Joe Lieberman's Day of Atonement

As we sit on the cusp of Yom Kippur, I am obliged to write about America's best-known Jewish politician: Joe Lieberman.

I find it hard to reconcile that Lieberman's name once graced the bumper of my car. There is no resemblance between the man who once shared the ticket with Al Gore, and the one who now stumps for republican parvenu Sarah Palin.

Over the last six years, Lieberman has shown a mule-like devotion to the ill-conceived and totally unnecessary war in Iraq. It nearly cost Lieberman his seat in the Senate, and it led to a split with the one party that thought enough of him to put him on the ticket. But as to the war in Iraq, he not only refuses to admit that the invasion was a mistake, he promulgates the Republican "big lie" about the surge. News flash, the surge is only "working" because we've spent hundreds of millions of U.S. dollars bribing Sunni war lords to ease up on insurrectionist activities.

Furthermore, for someone who interjects "faith" into much of his public oratory...Lieberman seems ignorantly detached from the devastation in human life that the war has caused. For someone who once embraced Jewish Orthodoxy, he seems unconcerned that the war in Iraq has given rise to Iran, the biggest threat to Israel in the region. He not only needs to atone for his blind support of the war, but for the damage it is doing to Israel's security.

While Lieberman's paramour, John McCain, has transformed into a tool of the extreme right-wing base of the republican party, Joe himself has morphed into a tool for John McCain. Not only did he get a prime speaking slot at McCain's coming out party, he was on the short list for VP choices (as if the Christian neocons would let that happen). If that wasn't degrading enough, now Lieberman is out stumping for Sarah Palin. He actually told a Florida crowd: "With your help--and God's help--(Sarah Palin) will be the next vice president of the United States." Is there no end to the shame he will bring upon himself? With God's help? I can only assume he is now praying to a different God.

Joe Lieberman is a sellout to this country and to his faith. He is a collaborator, plain and simple, and it is time for Lieberman to atone for his blind devotion to this war and the Christian zealots that comprise the Republican base. I fervently hope that Joe has a "come to Jesus" moment during Yom Kippur...and that he somehow atones for whatever it is that has driven him to such an extreme.