Political Punch

You must not have been watching ABC, Jake. They cut over to commentators during the middle of the speech! They didn't do that during Hillary's Tuesday night keynote, did they? Please explain whether or not this is media bias in a separate post.

Lieberman is such an idiot ... so are all the people that would vote for McCain who call themselves dems. If Obama loses it may be time to start a new party.

Lieberman was an embarassment even as the Democratic VP canidate--he isn't going to help the GOP. His 90% record
of voting with Bush pales in comparison to his 100% toeing the line with AIPAC. The man is simply so Zionist he can't stand the risk of a man with common sense possibly running American foreign policy.

ronnieraygun:
Have you looked at your VP candidate lately? Hum, how old is he?

Happy to see you all paying such attention to the RNC! Wonderful party, uh - not just a Hollywood, rock-star affair! You all sound so scared! WOW!!

"Did you see the camera operators trying to find minorities in the audience? Now that was a tough job!"

They showed the black delegate. He had one of those great campaign hats on.

They did not linger on McCain's daughter at all, barely showing her in family shots.

Must have been new McCain adviser Eschew's advice.

Ronnie forget the crowd.

Have you ever seen a party convention that is basically and indictment of their own party?

BIG DEAL one Democract endorses another! Where is the story?

Did anyone get a load of the crowd at this convention it looks like they emptied every nursing home this side of Florida to attend. I did not see any youth in that crowd of old fogies.

Lieberman's speech was surreal, and the audience's reaction was even more so! For the duration of the speech, I felt that I was watching a rerun of the Dem convention!

I think Lieberman is the most honest in DC. He stuck it to the Democraps when they denounced him and ran as an independent and beat them. No wonder they are upset.....

You guys out there only seeing "old people" must remember that these folks have forgotten more than you will ever know. Seems that when you reach a certain age you get smarter. Go McCain/Palin.

Heard a reporter this AM saying that "Palin just might put Pelosi in the time-out chair". Being a mom of 5 sounds like she might just be able to handle all the children we have elected in Washington.

Did you see the camera operators trying to find minorities in the audience? Now that was a tough job!

In my book, it's a free country. Lieberman can back whomever he likes. But c'mon, Joe, you can do better than old Republican tricks like saying that Obama voted against money for our troops in Iraq. Obama supports our soldiers, and you know it. That vote was a symbolic protest of this unnecessary war, in which thousands of soldiers have died for a bunch of lying Republicans.

Republicans not only allow Joe Lieberman to speak at the GOP convention, but cheer? My how my party has lost its way...who are these imposters? What has happened? Why is John McCain the GOP candidate? Who in the world is Sarah Palin?

Republicans not only allow Joe Lieberman to speak at the GOP convention, but cheer? My how my party has lost its way...who are these imposters? What has happened? Why is John McCain the GOP candidate? Who in the world is Sarah Palin?

To all those here criticizing Barack Obama's alleged lack of experience, tell me something:

What exactly has John McCain accomplished in his 26 years in office?

******************************
I tried to compile just that, but couldn't
find anything that went passed the senate
without getting squashed.

Remember Judas?? Anyone who ever believed that Lieberman was a democrat had been wearing blinkers. All CT voters who supported him must be having buyer's remorse. Go back to history, and try to understand why Israel has not been able to secure their own territory and live in peace. It is such like Lieberman who had betrayed their own people, bit the hands that fed them and will remain an outcast for the rest of their lives. People without loyalty are just not traitors, they bring eternal grief to those that follow them.

McCain despite his age is
half-baked to deal with
national security.

Expect wars in Georgia,
Ukraine and other places.
Expect deteriorating relations
with Russia. Oil imports will
increase making us even more
dependent on the Middle East.
And he will wreck the economy.

