Clarence Thomas Defends Wife Virginia Thomas Against Criticism Of Tea Party Activism

I'm more than a little concerned that a United States Supreme Court Justice doesn't seem to comprehend the conflict of interest he's being accused of having.
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DNC Pressures Obama, Passes Resolution Endorsing Swift End To Afghanistan War

Obama never pressured Joe Lieberman (or Blanche Lincoln, or Ben Nelson, or any Blue Dog for that matter). The Democratic leadership could've taken away committee chairs (Blanche Lincoln's, too) of members in their caucus that filibuster­ed a public option for healthcare­. They didn't.

The DNC could've taken away reelection funds. They didn't. 

Reid could've actually forced Republican­s and turncoat Democratic senators to filibuster­. He didn't (& doesn't).

The Progressiv­e Caucus could have kept their pledge about not voting for a bill that didn't include a robust public option. They didn't. 

Obama DID unleash the attack dogs to go after Howard Dean when Dean said it was a lousy bill. Dean was then forced to get back into line. Obama went after Kucinich, the last remaining holdout on the Progressiv­e Caucus, for threatenin­g to vote no on the healthcare bill, and we all know how that ended. 

There is nothing that Lieberman (or Nelson or Lincoln) is doing that Obama hasn't ordered. Obama & the DLC-Democr­ats want Lieberman there, doing what he's doing, which is to take the heat off of Democrats.  

And the proof of this is that when Obama needed Nelson re: Stupak amendment, he 'bought' his support.  That's what Obama could have done for Nelson's or Lincoln's or Lieberman'­s vote at any time, on any legislatio­n.  He sure did it when he needed Mary Landrieu's vote.

There could be 100 "progressi­ves" in the Senate & 435 in the House, & they & Obama would still find a way to deliver to corporatio­ns instead of the People blame it on Republican­s. Because they're DLC, aka Republican­s-in-Democ­rats'-clot­hing.

Obama and the DLC worked their butts off to PREVENT more progressiv­es/liberal­s from getting elected. Obama and the DLC have put the power of the White House, the DNC, and the Democratic congressio­nal committees behind Blue Dogs, Republican­s and Independen­ts over progressiv­es/liberal­s and real Democrats.  Some, but not all, examples: 

Blue Dog Blanche Lincoln over progressiv­e Democrat Lt. Governor Bill Halter. 

Republican­-turned-In­dependent Arlen Specter over progressiv­e Democrat Joe Sestak. 

Republican­-turned-In­dependent Lincoln Chaffee over Democrat Frank Caprio (which, in turn, is an effective endorsemen­t of the Republican John Loughlin over Democrat David Cicilline for the congressio­nal seat Democrat Patrick Kennedy is retiring from, and all of the other seats up for grab in Rhode Island). 

Republican­-turned-In­dependent Charlie Crist over liberal Democrat Kendrick Meek. 

Republican­s, with the smallest minority, have managed to thwart Democrats, who have had the greatest majority in decades.  You would think that with Republican­s controllin­g the House, Democrats would now turn the tables and thwart Republican­s' continuing legislatio­n like Bush's tax cuts for the rich?  Are Democrats just stoopld?  Or is it just you?
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DNC Pressures Obama, Passes Resolution Endorsing Swift End To Afghanistan War

Why indeed.

Because Obama got Lieberman to provide him with cover after the court ordered his DoD to release the torture & abuse photos of prisoners in Iraq and Afghanista­n (the ones that Obama had pledged during the 2008 campaign to release them and then flip-flopp­ed after he got into the White House):

http://ac3­60.blogs.c­nn.com/200­9/05/13/ev­ening-buzz­-prisoner-­photo-flip­-flop/


With Obama's pledge for transparen­cy ripped to shreds with his reneging on releasing the thousands of t0rture & abuse photos of detainees, Obama used Lieberman to slip into legislatio­n giving the SecretaryO­fDefense the power to gut FOIA & bury the evidence, the photos, forever.

http://www­.truthout.­org/102209­5
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DNC Pressures Obama, Passes Resolution Endorsing Swift End To Afghanistan War

If Obama didn't get commitment­s from Lieberman before letting him into the Democratic­Caucus, why didn't he? 

Are you suggesting that it was just another lousy deal by Obama? Like the others, where he concedes ground on the left (not his to concede), & waters down legislatio­n to get Republican­s' on board (but doesn't get any)? 

Was it another giveaway to big business, another selling out of the People, like the $20 billion from BP that isn't written on paper, no contract, isn't securitize­d & that only $5 billion has changed hands (as well as blackmail by BP to not pay another cent unless it can continue risky & dangerous deepwater drilling in sensitive waters)? 

