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You are here: Home / Politics / The End Of Joe

The End Of Joe

by John Cole|  August 9, 20069:17 am| 64 Comments

This post is in: Politics

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It looks like the end of the line for Holy Joe:

Ned Lamont, a Connecticut millionaire whose candidacy for the United States Senate soared from nowhere on a fierce antiwar message, won a narrow victory in the Democratic primary last night over the incumbent, Joseph I. Lieberman.

Senator Lieberman, a national party leader and the Democratic nominee for vice president in 2000, conceded defeat in a phone call to Mr. Lamont shortly before 11 p.m. But then, in a combative speech to supporters in Hartford that was carried live on television news, the senator declared that he was not dropping out of the race, but would instead run for re-election as an independent this fall.

“As I see it, in this campaign, we’ve just finished the first half and the Lamont team is ahead — but in the second half, our team, Team Connecticut, is going to surge forward to victory in November,” Mr. Lieberman told cheering supporters.

A few thoughts:

1.) My gut instinct to Lieberman vowing to continue the race is that it is pretty pathetic, and he risks leaving office in disgrace, rather than dignity. At the same time, he and his supporters probably feel they were subjected to any number of grievous insults (and they have said as much in the WSJ, a rather unconvincing venue), so they are probably too personally involved to see that losing with dignity is something that never goes out of style.

2.) For much of this race, I felt like the Lieberman/Lamont race was less like a political race than it was a Cold War era proxy war. I do not think we will see another Democratic candidate recieve this much support from Republicans any time soon, and had Lieberman won, the same ‘supporters’ would have no problem trashing Lieberman.

3.) While the Bush brigade will see this loss as the ‘left-wing crazies’ taking over, true conservatives and libertarians will note that they had no horse in this fight. Lieberman may be a swell guy, and Kerry may have been branded a flip-flopper in 2004, but I remember Joe as the original flip-flopper. When he accepted the bid to be Veep in 2000, Joe did an about face on many issues he had previously held, and quite comfortably moved back to them once Al Gore had conceded. That leads me to tend to agree that the core principle that Joe Lieberman holds dear is keeping himself in office, although I will agree that Lieberman does seem to be a nice enough guy.

4.) Lieberman’s loss, coupled with McKinney’s ouster, would lead me to believe that this is going to be an anti-incumbent election in number. That should make Republicans very nervous, if for no other reason than the fact that there are more Republicans in office. I am still of the opinion that the GOP is going to lose a great number of seats in both the House and Senate, but I have felt that way for two years. They earned a big loss, IMHO. Additionally, the McKinney loss does give the Democrats some amount of defensive capital when charges that ‘left-wing lunatics’ are taking over. Mckinney put the “C” in crazy, and they got rid of her.

5.) Finally, I am sure (but I have not checked) that the right-wing of the blogosphere is grudgingly conceding a ‘first’ victory to the netroots left, and I am equally sure there will be many bruised fists from all the chest-thumping at DKOS/FIREDOGLKAE/ETC. I would like to point out that no one has really won anything yet, as the election is yet to come, and the netroots left has already won a number of primary elections. This is no first, this Lamont victory- it just seems like it because of all the hype.

And that is how I see things, basically. I guess I have one final thought- I was never a fan of Joe Lieberman. I did cheer him for ‘getting it right’ on the War on Terrah (and I have gotten so many things wrong about that I shouldn’t even be allowed to speak about it), but I was never a fan of Joe Lieberman. All the things Joe was ‘moderate’ on (translation- voted with Republicans) were generally issues that I disagreed with the GOP about, to include controlling content in television/video games, and a wide range of issues that are too broad to get into right now. I also always felt that Joe Lieberman was a wholly own subsidiary of the insurance and banking industries, and never felt comfortable with that.

So there you have it. Your thoughts?

*** Update ***

Radley Balko, as always, brings it home:

Look, Lieberman is a likeable guy (in the same way, as the lefty bloggers have noted, that Willie Tanner was). But he embodies so much of what’s wrong with Washington. He’s the prototypical David Broder candidate, a big government liberal who’s willing to engage in magnanimous gestures of bipartisanship . . . on issues where Republicans also support big government. So he’s cool with bombing and nation building, and state-sponsored health care. He’s okay with government censorship of video games and cable TV, and heavy-handed regulation of business.

Golly. What a moderate!

In other words, he’s wrong on every issue. He’s a culture warrior, a values cop, a Nanny Statist, and a big government foreign policy hawk. He favors high taxes, and a massive welfare state. He’s pro-pork, pro-status quo, and pro-business as usual.

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Reader Interactions

64Comments

  1. 1.

