to do to the votes of their service men and women.

[PJ-Comix]

“It is what they did to Al Gore and me and you here in Florida, denying African-Americans, Haitian-Americans, senior citizens the right to vote and to have their vote counted.”

Hey Joe! NAME the African-American or Haitian-American who was not permitted to vote. Notice how NONE of the Democrats are actually able to NAME a single such person. Sad to see Holy Joe now engaging in demagogery.

[doosee]

Joe is one loser who couldnt sell me a used car. I have to mute the TV because his whiny voice grates on me.

[PJ-Comix]

I have to mute the TV because his whiny voice grates on me.

What's the matter? Don't you like that sound of an adenoidal Elmer Fudd?

[Fresh Wind]

Joe needs to be reminded that Gore was such an unattractive candidate that he couldn't even carry his home state. Joe needs to be reminded that, given the apparent health of the economy, and the apparent peaceful state of the world, that Gore should have won easily, so that a few hundred votes in Florida wouldn't have mattered. Joe needs to be reminded of the Democrat party's attempts to disenfranchise the military voter. Joe needs to be reminded that it was Ralph Nader that stole the election from Gore. Joe needs to be reminded that he was so unsure of their ability to win that he simultaneously ran for reelection to his Senate seat. Joe needs to be reminded that he added nothing substantial to the ticket and, perhaps, his whiny crybaby persona, and his flip-flopping on the issues actually hurt Gore, not helped him.

[ReleaseTheHounds]

Not worth the effort of a response. It must be miserable to be Joe Lieberman.

Look up "loser" in Websters and there you will find poor old Joe staring out at you, looking really disappointed and concerned. What a LOSERman!

[raybbr]

It would also require 3/4ths of the states approval to amend the Constitution. Those states you mentioned would never go for it.

[G.Mason]

"You helped us win this state until others took it away. And we got mad, didn’t we, but now let’s get even.”"

Lieberman, though certainly not presidential material, does seem to have what it take to be a football cheerleader.

I could swear that those are the exact words in one of my alma mater's cheers.

[jimtorr]

A Constitutional Amendment bill requires approval by 3/4 of each house of Congress, agreement of the President to send it to the states, and then 3/4 of the states must approve it before it can become law.

I consider it a very good thing that it's so hard to change the U.S. Constitution. Look how easily Chavez changed the constitution in Venezuela.