It is now open season on Joe Lieberman.
Lieberman has already said that top Democrats have asked him to accept defeat in the Connecticut Democratic senate primary and graciously bow out of the race. But Lieberman is going against the advice of party leadership and will run again in the fall election as an independent.
It has been said that politics isn't about honesty, it's about loyalty. And Lieberman's independent Senate run is major party disloyalty. In politics, that is the kiss of death.
Lieberman's defeat at the hands of Ned Lamont, a candidate supported by the so-called "netroots," the kook leftist base of the Democrats, has sent the party a message: ignore the kooks, and they will take you down. The Democrats -- even the old-school establishment types -- are now so afraid of the leftist kooks that they will be forced to support the Lamont campaign, regardless of whether an 18 year Senate veteran and their own 2000 vice presidential nominee is destroyed in the process.
Lieberman's past will be examined to an extent not seen since the 2004 media frenzy over the unsubstantiated allegations about President Bush being an AWOL drunk during his time in the Texas Air National Guard. Undoubtedly it will be tempting to ask,"Why didn't we hear any of this stuff in 2000?" And it will be very tempting to taunt Democrats by repeatedly using the word "swiftboating" to describe the Lamont campaign.
Seriously, God bless you Joe. You're a much braver man than I am.
ADDED:
Michael Moore says it's "payback time." More at WizBang.
"are now so afraid of the leftist kooks that they will be forced to support the Lamont campaign, regardless of whether an 18 year Senate veteran and their own 2000 vice presidential nominee is destroyed in the process."
Or, in other words, they'll listen to a large percentage of the people they represent? Hmmm, interesting concept.
Posted by: Dan Trabue | August 11, 2006 at 04:03 PM