Sen. Joe Lieberman(R-CONN)

Okay, so he doesn’t actually have an R next to his name. However, today he has shown again why he should end the charade and show his true self with an R. In a speech in front of the Center for U.S. Global Engagement and full of McCain campaign talking points, Senator Lieberman depicted Senator Obama as a foolish politician with dangerous policies. My critiques will be italicized in red:

“I’ve been following Sen. Obama’s comments in this campaign and particularly in the last months since the primaries were over, And I wish he would just say that the surge has worked.It hasn’t. The surge was supposed to create political reconciliation and that hasn’t happened. He doesn’t have to give credit to John McCain or anyone else. He can give credit to General Petraeus and the troops who have carried it out. I wish he would acknowledge the surge is working, rather than changing his position on how and when we should exit Iraq He never changed his position on Iraq., without acknowledging that these are changes of positions that are understandably based on conditions on the ground. A president’s credibility is based on the courage of his or her convictions, his or her acceptance of reality, and consistency of views are critical elements of national leadership. A president who squanders those does so at our nation’s peril.Of course, President Bush has squandered them as the Iraq war has created more terrorists. Sen. Obama said this morning that he wants a foreign policy that is tough, smart and principled, this afternoon I want to ask my colleague who I respect and like a couple of direct questions: Was it tough when Sen. Obama voted to order U.S. troops to retreat from Iraq on a fixed timeline regardless of the recommendations of our military commanders or conditions on the ground?Recent polling has shown that the American people want us to leave Iraq, so it would simply be the President obeying the will of the people as he’s supposed to. Was it smart when Sen. Obama opposed the surge and predicted that it would fail to improve our security? Of course, that’s exactly what happened. … Was it tough and principled when Sen. Obama said he would be open to changing his plan on Iraq He never said this. He only said he would refine his position, which implies far smaller movements such as the speed of withdrawal or which troops will be drawn out first. after going there and talking to General Petraeus, which I think was the right position, only to change that position hours later after being heatedly criticized by organizations like MoveOn.org? I say respectfully the answer to all those questions is, no.”

The photo used was uploaded to Flickr by dbking who licensed it under a Creative Commons Attribution License and my use of the photo in no way indicates an endorsement of the article from dbking.

Tony Snow:June 1, 1955 – July 12, 2008

This is fairly late, but Tony Snow died over the weekend of cancer. He was 53. His family’s loss has been mourned by people of varying political ideologies. On the Right, the President released a statement expressing his sympathies:

“The Snow family has lost a beloved husband and father. And America has lost a devoted public servant and a man of character, it was a joy to watch Tony at the podium each day.”

On the Left, Elizabeth Edwards’ wrote an article about Snow’s death which draws on her personal experience with cancer. Some of what she says in the article is:

“Tony Snow has died. And lots of people who valued the same things Tony did—a family well-loved and work well-done—have died and will die of colon cancer, those who have preceded Tony and those who will follow him. Can’t we start with something easy on which we can agree? That no one should die of a disease we can find and stop? And when we agree—and agree to do something about it—then we can move on toward those fault lines, like Tony, not taking no for an answer.”

MSNBC host and Bush administration critic Keith Olbermann has also expressed his sympathies:

“Tony Snow was an optimistic, funny, and courageous man who could set aside his politics and inspire others to do the same. It might surprise many at all political points, but while we could not have disagreed more on policy, we were in frequent contact, even during his days as Press Secretary, even as I was criticizing his work and he was — in his own words — yelling at the screen as he watched. It was with great sadness that I heard of his death today, and with sincerity I extend my condolences and my staff’s to his family. In the best of us, there is a difference between the message and the messenger, and Tony Snow epitomized that.”

The end of Olbermann’s statement says it all. We should remember that a good person can be the messenger of a message that we disagree with completely and it seems like that was the case with Mr. Snow. He was a good man, though from my perspective, a misguided one.