    Sirkowski

    August 9, 2006 at 9:28 am

    Grand Theft Auto is safe… for now!

  2. 2.

    Bob In Pacifica

    August 9, 2006 at 9:31 am

    I wonder how strongly the Democratic Party leadership backs Lamont. And if they sit Joe down and have a little talk with him. I can’t see how Lieberman running as an independent can do anything other than hurt the Democratic candidate.

    From a purely political view, a successful Lamont candidacy gives the Demos a wider political spectrum for others to wriggle around in. The Repubs are loaded with chickenhawks, the Dems are blessed with an abundances of chickenshits. Lamont in the Senate would give someone like a Feinstein a place to move a step or two to the left without appearing too radical. The kind of, “Well, I’m for the war against Terror, but this administration and its supporters in Congress have botched it up, and Ned makes some good points, although I myself won’t go that far.”

  3. 3.

    Ancient Purple

    August 9, 2006 at 9:32 am

    A good analysis, Mr. Cole.

    It is very clear from Lieberman’s actions that this race was about one thing for him: him. He isn’t going to go quietly, and that, unfortunately for him, means that he will never be trusted by rank and file Democrats again.

    I am very thankful that several Democrats have come out and immediately endorsed Lamont (Clinton, Clinton, Bayh, Edwards, Emmanuel). Joe needs to be tagged with the term “sore loser” over and over again, because, well, he is a sore loser. He all but ignored the people of Connecticut and embraced That Idiot In The White House on many occasions. That was his choice, of course, but so was it the choice of the people of CT to oust him.

    Now, regarding this:

    5.) Finally, I am sure (but I have not checked) that the right-wing of the blogosphere is grudgingly conceding a ‘first’ victory to the netroots left, and I am equally sure there will be many bruised fists from all the chest-thumping at DKOS/FIREDOGLKAE/ETC. I would like to point out that no one has really won anything yet, as the election is yet to come, and the netroots left has already won a number of primary elections. This is no first, this Lamont victory- it just seems like it because of all the hype.

    I completely disagree. There is a great victory here and that is that the average person can get involved and make a difference. Whether one is a high level administrator or a communications professor or a waitress or a mechanic or a carpenter, the netroots have provided an opportunity to make a difference. People power is the winner here.

    That is a refreshing breath of air over corporate powers and “inside the DC beltway” types.

  4. 4.

    Bob In Pacifica

    August 9, 2006 at 9:33 am

    Sirkowski, I bought the Liberty City version and the instructions are sketchy. How do you save the game? I’m getting tired of driving that girl back from the clinic and beating up the guy at the waterfront.

  5. 5.

    Craig

    August 9, 2006 at 9:39 am

    Good points, John.

    As a former resident of Connecticut, and I can only shake my head when clueless pundits try to pin down reasons these results. Joe lost for one main reason–He refused to hold President Bush to the same standards of bipartisanship that he required of his fellow Democrats.

    Hillary, Joe Biden and other Dems have continued to express support for continuing in Iraq. None of these folks are or will be facing primaries. And there’s one reason. They’ve had the sensibility to call out the President on his inept handling of the war. That’s all we ever asked of Joe. Instead, he got all miffed that anyone would question his warped notion of bi-partisanship, where Democrats aren’t allowed the criticize the administration, an administration, mind you, that has used partisan politics, demonization of opponents and divisive wedge issues more ruthlessly (and brilliantly) than any other in my lifetime.

    He hasn’t held this brutal administration to account. THAT was has problem, not his support for the war.

  6. 6.

    Doctor Gonzo

    August 9, 2006 at 9:39 am

    I don’t know how much “chest-thumping” there will be over at Kos or any other blogs. Kos, Atrios, and lots of other bloggers have already written posts about how little this race means for the netroots. Blogs aren’t all that powerful: it was the volunteers on the ground in Connecticut who won the race. Bloggers didn’t set up campaign events. Bloggers didn’t make “The Kiss” float. Bloggers weren’t stuffing envelopes, making phone calls, and knocking on doors. Sure, bloggers brought this race more attention and turned it from a simple state primary to a national news story, but it was the candidate and volunteers who won it.

    Democrats like Evan Bayh, Hillary Clinton, and John Edwards are already lining up behind Lamont. I don’t think that Joe is going to find many of his friends sticking around.

    And why should they? Despite what some pundits have said, this was never a race about a radical crazy leftist trying to drive out a moderate statesman. This was about a politician who routinely trashed his own party and who had beliefs that his constituents did not agree with. So they replaced him with somebody that they think will better represent them. It’s called democracy.

  7. 7.

