Lieberman hires neo-con chameleon

Posted by Evan Derkacz at 1:24 PM on November 21, 2006.

With the acquisition of former Christian Coalition Legislative Affairs director, Marshall "Bull Moose" Wittman, Lieberman continues his glacial break from the Democratic Party. Maybe he'll talk about it tonight with Hannity & Colmes on Fox?

Wittman, a former cohort of the CC's scandal-plagued leader, Ralph Reed, has made his home at the withering Democratic Leadership Council's PPI think tank and as an adviser to John McCain, who recently began pandering to right wing bigots like Jerry Falwell in his bid for the '08 presidency. Wittman praised the move as "unconventional." Because, you know, pandering to someone you don't agree with in politics doesn't come often.

He abandoned his "Bull Moose" blog with this sentiment:

The great and grand political development of the past year has been the triumph of Independent - Democrat Senator Joe Lieberman. Joe has bravely revived the great tradition of Scoop Jackson that is so critically needed at this time of international challenge and crisis.

For those unfamiliar with Henry "Scoop" Jackson, he was a (proto-neo-) conservative Democrat who vigorously supported the Vietnam War, nuclear arms, Japanese internment during WWII, and a Steroidal military in general. In a 2002 profile the Guardian UK wrote of Jackson that: "One man more than any other can credibly claim the intellectual and political credit for the Bush administration's bellicose showdown with Iraq and its muscular new doctrine of pre-emption."

Wittman, along with Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle (who worked for "Scoop" and retains his Democratic registration in his honor), Elliot Abrams, and Douglas Feith, are all followers of Jackson, along with, of course, Joe Lieberman.

Jackson, Wittman, Lieberman, and the neocons are a tough bunch to pin down in some ways. Largely a bunch of social liberals (they generally, rhetorically at least, support some semblance of environmental responsibility, concern for the poor, equality for people of color etc etc), though their foreign policy is riddled with White Man's Burden-style optimism.

In some oafishly narrow sense they seek to liberate the world (parts of it anyway) from tyranny. The problem with this omelet, of course, is all the eggs that have to be cracked along the way. Delivering liberation at the tip of a gun, they've managed to push for Vietnam and much of our misguided Middle East policy, ironically sapping our military and turning perception of America on its head.

Lieberman has strong ties to the Christian Zionist/Conservative Jewish network, including Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, John Hagee and the Left Behind players, and so does Wittman, from his days in Robertson's Christian Coalition.

With the hiring of Wittman, Lieberman rounds the homestretch to neo-con-dom. Nothing new here... just the final creaking sounds of a ship going under.

Tagged as: neocons, lieberman, christian conservatives

Evan Derkacz is an AlterNet editor. He writes and edits PEEK, the blog of blogs.