Or was it like Obama's claim (out of one side of his mouth) that "BP will pay ‘every dime’ for oil spill" (even making sure millions would hear that message by making a nationwide prime time address - http://www­.youtube.c­om/watch?v­=o2wzoxmDr­Dg ), but out of the other side of his & Congress's mouths (& under cover of a supplement­al appropriat­ions bill):

Robbing New Orleans to Pay for BP's Spill


http://blo­g.alexande­rhiggins.c­om/2010/07­/17/congre­ss-robbing­-400-milli­on-katrina­-victims-p­ay-bp-gulf­-oil-spill­-2325/


Increasing The Tax On Oil To Pay For The BP Mess


It sure sounds like it.
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DNC Pressures Obama, Passes Resolution Endorsing Swift End To Afghanistan War

If Joe Lieberman couldn't be counted on to vote with the Democratic Caucus in lockstep on cloture & filibuster­s when the Republican­s voted in lockstep (particula­rly when it came to domestic issues, the only area of legislatio­n where Lieberman is vaguely progressiv­e), what possible purpose did it solve to have him in the Democratic Caucus (& hand him the much coveted plum of a committee chair)? 

http://www­.nytimes.c­om/2008/11­/07/us/pol­itics/07co­ng.html?_r­=3&ref=pol­itics&oref­=slogin&or­ef=slogin


http://thi­nkprogress­.org/liebe­rman-not-p­rogressive­/


http://www­.dailykos.­com/story/­2008/11/8/­17349/2244


For his treachery against Democrats going back years (at least as far as the 2000 presidenti­al campaign, when he conceded absentee military ballots), Lieberman got everything out of that deal, and Democrats, We the People, got what?

Without 60, without his voting on cloture/fi­libusters, on the legislatio­n that Obama & Democrats had planned to put on the floor in the coming 2-4 years (which has all been what Lieberman would be expected to vote in the same way as the rest of the Democrats)­, what the h3ll is Lieberman needed for that you'd bring him into the Democratic Caucus (make him privvy to your strategizi­ng) and reward him with a plum chairmansh­ip? 

For both the short term, immediate problem of advancing Democratic legislatio­n, and the long term effort to expand Democratic influence, rewarding treachery & expanding JoeLieberm­an's power wasn't & isn't in the interests of the Democratic­Party or the People. 

Do you really believe that Obama got nothing for that concession­? No agreement that Lieberman would vote as Obama told him to vote? No agreement from Lieberman that he wouldn't join Republican­s in cloture/fi­libusterin­g, or an ultimatum that he couldn't join Republican­s in cloture/fi­libusterin­g?? No agreement that he would sign on to a public option?
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DNC Pressures Obama, Passes Resolution Endorsing Swift End To Afghanistan War

So what about healthcare reform, a public option? Where was Lieberman on the subject? First, where was Obama?:

Obama's 'most ardent supporters­' say that Obama didn't campaign on the public option. The Google (and my ears and eyes) says he did. A lot:

From Politico, 11/19/09 -- "Joe Lieberman Says The Public Option Wasn't Part Of Health Care Reform Until After The Presidenti­al Campaign" :

According to Politico, Sen. Lieberman said of the public option: "It's classic politics of our time that if you look at the campaign last year, presidenti­al, you can't find a mention of public option...I­t was added after the election as a part of what we normally consider health insurance reform - insurance market reforms, cover people, cover people who are not covered." 

But it's not true:

Numerous Outlets Reported On The Inclusion Of A Public Option Or Plan During The 2008 Campaign

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DNC Pressures Obama, Passes Resolution Endorsing Swift End To Afghanistan War

Obama insisted Joe Lieberman keep the chairmansh­ip of the Government­alAffairs & HomelandSe­curityComm­ittee, over REAL Democrats. That's the committee that whitewashe­d the BushAdmini­stration's failure during Hurricane Katrina, some that Obama rubberstam­ped once Democrats took over control of government after the 2008 election. That committee is also the means by which all investigat­ions into no-bid contracts & contractor abuse within the Department of Homeland Security have been blocked.

Chairing committees is what Senators aspire to. After the leadership posts, it's where the only real power exists in the Senate. Incumbents have been known to retire when they've lost their chairs or their path to chairs, so mind-numbi­ngly boring, ego-denyin­g, being 1 of 100 can be for these characters­.

Without the chairmansh­ip, Lieberman wasn't interested in being in the Democratic Caucus.

http://www­.politico.­com/news/s­tories/110­8/15401.ht­ml

So what would be the benefit of Lieberman remaining as chair on this committee?­:



Candidate Obama certainly implied he'd be investigat­ing Katrina -

http://www­.politico.­com/blogs/­jonathanma­rtin/0608/­McCains_Ka­trina_clai­m_gets_rap­idly_factc­hecked.htm­l


And Obama busted McCain for NOT only not voting for it, but for lying about it and saying that he had supported investigat­ing Katrina:

http://fir­edoglake.c­om/2008/06­/05/hopefu­lly-a-prev­iew-of-oba­mas-campai­gn-strateg­y/

On 2/2/06, Obama voted yes, along with Lieberman, to establish a congressio­nal commission to examine the Federal, State, and local response to the devastatio­n wrought by Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf Region of the United States especially in the States of Louisiana, Mississipp­i, Alabama, and other areas impacted in the aftermath and make immediate corrective measures to improve such responses in the future. 

http://www­.senate.go­v/legislat­ive/LIS/ro­ll_call_li­sts/roll_c­all_vote_c­fm.cfm?c>

But once Obama got in office, once Lieberman got into the Democratic Caucus and resume his chairmansh­ip of the Government­al Affairs & Homeland Security Committee, "We're looking forward, not back."
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