    Zifnab

    August 9, 2006 at 9:39 am

    “As I see it, in this campaign, we’ve just finished the first half and the Lamont team is ahead — but in the second half, our team, Team Connecticut, is going to surge forward to victory in November,” Mr. Lieberman told cheering supporters.

    Wow. Remind me again why Leiberman doesn’t just take the Republican spot on the ticket and drop the farce? Team Connecticut? I can smell the hubris from here.

  8. 8.

    Zifnab

    August 9, 2006 at 9:48 am

    Blogs aren’t all that powerful: it was the volunteers on the ground in Connecticut who won the race. Bloggers didn’t set up campaign events. Bloggers didn’t make “The Kiss” float. Bloggers weren’t stuffing envelopes, making phone calls, and knocking on doors. Sure, bloggers brought this race more attention and turned it from a simple state primary to a national news story, but it was the candidate and volunteers who won it.

    Blogs channel alot of money and alot of attention, which is good for the out-of-state portion of a campaign. Certainly, “My Website Is Down!” wouldn’t have flown as campaign trickery five years ago. And Faux News anchors wouldn’t be nashing teeth over the cruel and partisan tricks of the Angry Internet Left.

    So the blogsphere did a great job of painting Joe red on the national scale, and I can’t help but think if Lieberman wasn’t constantly running into the arms of his right-wing media base, giant “Kiss” floats and Lieberman-Bush headswapping TV ads wouldn’t have had quite the same punch.

    In a 51-47 race, its safe to say the blogsphere had a hand in victory.

  9. 9.

    demimondian

    August 9, 2006 at 9:49 am

    Remind me again why Leiberman doesn’t just take the Republican spot on the ticket and drop the farce?

    He DeLay’ed too long, so the Republicans can’t replace the other Republican on the ballot.

    What have the Union bosses said today? Given the massive “get out and sit on your hands” effort their rank-and-file membership gave yesterday, I’m hoping that the bosses will rethink their support for Lieberman, too.

  10. 10.

    Jim Allen

    August 9, 2006 at 9:50 am

    Wow. Remind me again why Leiberman doesn’t just take the Republican spot on the ticket and drop the farce? Team Connecticut? I can smell the hubris from here.

    When Holy Joe filed his papers for the independent “party” he called it “Connecticut for Lieberman” — not “Lieberman for Connecticut”. Shows where his priorities lie.

  11. 11.

    Steve

    August 9, 2006 at 9:52 am

    There seems to be a real contest between people like Hugh Hewitt and Instapundit who trumpet the power of blogs at every opportunity, and people like Markos who consistently downplay their own role.

    Markos has it right: Blogs can create energy, blogs can create interest, but at the end of the day it’s the folks on the ground who decide these things. The turnout for yesterday’s primary was FORTY-THREE PERCENT, which is absolutely ridiculous for a primary election in the middle of summer. (Compare the recent Democratic primary in Virginia, which had 3% turnout.) This happened because people cared, and because Ned Lamont was a good candidate who got people to vote for him. Period.

  12. 12.

    EL

    August 9, 2006 at 10:01 am

    I am equally sure there will be many bruised fists from all the chest-thumping at DKOS/FIREDOGLKAE/ETC.

    I have to disagree here, and suggest you look at statements made by Kos, Atrios, etc. I think there will be a moderate amount of self-congratulation, especially in the comments sections, but typical of those who simply back someone who wins.

    I saw Kos on MSNBC disagree that this is “all due to bloggers” and he’s clearly posted on his site about this. Bottom line – the blogs can generate publicity, and definitely money, but if the voters in Connecticut weren’t in the mood for a change, they probably would have seen the blogs as interfering busybodies. And there are enough losses out there to show that just raising lots of money won’t buy an election; the voters still have to be convinced.

  13. 13.

    ThymeZone

    August 9, 2006 at 10:03 am

    “Nobody has won anything of yet.”

    No, that is not correct. Democracy, and therefore all citizens, have won a victory here. It was the war and kissing up (literally) to the reprehensible Bush that got the this going. But it was Liberman’s bottomless arrogance and deafness to the roar around him, his hostility to the actual process of democracy, that cost him the primary in the end. Joe seems to think that he, and his “carreer” and his big fucking 18 years in the club, are the big deal here.

    Well, they aren’t. The big deal here is that the people still get to vote and choose their representatives, and when you basically give the people the back of your hand and tell them that your “principles” take priority over their interests, then the people can rise up and flock to the polls and kick your ass out.

    That’s a victory. Sorry some people can’t see it. But the next dozen weeks or so will provide some more examples.

  14. 14.

