Lieberman. Lamont. Take 15
Democrats who support Lieberman sure are going to feel stupid when he addressed the 2008 republican convention giving an angry Zell Miller style speech. (Comments from Here.
Democrats will just have to cross that road when it comes.
The democratic party has always been a big tent. However, its clear that many on the left dont want it to be anymore.
Lieberman is about the most democratic democrat around. Went down to Mississippi in the 60s to help black register to vote, has been a loyal democratic public servant for 36 years allthough he could have made much more money in business, supports the enviroment, womens right to choose, Israel, a strong defense and active Truman-style foreign policy etc. etc.
And who is Ned Lamont? well he is somebody with a lot of money who thought it would be cool to be a politician. Allthough he voted with republicans in the past he now join forces with the pacifist-wing of the party to unseat Joe – a faithfull democrat througout his life.
Reasonable democrats must know join forces to stop what seems to be a new movement of intolerant selfish left-loonies who “just want to get out of Iraq and Bush is a liar, man” and dont shy any means whatsoever including going after one of the democratic partys most respectet leaders in the country.
“Respectful” as deigned by whom? I’m not a fan of “Centrism”. I’m keen and okay on ‘moderation”, and there’s a difference there. Cetrism assumses a one dimensional line with which you modify your stances to a mythical spot dead center, theoretically but not in practice “where the voters are”. Except a funny thing: they’re not there.
Assume that it’s all about Iraq. It isn’t, and I can say that as a person who didn’t vote for Al Gore and whose vote against Gore was weighted with Gore’s choice of Lieberman as running mate. It is symptomatic — say, for instance, In the case of Gore, Lieberman disallows me from answering with any clarity that a President Gore would not have taken us into Iraq. But if it were all about Iraq, half the rest of the party’s elected officials would be targetted right now. They’re not.
But assume it’s all about Iraq. You don’t have to agree with the political position to understand the idea that Lieberman is a roadblock to the, quote in quote “loony left”, or the quote-in-quote “Democratic pacificist”‘s political desire. More so than the “half of the party’s elected officials” not particularly targetted. He pops up on Meet the Press, he relays the “Stay the Course” position, it is a direct assault on the “Change the Course” position, and thus in the realm of democracy where people try, through the channels of electoral politics, guide the nation one way or ther other — would prefer to reject him.
And on the idea of toeing the line for the party:
“I know I’m taking a position that is not popular within the party,” Lieberman said, “but that is a challenge for the party — whether it will accept diversity of opinion or is on a kind of crusade or jihad of its own to have everybody toe the line. No successful political party has ever done that.”
There are some folks in the GOP would could take a hint from that last line when the names Olympia Snow, Lincoln Chafee and John McCain are mentioned.
To be honest, I wish primary battles were more successful — on the rate of one per cycle, actually, out of two or three strong or semi-strong challenges. As it is, the only real guage those following Lieberman versus Lamont has is Specter versus Toomey, Pennsylvania in 2004. At the moment, Hugh Hewitt is arguring that the Republicans jettison Lincoln Chaffee — perhaps the last real “Whig” in the party. There are a couple interesting stirrings in the Republican primary race in Rhode Island, which is that Chaffee’s challenger is attempting a dishonest feat of suggesting Chaffee might switch to “Independent”.
Actually, in the end the problem with Lieberman comes down to:
If Chaffee were the constant face on the Sunday Morning chattering class gabs, or for that matter on liberal talk radio as Lieberman has, and on a key issue of their concern, the Republicans would probably have a better case for jettisoning him and risking a Democratic seat.