Senator's appeals to fear must stop

7/2/08
There is no question that Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman has a point: Terrorists could strike America early in the next president’s administration.
They could also strike tomorrow. Or never. Or we could all die of avian flu. The possibilities are endless!
Lieberman, of course, has no ability to predict the future, about terrorism or anything else. That’s not the point — the point is to scare people into voting for his preferred presidential candidate, Sen. John McCain. It is shameless.
Connecticut’s junior senator was in his favorite place last weekend — a Sunday morning talk show. It was there, on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” that Lieberman suggested the threat of a terrorist attack early in the next administration is the reason voters need to elect McCain president.
Lieberman, as McCain’s chief surrogate on foreign policy, specializes in fear-mongering. But it’s no surprise. It’s how he won re-election in 2006 despite losing the nomination of his lifelong political party. Having now forgone his prospects in a Democratic Senate, his only hope for a political future lies in a McCain administration.
And, like his 2006 Senate campaign, he will say anything to win. That means implying — or saying outright — that if voters go the wrong way, people will die. In fact, “shameless” doesn’t begin to cover the offensiveness of that brand of politicking.
Lieberman’s point Sunday was that terrorists attacked early in the terms of President Clinton and the current administration. But no outside analyst has attributed that fact to anything other than coincidence.
Put it this way — if Sen. John Kerry had won the presidency in 2004, would America have been attacked early in his term? Did al-Qaida decide to hold off because there was no new president to “test”? The notion is absurd.
But again, that’s not the point. Lieberman is simply using the tactics that served him so well two years ago, and President Bush in 2004. And, of course, the White House is supporting him. Press Secretary Dana Perino came to Lieberman’s defense this week, adding: “We know that there are people who are very dangerous who are trying to attack us every day.”
The inanity is mind-numbing. Of course there are people who want to attack us. The question, or one of them, is which candidate is best equipped to handle that issue. If Lieberman can’t make his case without resorting to contemptible attacks designed only to scare and distort, he should reconsider his actions. This isn’t 2006 anymore. People have grown up. He should, too.