The Empty Conscience
by digby
I've written a lot about how the Democrats need to hold Republicans accountable for what they do or they will rise from their electoral graves and return to do it again --- just as they have been doing since the dawn of the dirty tricks, modern conservative movement. Character assassins are not impressed by Christian forgiveness and the American people are too busy working two jobs to pay off their sub-prime mortgages and their 28% interest credit cards to notice the details. It's up to the Democrats to do this.
So when George W. Bush has the utter chutzpah to nominate the biggest contributor to the Swift Boat Liars as an ambassador, it is imperative that the Democratic senate reject him. Otherwise Republicans will once again be assured that there is no price to pay, even when they lose elections.
During the hearing for this reprehensible GOP moneybags, John Kerry was appropriately steely eyed and angry. Jim Webb says he won't vote for the guy. The nomination has been tabled for now. But it still isn't settled and it really shouldn't even be a question.
Which leads us to this atrocity
Joe Lieberman was beaming. "Sam Fox represents what America is all about," he said, "and that's why he will be, when confirmed, an extraordinary ambassador."
The scene was last week's Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Connecticut's junior senator was making a highly unusual appearance to lobby for Fox's nomination to be the U.S. ambassador to Belgium.
Fox has come under fire from Democrats because of his role in helping to bankroll the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth in 2004 - the group that many Democrats still hold responsible for John Kerry's narrow loss to President Bush that year.
The day after the 2006 election, Lieberman, elected as an independent, got a $10,500 contribution from Fox and another $10,500 from Fox's wife. Both are generous GOP donors.
Lieberman dropped into Fox's confirmation hearing last week to praise the St. Louis businessman, a somewhat unorthodox step for a senator who is not a committee member.
[...]
Lieberman concluded his testimony by telling colleagues, "I'm honored to call Sam Fox my friend. I appreciate his friendship. And I'm honored to ask you to send him to Brussels as our next ambassador."
Lieberman left, and later Kerry roared in. The session became more like prosecutor vs. witness, as Kerry wanted to know who asked Fox to give to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.
"I can't tell you specifically who did because, you know, I don't remember," Fox said. "As a matter of fact, I ..."
Kerry interrupted. "You have no recollection of why you gave away $50,000?"
"I gave away $50,000 because I was asked to," Fox replied.
He decried the current campaign finance system, but said he gave the money because "politically it's necessary if the other side's doing it."
Kerry didn't seem to believe Fox did not know how the money was used. Fox's contribution is dated Oct. 29, 2004, and the senator cited reports from the summer and fall of 2004 about the Swift Boat group's allegations.
In August 2004, Kerry said, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Fox's hometown newspaper, wrote: "The smear campaign was funded and orchestrated by a coterie of Texans with strong ties to the Bush family and political director Karl Rove."
Then, said Kerry, "a month later [actually two months later], you nevertheless contribute to that very group that is smearing and spreading lies."
"Yes sir," said Fox, "all of the [similar groups] were smearing lies." Later, he added, "I have never gotten involved in the campaign side," meaning he simply gave money but did not dictate or help create policy.
Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., asked Fox point blank: "Did you have anything to do with the messaging, any involvement in the messaging of the Swift Boat ads?"
"No," Fox said, "absolutely none."
Kerry said this week he still had "unanswered questions" for Fox. So did other Democrats.
As the hearing ended, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., a 2008 front-runner for the party's presidential nomination, looked squarely at Fox.
"I found your statement somewhat unsatisfying to say that you gave because it's ugly out there and ... somebody asked you to give," Obama said, adding later, "I would have preferred you saying, you know, `In retrospect looking back, contributing to the Swift Boat campaign was a mistake and I wish I hadn't done it.'"
It doesn't matter what he says or what he feels. He's a lying piece of garbage, as he proved when he bankrolled those swiftboat scum. If this guy is confirmed by a Democratic senate the word will once again go forth that there will be no price to pay for character assassination. Indeed, Republicans will laugh their asses off. Not only can you destroy a man's reputation, his friends and allies will reward you for it. (And then you can do it to them too!)
Lieberman took money from this creep --- the same man who spent $50,000 to perpetuate lies about Kerry's war record in 2004 in one of the most despicable examples of character assassination in American history. He made a point of making an unusual appearance at his confirmation hearing which also proves that the establishment's failure to properly oppose Lieberman's candidacy resulted in Lieberman finally showing his true Republican colors in the most partisan political way possible. If it looks like a despicable Republican duck and walks like a despicable Republican duck...
It's not that Democrats have to make a note of every slight and issue payback. But they do have to draw some bright lines. The swift boat project was beyond the pale and anyone who had anything to do with it should never be rewarded at the hands of Democrats. If they do not make it a point to hold these people accountable in any way they can, they are the architects of their own demise. The ghost of Don Segretti is working feverishly as we speak, training the zombies to do the same thing to the next presidential candidate. That's how Republican zombies and Joe Lieberman work. They don't have consciences.
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