I respect Lieberman, because he is a Democrat of old, JFK and FDR style, he is not part of this George Soros controlled Modern day Democrat party. And for that he was kicked out, I guess the modern day dems/libs do not believe in individual opinion and free speech! the man voted 95% of the time with the libs but that was not good enough - Keep that in mind Conservative states the Dems running in you are are not conservative they are libs!

We support McCain because the alternative is too dangerous far more then anyone realizes!!

Jake

I think that some journalists just don't understand that both the Republican Party and the Democratic Party are bigger than the insiders and pundits that are now trying to take control of our country.

Most Republicans want a reformer..and even the insiders voted for McCain-Feingold.

Remember this ,,,,Democratic insiders are pro-abortion most Americans are against it.

I don't like Bush and I never voted for him. But I really dislike that the mainstream media seems to be running their own candidate this year.

Case in point...the Rezko investigation continues and the media ignores it. Obama is up to his eyeballs in the "pay for play" Chicago scandal...I have read more about the Palin ethics investigation than the criminal investigation in Chicago.

Here is my question to you: Should the 18 yr old kid that got Gov. Palin underage daughter pregnant be charged, with a crime like other teens in this Country? There are teens in this Country currently serving jail time, for commenting the same offense of having sex with an underage minor that this kid is being accused of. Why isn’t the law being followed in this case? Is there a double standard for a VP candidate?

Charles Schumer, senior Senator NY
"I like Joe Lieberman, but that's a big mistake for him," Schumer said. "To be pro-war and to have his views on the issues, everyone respects that. But you don't go over to the other side."

PUMA

never question just follow

Love all the so-called "Hillary" supporters voting Mccain. (yea right.) You must totally agree with Mccain's campaign manager as he stated yesterday this election is NOT about the issues.

Well, if Bush endorses him that's good enough for me. Nothing like getting the thumbs up from the worst president since Buchanan.

What one has to realize is that these people in the RNC (excluding Paul delegates) are sheep being led to the slaughter and will clap at just about anything. If you want to see an intelligent crowd reacting to cerebral speeches watch clips of the Paul rally.

"Clinton did that and deserved the applause."

The same Clinton who is branded a raicst by Obama and his surrogates.

I have no sympathy for Palin
or her family. My sympathies
go to the families of bears
and moose she's been trophy
hunting and killing for sport.

The biggest question is WHY has she NOT spoken to the press? 6 days as the VP Nom and not ONE interview??? What is up with that? Has that ever happened before? It shows she is not ready. If she can't handle a simple interview, how can she be ready to lead the Nation????

Another Sarah,

Had McCain pick a woman based solely on her merits, I would have congratulated him for doing so.

But he didn't choose Palin based o0n her merits.

He chose Palin out of desperation hoping to stop Obama's momentum and to excite his base.

Many women feel insulted by McCain's choice not so much because of who he picked, but because of the reason he picked her.

Greg,

Just to let you know, t's the "Democratic" party, not the "democrat" party.

As for Lieberman becoming an Independant,, he did so because he would have lost his Senate seat running as a Democrat.

We Democrats say good riddance. You too will soon find out that the only allegiance Joe Lieberman has is to Joe Lieberman.

To all those here criticizing Barack Obama's alleged lack of experience, tell me something:

What exactly has John McCain accomplished in his 26 years in office?

The democrat party has become an embarrassment. Thank-you Joe Lieberman for pointing that out. I hope this causes the dems to get their act together. Maybe I'll come back when they get rid of Pelosi and Dean.

If so much is at stake for this country, why on earth did DNC nominate a very unqualified person for presidential nominee. We would not put a medical intern in charge of a hospital. If there are questions about McCain/Palin ticket, it pales in comparison to Obama/Biden.

I'm not sure why some folks on this blog thread feel that Obama has all the answers. His good ole friends (Pelosi, Harry Reid, Kerry, Kennedy and etc) have had free rein of Congress for the last 2 years and have accomplished very little. No wonder they handpicked Obama for the throne. I have no doubt in McCain's leadership.