    ThymeZone

    August 9, 2006 at 10:05 am

    More: If you meant that Lieberman theoretically hasn’t lost his Senate seat yet, all I can say is, if you have any extra money laying around, I’ll take the bet.

    But even more importantly, a strong message has been sent to the turds in suits who think their power and careers are what this stuff is all about. Hello? The people just called, and said Fuck You.

  15. 15.

    Pb

    August 9, 2006 at 10:08 am

    although I will agree that Lieberman does seem to be a nice enough guy

    Except when he’s busy being a huge dick. Seriously, as if his signature mongering and website idiocy wasn’t enough, his faux ‘concession’ speech last night was *way* over the top. May his name be erased from The Book of Politics forever.

  16. 16.

    Halffasthero

    August 9, 2006 at 10:09 am

    Lieberman reaped exactly what he sowed. Considering how little the Democrats liked Bush and Lieberman kept singing his praises and worshipped the ground he walked on, I find it amazing he could have been surprised by their reaction. I seriously doubt that he was surprised as much as he pretended. His words did strike me as arrogant at the end when he said he “heard” people and that they wanted him to go back and do more good for Connecticut (translation: more of the same). The trouble is, that most Dem’s got tired of him going on to Fox news and back stabbing his own party with impunity at every opportunity just to say he was a “moderate”.

  17. 17.

    zzyzx

    August 9, 2006 at 10:11 am

    Anyone who still doesn’t think the Iraq war was a mistake deserves to be voted out.

  18. 18.

    neil

    August 9, 2006 at 10:12 am

    But it wasn’t be the first victory, or even the first longshot victory, anyway. Remember Stephanie Herseth?

  19. 19.

    neil

    August 9, 2006 at 10:14 am

    zzyzx, I don’t think enough Republicans in Connecticut will disagree with you to bring Joe back to work in ’07.

  20. 20.

    feral1

    August 9, 2006 at 10:15 am

    This was a huge victory for the Democratic party, CT, and the netroots. Even if Lieberman runs as an independent and wins, he will no longer be able to provide bipartisan cover for the Republicans. That benefits the party as a whole. A sitting senator was defeated in a primary. Very unusual. And while the people on the ground deserve the lion’s share of the credit for this win, I don’t think Lieberman would have lost if Daily Kos, FireDogLake et al hadn’t lit the spark and fanned the flames early on.

    Also I haven’t seen any comment in media on Lieberman’s major strategic blunder- declaring that he would run as an independent if he lost the primary. This race was much closer than I expected. If Lieberman had not exposed his disloyalty to the Democratic party before the primary, he would have won the nomination.

  21. 21.

    Fledermaus

    August 9, 2006 at 10:23 am

    I disagreed with the GOP about, to include controlling content in television/video games

    A commenter over at Ezra’s noted that after his concession speech Mr. Moral Values left the stage to the Rolling Stones “Start Me Up”

    “make a dead man cum”

    Oh, Joe. What will we tell the children?

  22. 22.

    Perry Como

    August 9, 2006 at 10:24 am

    Just heard the official GOP spin. Unseating Lieberman shows how out of touch the Dems are and how they aren’t serious about national security. Unseating McKinney was an accident, the Dems didn’t really mean to do it.

    So sayeth the spinmeisters.

  23. 23.

    fwiffo

    August 9, 2006 at 10:33 am

    I suprised John didn’t mention Lieberman’s siding with the big-government conservatives on the Terry Schaivo issue.

  24. 24.

    Mr Furious

    August 9, 2006 at 10:35 am

    So do you like how the “liberal” media makes a point of attaching the words “millionaire” or “wealthy” to Ned Lamont…every fucking time…?

  25. 25.

    Demento

    August 9, 2006 at 10:36 am

    “Welcome to K Street, Joe. This is your cubicle mate, Bob Ney.

  26. 26.

    DougJ

    August 9, 2006 at 10:40 am

    Although I’m mad at him for pimping Mickey Kaus, Josh Marshall has a great take on Lieberdammerung.

    Lieberman got in trouble because he let himself live in the bubble of D.C. conventional wisdom and A-list punditry. He flattered them; and they loved him back. And as part of that club he was part of the delusion and denial that has sustained our enterprise in Iraq for the last three years. In the weeks leading up to Tuesday’s primary, A-List D.C. pundits were writing columns portraying Lieberman’s possible defeat as some sort of cataclysmic event that might foreshadow a dark new phase in American politics — as though voters choosing new representation were on a par with abolishing the constitution or condoning political violence. But those breathless plaints only showed how disconnected they are from what’s happening in the country at large. They mirrored his disconnection from the politics of the moment.

