Pink Elephants and Insurgents

From the Washington Post, yesterday:

Former President Joins Rally for Lieberman

By David S. Broder
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, July 25, 2006; Page A03

WATERBURY, Conn., July 24 -- Former president Bill Clinton joined a stage full of Connecticut officials Monday night in testifying to the Democratic credentials of Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, whose 18-year tenure is threatened by the primary challenge of antiwar insurgent Ned Lamont. (Emphasis added.)

"Insurgent?" An ordinary incumbent politician -- a mere mortal, you understand -- might have an opponent in a primary election. But to oppose Mighty Joe Lieberman, bipartisan hero of the War Party, is to be an insurgent. Hmmmmmmm.

Skipping down a little in the story:

Lieberman did not mention Iraq or his support for the war, and Clinton touched only lightly on what he referred to as "the pink elephant in the room."

Clinton made no effort to support Lieberman's view; instead he said that Democrats should bear no blame for "the mistakes that were made after the fall of Saddam Hussein" and added: "We can disagree on what we do next . . . but we can fight together and we can go forward together."

Bubba Clinton has certainly uttered some howlers during his lengthy career as a public nuisance, but the above is destined for absolute-classic status in the Quotable Chronicles of Bill. Democrats should bear no blame for our savory national shit sandwich* in Mesopotamia? Au contraire, Mr. Former Maximum Supervisor; Democrats as a party are fully, completely complicit. Own it, donkeys: either you've been in substantial agreement -- or you've been afraid to oppose Bush's imperial project. The exact details vary from one jackass to the next, and one or two individuals may have consistently opposed the war ... but as a party -- as a money-eating, vote-buying machine -- you are exactly as guilty as the GOP. In fact, as I do not tire of saying, you and the pachyderms are simply two very-slightly-different caucuses in the overarching U.S. Party of War and Global Management.

Finally: who else is in the insurgency?

The battle is attracting more and more attention from outside campaigners. While most of Connecticut's Democratic elected officials are in Lieberman's corner, two liberal House Democrats, Reps. Maxine Waters (Calif.) and Marcy Kaptur (Ohio), came here over the weekend to campaign for Lamont.

Liberal bloggers are also heavily involved in mobilizing antiwar Democrats to support Lamont.

Ah, now we know. Accursed bloggers, heavily involved ... up to their Amurka-hating elbows in dirty insurgency. The fully-respectable, certified non-insurgent David Broders of this world have certainly done their duty in carrying the War Party's water.

- - - - - - - - - - -

* A note of apology to readers of gentle sensibility: I generally try to keep the obscenity / profanity / scatology level in my posts to a low minimum; I think the use of language of that sort betrays a sad poverty of expression. Here, though, I made myself an exception. I don't know of any other way to say "shit sandwich," apart from just saying it ... as my late father said once or twice, "some people wouldn't say 'shit' if they had a mouthful." Be assured that I'll keep these exceptions to a very few.