Ha ha I was thinking about that last point Jake made as well. And isn't one of McCain's sons a John as well- that makes 4 John McCains. (And maybe I am getting this wrong, but should an Orthodox Jew be invoking God's name at all anyway?)

I wasn't impressed with Lieberman at all to be honest. I thought Fred Thompson sold John McCain much better. And I don't know how popular Joe Lieberman is with anyone right now. Maybe a few folks in the middle, but I think the Democratic Party is pretty mad at him, and I am not sure the GOP has ever warmed to him, except maybe in a schadenfreunde kind of way. He's certainly no Zell Miller.

McCain is a coward, not a hero.

The former POW chickened out and
canceled a scheduled appearance
on Larry King Live.

The reason? The previous night
on CNN's Election Center one of
his campaign spokesmen was asked
to name a single decision
Sarah Palin had made as Commander
in Chief of the Alaska National
Guard.

He could not name anything. He
was asked the same question
several times. He had nothing
to say. Zip.

McCain said CNN went too far.
And canceled his appearance.

Everybody thinks that you need 60 votes in the Senate to get a Bill passed.

Wrong. It's a majority of the vote, at the most 51. It has ‘become’ 60 in this particular Senate because the Republicans have filibustered every meaningful Bill. The number of filibusters is twice as high in the last two sessions from previous ones.

Julian;
That would be true IF more democrats are elected to Congress. As it stands now, the Freakin' Republican have been filibustering bills left and right! Lieberman was the tipping point, and he hasn't always voted with the Dems. The Dems have put out some really great bills for healthcare, energy and new jobs. One of the energy bills would have passed if McCain wasn't sitting it out in his office, as stated by Senator Insley of Washington state.

I'm ex-democrat[Hillary supporter]
voting republican this year....

McCAIN/PALIN '08

Silly Republicans!!!

Even if this sorts itself out, there's still the fact of the pregnancy itself: "The revelation focused attention on the Republican Party's call, in the party platform adopted today, for unwed teenagers to abstain from sex," Michael Kranish reports in The Boston Globe.

"In a story heavy with cultural overtones, Palin's daughter became both the talk of the GOP convention and the latest episode in the national discussion about teen pregnancy."

Lynn Sweet, of the Chicago Sun-Times: "I'm trying to connect the dots here. . . . Unmarried teen five months pregnant, will marry father. . . . She's the daughter of the GOP vice presidential nominee, the little-known Alaska governor, at the center of a controversy over a fired Alaskan state trooper. . . . Republicans at their convention Monday adopt platform calling for increased funding for abstinence education."

Palin the gift that doesn't stop giving!!

The Dems saying McCain doesn't support veterans because he didn't support Webb's GI Bill is misleading. McCain opposed it out of concerns about retainment"

Yes, because soldiers bettering themselves from college could decide McCain policy of endless war may not work for them and no reenlist.

The McCain solution?

Stop improvement of one of the greatest social class moving policies in the modern era.

Hillary has a voting record in the 90 percentile and McCain and Obama are almost identical with Obama being just slightly lower then McCain."

You can check the Wap Congress votes database.

Look up the 109th Session of Congress than the 110th Session.

In the 109th Obama missed only 11 votes.

Hillary missed 16 votes.

McCain missed 56 votes.

Obama has missed 45.5% votes of the current Congress (110th session)

Hillary has missed 32.2% of the votes.

McCain has missed 63.8% of the votes this year. Campaign first, country second.

From Mike Doogan, Alaska:
"Palin's time as governor has been a mixed bag. She deserves high marks for moving the possibility of a gas pipeline forward. But most of the work on [raising] oil taxes was done by the legislature. Ditto with ethics reform. And her role in killing the ballyhooed "Bridge to Nowhere"? Turns out that she was for it before she was against it, and that, well, she kept the money anyway.

