Radical Leftists Target Joseph Lieberman for Militant Jihad!

Doubt online netroots politics ain't freakin' hardball? Think again.

It turns out that hardline radical leftists are mounting a militant jihad against Senator Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut. This weekend Lieberman announced that he "would join a Republican filibuster if the bill contained either a government-run public health insurance option or a proposed alternative to the controversial provision -- expanding Medicare to people as young as 55."

Long despised by the left as a Democratic turncoat, the moderate Lieberman -- who was Al Gore's running mate in 2000! -- is now being mercilessly smeared AND his family is being targeted for personal destruction.

First is the Washington Post's Ezra Klein. The healthcare blogger has come under fire by his own colleague at the newspaper, Charles Lane, in "Ezra Klein's venomous slam of Joe Lieberman":

Thwarted in his bid for the vice presidency in 2000 and thwarted again in his campaign for the presidency in 2004, Sen. Joe Lieberman (?-Conn.) nevertheless retains one awesome power: the capacity to make some liberals lose their minds.

How else to explain the outrageous smear of Lieberman, posted earlier today by youthful policy wonk Ezra Klein on The Post's Web site? Apropos of Lieberman's opposition to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's proposed Medicare buy-in for uninsured people between the ages of 55 and 64, Klein had this to say: "At this point, Lieberman seems primarily motivated by torturing liberals. That is to say, he seems willing to cause the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people in order to settle an old electoral score." (Emphasis mine.)

Let me repeat: Klein essentially accuses Lieberman of mass murder because he disagrees with him on a policy issue about which there is considerable debate among people of good will across the political spectrum.

This is disgusting, and pretty illogical, too. Klein brandishes a study by the Urban Institute showing that the lack of health insurance contributed to the deaths of 137,000 people between 2000 and 2006. But last time I checked, Joe Lieberman does not oppose insuring everyone. Indeed, he is on record favoring "legislation that expands access to the millions who do not have coverage, improves quality and lowers costs while not impeding our economic recovery or increasing the debt." He simply opposes the public option, as well as Harry Reid's last-minute improvisation on Medicare. Klein's outburst only makes sense if you assume that there is one conceivable way to expand health insurance coverage, and that Harry Reid has discovered it.

Klein's post is here: "Joe Lieberman: Let's not make a deal!"

Then we have the truly despicable Daily Kos' McJoan (Joan McCarter) and her entirely representative entry, "Lieberman's F-You to America." After detailing the particulars of the bill, the Kos front-pager shamelessly evokes the late Ted Kennedy to get her point across:

And btw, no-class Lieberman's opposition to the CLASS Act is yet another F-you to the memory of his colleague, Ted Kennedy, whose bill this was.

Then, of course, we've got Matthew Yglesias, with not one but two posts now running at Memeorandum. For example, "Welcome to the Lieberman Administration":

Looks like Joe Lieberman decided to try for the old double-cross and say he now opposes the Medicare expansion compromise he’d hinted he would support. Lieberman wants no public option, no trigger that might create a public option, and no expansion of existing programs as a substitute for a public option. And he doesn’t care about expressing that view in misleading ways, timed to cause embarrassment to the Democratic leadership.

So, it's personal with Yglesias. But see also, "The Looming Murder/Suicide of the Democratic Majority."

It's all around the web. Lieberman's become the left's "Public-Option Enemy #1"

But the lowest, most scurrilous attack comes from "Hammering" Jane Hamsher at Firedoglake. She's taking the fight to Lieberman's wife, Hadassah, and her connection to the Susan B. Koman foundation. This started last week or so, but things are escalating. Hamsher's put out the call to Hollywood hotshots to get on the anti-Hadassah jihadi bandwagon. See, "Calling on James Denton, Ellen DeGeneres and Other Stars: No More “Race for the Cure” Cancer Money to Hadassah Lieberman":

On Friday, I wrote a letter to the Susan B. Komen Foundation asking that they stop using money that was raised for cancer research to pay Hadassah Lieberman, wife of Senator Joe Lieberman, as a spokesperson for the organization. The organization issued a statement saying that they refuse to do so.

As a three time breast cancer survivor, I do not believe that those who “race for the cure” and donate their hard earned dollars think they’re doing it so the money can go to Hadassah Lieberman. So today, I’m asking the celebrities who lend their names and their time to Race for the Cure like Ellen DeGeneres, James Denton and Christie Brinkley to join me in asking the Foundation to end its ties with Lieberman, whose professional agenda is antithetical to the cause they purport to advance.

For decades, Hadassah Lieberman has worked for the insurance-pharmaceutical-lobbying complex. Like Newt Gingrich, Dick Gephard and Tom Daschle she never registered as a lobbyist to avoid the official taint, but nonetheless worked at the powerhouse lobbying shops Hill and Knowlton and APCO. She also did stints at Pfizer and Hoffman-La Roche ....

The death of health care reform will no doubt please the clients of Hadassah Lieberman’s lobbying firms, but it would appear to be out of step with the goals of the Susan B. Komen Foundation. In 2008, Komen for the Cure listed $266,314,501 in assets, and Komen for the Cure Affiliates listed $138,428,012. They are by far the biggest breast cancer organization, with close ties to the Republican Party. Executive Director Nancy Brinker was appointed by George Bush as Ambassador to Hungary in 2001, shortly after the Komen Foundation helped defeat a meaningful Patients Bill of Rights and promoted the watered down version Bush advocated.

Okay, so to pass the ObamaCare monstrosity, let's wage a campaign of terror across the entire interest group system! First take down Joe Lieberman's wife, then go after the GOP's "evil" health industry iron triangle. That's taking a big bite, even for Jane!

But William Jacobson's got more, "The Anti-Hadassah Lieberman Jihad Continues":

Not content to call upon the Susan G. Komen Foundation to fire Hadassah Lieberman, Jane Hamsher now is trying to organize secondary pressure on the Komen Foundation through various celebrities who are involved with the organization. The online Petition states:

As I said before, it's a shame that the "public option" advocates are willing to politicize breast cancer reasearch, while at the same time putting another nail in the feminist coffin by singling out a woman for professional retribution primarily because of her husband.

But at this point, almost nothing surprises me.

William points to another entry at Daily Kos, "ALL HANDS: Remove Hadassah Lieberman as paid shill for the Susan G. Komen Foundation."

This aint' the end of this, by any means. I'll update as things get even nastier.