Posted by Tania Kindersley.
Some of you may have seen the press conference John McCain gave after Senator Al Franken stopped Senator Joe Lieberman from finishing a speech on the floor. (It was to do with intricate Senate rules, and quite legitimate.) McCain was puffed up with indignation so righteous that it practically needed its own motorcade. He'd never seen the like, no not in all his years of service. You would have thought that the Dems were going out and strangling puppies rather than trying to get a healthcare bill passed.
Anyway, it turns out, interestingly, that Senator McCain actually had seen the like, at rather close quarters. Have a little read of this, from Taegen Goddard's Political Wire blog -
When Sen. Al Franken objected to Sen. Joe Lieberman's request for additional time, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) said that in his 20-plus years in the Senate he had never heard a senator do that before.
However, a Political Wire reader sends this excerpt from the Congressional Record from October 10, 2002:
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator's time has expired.
Mr. DAYTON. I ask for unanimous consent that I have 30 seconds more to finish my remarks.
Mr. McCAIN. I object.
The lovely Rachel Maddow also has a lot of fun with it here.
Conclusion: either John McCain was having a worrying senior moment, or he was, and I apologise for using unparliamentary language, lying. You decide.
A tip of the hat to the senator from Connecticut for killing the first chance we've ever had for meaningful health care reform....
ReplyDeleteHonestly, has there ever been as vengeful a little gnat as Joe Lieberman? You'd really have to search the archives of history pretty thoroughly to find someone comparable. There are many reasons why Al Gore was defeated in 2000 by a half-witted frat boy like George W. Bush. One of the main reasons was the abysmal choice of running mate Lieberman.
It was obvious during the debate with Dick Cheney during that campaign that comical Joe was a useless drag on the ticket. When Cheney said that his success in the private sector had nothing to do with the government, Lieberman let the statement stand. Cheney made his fortune at Haliburton because of Government contracts! Government had everything to do with it! Did he purposefully sabotage the Gore campaign? Maybe it's pure paranoia on my part but a case could be made that he did.
Say it ain't so, Revoltin' Joe.
http://www.tomdegan.blogspot.com
Tom Degan
Goshen NY
Tom - as always an absolute top rant in its field. Always lovely to have you here.
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