Add to this a growing sense that the state government isn't running all that well: commissioners and key staffers jumping or being pushed. The operating budget growing 10 percent a year. Policy problems such as high energy costs being papered over with cash giveaways. The governor and her aides being investigated by the legislature. You can see why it's not clear she's a competent governor of Alaska, let alone qualified to take over the reins of the national government."

Ryan Your information is not accurate.
Hillary has a voting record in the 90 percentile and McCain and Obama are almost identical with Obama being just slightly lower then McCain. McCain has been in the Senate for almost 30 years and that voting record does not entail those whole 30 years and McCain has been campaigning as long as Obama. For a first term Senator that record of Obama's is abysmal.

Kathy They're all hypocrites . It's all the same old politics. I don't know how Obama can attack McCain on the vote on Iraq when Biden made the same vote and also supported in increase in troops right alongside McCain. The Dems saying McCain doesn't support veterans because he didn't support Webb's GI Bill is misleading. McCain opposed it out of concerns about retainment and most importantly he wanted to see education benefits for military personnel be able to be transferred to their children (something the troops want, to pass those benefits to their kids to pay for their college) and the final bill ended up including it. And also, the Dems sat on that bill for almost two years and didn't pull it out until the election cycle until it was politically expedient. In fairness to the DFL, the same holds true for when they oppose bills on the base of things that have been added to the bill or the wording and then the GOP comes out and says they don't support senior citizens or some such thing. It's just the same old politics and your candidate engages in it and is just as much a part of it as everyone else.

Senator Ted Stevens, isn't he under indictment for corruption?

"Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin began building clout in her state's political circles in part by serving as a director of an independent political group organized by the now embattled Alaska Senator Ted Stevens," Matthew Mosk reports in The Washington Post.

"Palin's name is listed on 2003 incorporation papers of the 'Ted Stevens Excellence in Public Service, Inc., a 527 group that could raise unlimited funds from corporate donors."

Palin the gift that Keeps on Giving!!!

Pat I respect your opinion on that but I don't really see what the big deal is with Palin in a VP slot when Obama's at the top of the ticket. Both the Dems and the Repubs have their bright, shining and upcoming stars,
Obama being one of the Dems and Palin and Jindal being two examples on the Repub side. The Dems have opted to put their bright new talent on the top of their ticket and McCain has opted to put one of their new talent in the VP slot. Tim Kaine was on the City Council, Mayor, Lt Governor and a Governor for as long as Palin and I really don't believe for one second we would see the outcry we are seeing about Palin if Obama had chosen him. People may have questioned why Obama didn't put someone with more foreign policy experience on the ticket to compensate for his lack of but we certainly wouldn't be negating what experience he has in the manner we are Palin and certainly not question how could have children and still be VP.
Carter, Reagan, Clinton and Bush Jr all came on as ex-Governors with minimal if any foreign policy experience. In fact the only recent President who came on with such is George Sr. People discount Alaska because of it's small population but I hear no one mentioning Biden's representation of Delaware, a State that has only about 200,000 more people then in Alaska. I think years of experience while important in the long run mean little if your experience has nothing to show for it. Obama has not completed his first term in the Senate and has spent all but 143 days campaigning for the Presidency. He has one of the worst records for not showing up to vote (in comparison to Clinton who was also running and yet made 92% of her votes), never held one meeting during his stewardship of the foreign relations committee until just very recently- he might have not as well even shown up because he obviously (like Edwards whose experience was even slimmer then Palins and Kaines) just walked in the door to use the US Senate as a springboard to a Presidential run.
I'll take almost 3 yrs of Governing from either Palin or Kaine before Obama's 143 days productive days in the US Senate. I've been a community organizer and while a noble position to say that job is more relevent then City Council or Mayor is a joke. Obama has 300 foreign policy advisors, I think McCain can round up a couple hundred for Palin. Obama has pointed out to us over and over again that judgement, not experience, it what's important. In fact the Obama camp doesn't want an arguement on the experience issue in regards to Palin's presence on the scene now, rather they're spinning the judgement angle. I personally would have rather seen Ridge or Lieberman on the ticket but clearly if they wanted to keep the GOP base that wasn't going to happen but I don't think everything we know about McCain and the value he would place on someone like Palin who is probably more libertarian then GOP, comes as such a shock. I listened to Palin on CNBC talking about drilling and ANWAR (of which I'm not on board for) and found her impressive, intelligent, fresh (she made Obama sound like an entrenched old politics
politician replaying the same old rhetoric of the DFL) and had me almost convinced we should drill in ANWAR. She may get up there tomorrow and choke or say some gaffe in the near future or something bigger then what they've thrown out of the kitchen sink already, may come out but all the arguements to date are pretty lame, sexist, classist
and elitist. Personally, I don't think we need one more lawyer in politics from Harvard. If we want a new and fresh perspective and change in this Country then some of our future politicians may end up running with less experience then our traditional picks and with more non-traditional backgrounds. Someone doesn't have to agree with her or chose to vote for her but she should at least be given a chance to pass/fail on her own rather then stories about DUI's going back 20 yrs and teenage pregnancy. I come from a State where our Governor was an ex-professional wrestler and I think one of our best Senators Paul Wellstone, who Obama couldn't hold a candle too, was a teacher. He was rooted in the people and his politics showed that.
You know, Axelrod has spent alot of energy and strategizing and implementing events and press over the course of 18 months attempting to convince this Country that Obama's Presidential and that his minimal record of accomplishments be swept under the rug, and he has done a great job of that obviously. I think if Axelrod took on Palin he could have us convinced she's Presidential material pretty quickly also. The Obama camp wants her out of this race and they are at the bottom of the sink being thrown at this women and while Obama can eloquently denounce throwing children into the mix clearly his camp has no problem putting it out there and stirring the pot. I expect Rove type attacks and politics from the GOP but I expected better from the DFL.

