You Don’t Understand. Joe Lieberman Wants to Be a Uniter

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I’m back from two weeks in Africa and what better way to get back in the saddle than by nailing Joe Lieberman for being a hypocrite and a phony? On Meet the Press, Lieberman discussed the possibility of speaking at the Republican convention by saying, “If Sen. McCain feels that I can help his candidacy…I will do it.” But he insisted his motives are pure:

I’m going to go to a partisan convention and tell them — if I go — why it’s so important that we start to act like Americans and not as partisan mudslingers.

For some reason, I don’t know that I believe Joe. Maybe it’s because he once speculated that Obama is a socialist, despite the fact that after serving with Obama in the Senate for three years, he must know he isn’t. Or that he once suggested electing Barack Obama would lead to an attack on America, because terrorists would try to test a new president as unprepared as Obama supposedly is. Or that he pushed the Obama-is-endorsed-by-Hamas nonsense and said it “suggests the difference between these two candidates.” Or that he actually believes (or is willing to say publicly) that Obama is choosing to lose the Iraq War.

That sounds like an awful lot of bad faith and mudslinging from a guy who plans on going to the Republican convention as an envoy for comity and bipartisanship. Also, for the record, if Joe Lieberman fancies himself such an effective advocate for clean, friendly politics, maybe he could have a word with the man he’s shilling for.

It feels good to be back in my “mother’s basement and ranting into the ether.”

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

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