Thompson told the crowd that McCain had been a POW.

Gosh. You learn something new every day.

Fred Thompson was on fire tonight.

He pretty much sliced & diced the junior Senator Obama and tossed him in the garbage.

Pretty much tonight's convention message to the American people:
*OBAMA IS A WUSS WITH NO EXPERIENCE.
*MCCAIN IS AN AMERICAN HERO READY TO LEAD

Beth: 'Kate, you need your eyes checked because I see a very diverse crowd of young and old.'

Awe. What do you consider young? 55?

I saw the same as Kate: a bunch of old white people. The only people who were young were their home-schooled children. And they are old by nature.

Leiberman is a hypocrite, during his speech he accused Obama of voting against a bill funding for the troops, which he did not, that bill had more to it than just funding for the troops, and the funniest part is Leiberman voted against that same bill.

LEIBERMAN AND THE REPUBLICANS ARE HYPOCRITES!

alpaig52: "Palin's been to Ireland, Germany and Kuwait"

Bwahahaha. First, she visited American military bases, that's hardly visiting a country and drinking tea with the locals. And second, Ireland was a stop-over, for fuel.

Lieberman is lower than scum. Al Gore's Biggest Mistake Ever.

alpaig: "At least she could stick up to her party"

She could. But she didn't.

Palin is charging Alaska for her private attorney.

Ryan You didn't answer the question.

"At least she could stick up to her party, when has Obama?"

When was that? when she dropped longtime politcal ally Ted Stevens when he became radioactive (indicted) or when she canceled the bridge to nowhere (after endorsing it a year earlier) only to keep the earmark money for other things.

Lieberman brought defeat to
the Dems in 2000.

Republicans can keep this
old namby-pamby loser - for
their defeat is only two
months away.

John McCain is now vetting Sarah Palin. Do you want John McCain so careless with a major decision to be president?

Stanian,
I don't remember mentioning Palin. You must have hit the wrong Republican response macro. Try another random key, I'm sure it will make just as much sense.

alpaig,
the fact that palin has no curiosity in her 44 years to travel outside of Alaska (except when forced) says it all to me. not worldly = fundamentally not equipped to deal with the world... just like our current president when he first got in...

this ticket is McSame to me

Lieberman was wacky. When he compared Clinton's presidential record with Obama who isn't the president yet? What was that all about? AND THEY CLAPPED like they were coached?? Very strange.

As an African-America I can say I do find it strange that a party that was preaching inclusion- tonight could not match their rhetoric with a visual representing inclusion in the convention. I counted 1,2,3 maybe 4 African American faces and a few Asians. Something is wrong with that picture. The Republicans need to practice what they preach. To say you are putting "COUNTRY FIRST" and your delegates are monolithic in their appearance is quite contrary to your message. The American population is a microcosm of the world. The Democratic party represents the diverse county of immigrants,the generational offspring of African slaves and Native Americans. What does the Republican party demographic represent- not modern day America. Watching that gathering tonight is like viewing America through a time warp. It is very scary.

Did he really say "What you can expect from John McCain as President is precisely what he has done this week"? Jeez, I bet that line was put in before Palingate, LOL.

Carl But you seem to forget that Obama is going to march us right over from Iraq into Afghanistan to continue George W's war on terror. What, are we getting a discount or something on military costs over in Afghanistan.
These troops aren't coming home they're just veering off the path a little.
And yet on the domestic front we're going to implement this program and that program and universal health care and on and on. Of course, I'm not too concerned about it though because I've been around long enough to know that if Obama gets one thing out of the laundry list of things he promised (which was the same liberal promises made every 4 years) then he'll have accomplished something.

Davis Yeah, we need to keep putting the same old partisan politics back into office. At least she could stick up to her party, when has Obama? So if you like business as usual I'd keep electing business usual.

For all of the Hillary '12/McCain Voters. What do you think '12 is going to look like after four more years of Iraq?

48 Months @ $12.3 Billion/Month = $590B.
More than another half Trillion in debt to China at what interest rate?

Hell, McCain is going to have to cancel ALL taxes to pay for that. It's the only thing that makes sense

Pat Palin's been to Ireland, Germany and Kuwait. She's only been Governor as long as Tim Kaine, who was rumored to be Obama's first choice but he needed foreign policy experise on his ticket to compensate for his lack of,
so I doubt she's done alot of traveling as Governor yet. If we're going to base it on travel though then Biden should be at the top of the Dem ticket and McCain is in the right spot on the ticket. Obama hasn't traveled as much as those two and he's the top of the ticket. I realize his supporters fluff his overseas travel by including growing up in Indonesia under the age of 12 and a college trip to Pakistan- which is great, but doesn't qualify for foreign policy experience. I mean we are talking about the same guy who just got shamed into making a trip to Iraq aren't we?

LOL, sorry Jake, but I'm having this cute visual of you playing the piano in your 5th grade, then standing up for the applause.

Great article though. I totally agree with you.

HEY PALIN FANS!!

We don't need any more thugs in the white house, even if they are pretty and wear a dress...

Palin’s Management Style is to Bully and Demand Political Loyalty. Palin’s tenure as mayor of Wasilla was marred by tremendous staff turnover, first when she fired most of the top staff — including the city’s librarian — because she questioned their loyalty, and then later when staff quit because of her micromanaging style.

Wasilla even lost the opportunity to hire a police chief because he said the job seemed too political.

Imagine what she could do if she had real power?? Scary....

Palin just got her first passport in 2007. she hasn't even been to Russia (which is only 2.5 miles away from alaska). how can Palin handle intricate foreign policy when she's only left the country once (as part of her gubernatorial duties). how can she be trusted to deal with the likes of Putin or Amadinejhad?

she doesn't even know what a VP does.

i'm honestly surprised mccain would be this reckless with his choice.

Re: stood up to some of those same Democratic interest groups and worked with Republicans to get important things done like welfare reform, free trade agreements, and a balanced budget."

Clinton did that and deserved the applause.

I was not for Obama in the beginning but the more I see of McCain, the faster I find myself supporting Obama and admiring him. McCain has sold his soul to win the presidency and he hasn't even passed the first test...selecting a running mate. He picks someone who appeals to the Christian right rather than what is good for the country. Palin's personal life, her ethics problems, her association with a secessionist group in Alaska, her mischaracterizations which are coming to light about the bridge to nowhere should have counted for something with McCain. She is not presidential material but McCain selected her for selfish reasons rather than thinking about the good of the country. Shame on him!

Alan

Obama got a free ride no matter what the official record says.... you extreme left people have gone way over the top in opposing palin....the CLinton people will have the last laugh in 2012 and Obama will be a laughing stock!

You're right Sluggo, Republicans send their children to expensive Business/Law schools like Harvard and Yale (or both), Set them up with loans to start an oil company or buy a baseball team(or both) and then, when it fails, bankroll their political career so they can fail on a national level using the money of taxpayers to get a hefty return on their initial poor investment.

"Democrats love candidates who have never done anything, can't run a business and never had an economics course."

The Washington Post just broke a story that McCains vetting of Palin was on Wednesday, she was announced on Friday.
And no one knew about the daughters pregnancy after they said they knew.

Anybody actually interested in working together? If a former Democrat VP candidate can address the floor of the Republican National Convention and get applause for Bill Clinton, maybe this is the campaign that can knock down some walls. McCain has reached across the aisle, a lot, as we all know. So much that party loyalists haven't trusted him for years. I think he is a guy who really can and will work with both sides for the good of our country.

Okay ... Lieberman was right on! ... wake up Reagan Democrats .. wise up Clinton Democrats ... if this empty suit Obama is elected Democrats will totally lose their credibility!
McCain '08
Hillary 2012!!!!!!!!!!!

Great job, Joe. I got what you said too!

Lieberman is for Lieberman. He speaks at the convention because he is disloyal and wrongheaded. For him, the only issue is Iraq...all the things that have been wrong for the last 8 years don't matter to him...only Iraq which is still a disaster, surge included, draining our country of its treasure.

I know the pundits dismissed Lieberman and felt he wouldn't have an impact
on those of us who've voted predominantly Democrat our whole lives, but in this election find ourselves on the fence. I agree that many Democrats will not even get to watching Lieberman and for many Democrats issues like abortion or potential Supreme Court nominees will deter them from crossing that line regardless of anything a Lieberman can say. I agree with Ted's response to Lieberman. I felt he (Lieberman) spoke to my concerns tonight and said the things I needed to hear. I consider the past 8 yrs of Bush a total disaster and do not want to return to 4 more yrs of such. I consider the last 4 yrs of a Democratic Congress under Pelosi, Reid and company a disaster and have as much disdain for the likes of Reid and Pelosi as I do the Bush administration (at least close). Lieberman acknowledged that and spoke to that in that we have a reason to be unhappy as a result of these past 8 years and to not want to go there again. I am strongly liberal on social issues and abhor what the right wing of the Repub party stands for. I think Lieberman spoke to that. I have great admiration for McCain's long record (before he even jumped into the race) of independence, willingness to take on special interests and his party and to take political risks for what he feels is right. I know, despite his pandering to get the nomination, that he is no George W. While I have voted predominantly Dem I have also voted Repub and 3rd party at times and while my positions fall in line with the Dems the majority of the time I tend to vote the person not the party. Having Lieberman, a Dem I've had alot of respect for (as I have Biden), who knows all the players in this race and Congress firsthand , who has seen first hand the work in the US Senate of both Obama and McCain - stand up there and vouch for McCain's record and independence was important to me. What really hit a chord for me is his implication that while the power players of the Dem party will attack McCain and support their party's can