  27. 27.

    Mr Furious

    August 9, 2006 at 10:44 am

    He hasn’t held this brutal administration to account. THAT was has problem, not his support for the war.

    Precisely. Too many people wanted this to be a one-issue referendum—pro-War versus Anti-War. It’s not that simple.

    My parents still live in Connecticut, and two of my sisters. In my coversations with them about this primary, I stressed the fact that Lieberman sold out Connecticut and/or the party on countless other issues (Alito, Social Security. PATRIOT Act, etc.) and stood with the President far too often on matters besides the War.

    Yeah the War was the 800 lb gorilla in the race, but it was never the driving force behind my disgust with Lieberman. It was his sucking up to the Right—whether that was Bush, or Hannity—and the War was just a part of that.

  28. 28.

    slickdpdx

    August 9, 2006 at 10:54 am

    Some local Conn. D’s are so dumb they beat and burned a senior representative of their own party so as to install a newbie from the same party. Couldn’t beat Bush in ’04 so they went after Lieberman as a Bush effigy. Downright dopey.

  29. 29.

    DougJ

    August 9, 2006 at 10:56 am

    Is slick a parody? I can’t remember.

  30. 30.

    Punchy

    August 9, 2006 at 11:00 am

    I am equally sure there will be many bruised fists from all the chest-thumping at DKOS/FIREDOGLKAE/ETC.

    I happen to like DKos (banned from FDL for calling her Jane Hamster…go fig), but the chest-thumping is off-the-charts. Cannot believe how self-congrats-u-latory some of those members are. Some guy in Walla Walla acting as if he really had some impact 3 time zones away…incredible.

    But Mr. Cole, THIS?:

    This is no first, this Lamont victory- it just seems like it because of all the hype.

    Hell yeah it’s a first! How many incumbent Senators LOSE their primary? How many, absent a scandal or criminal charges? Like….almost NONE. This is a first, and like or not, the owners of those websites did play a part in this very big “first”….

  31. 31.

    Zifnab

    August 9, 2006 at 11:05 am

    Is slick a parody? I can’t remember.

    He’s just a DougJ spoof.

  32. 32.

    Tsulagi

    August 9, 2006 at 11:08 am

    Ditto on the good points and analysis.

    I don’t know what pissed me off more, his decision to run independent or that garbage concession speech. He was Bush Light.

    The littleist Bush hit all the retard’s talking points: I’m a uniter not a divider; bemoaned partisan politics which translates to STFU and join him standing in line to suck bigger Bush; and others. That wasn’t a concession speech. It was a campaign speech to Republicans in CT. Vote me, I’ll be your eunuch serving Bush in his remaining years.

    If the Democrat leadership can’t convince Lieberman this isn’t his best option, that it aids the worst fucking administration ever, then why give them a majority in November? If they can’t be effective with a single individual, then how are they going to be effective in far more important issues?

  33. 33.

    Zifnab

    August 9, 2006 at 11:13 am

    This is no first, this Lamont victory- it just seems like it because of all the hype.

    It might not be the first, but exempting perhaps Howard Dean’s election to DNC chairman, it is the biggest and must influencial victory to date. Kinda the primary heard ’round the world. Winning proves that the netroots isn’t a bunch of wackjob blowhard. They can actually play a bit of kingmaker in their own way if they do it right.

  34. 34.

    Steve

    August 9, 2006 at 11:15 am

    I happen to like DKos (banned from FDL for calling her Jane Hamster…go fig), but the chest-thumping is off-the-charts. Cannot believe how self-congrats-u-latory some of those members are. Some guy in Walla Walla acting as if he really had some impact 3 time zones away…incredible.

    Come on, I gave 20 bucks. It counts!

  35. 35.

    mrmobi

    August 9, 2006 at 11:31 am

    John:

    I did cheer him for ‘getting it right’ on the War on Terrah (and I have gotten so many things wrong about that I shouldn’t even be allowed to speak about it), but I was never a fan of Joe Lieberman.

    You have plenty of company on getting things wrong. I’m a lifelong dem who believed Colin Powell when he made his presentation at the United Nations. I still admire him, but he’s loyal to a fault, a trait I’ve noticed in career military folks. All of us are susceptible to lies, especially when they come from people we want to believe.
    You are correct about him being in the pocket of the banking industry, too. He did vote for cloture on the horrible bankruptcy bill. He voted against it before he voted for it, kind of thing. The guy likes to have it both ways.

    Craig:

    Joe lost for one main reason—He refused to hold President Bush to the same standards of bipartisanship that he required of his fellow Democrats.

    Exactly, Craig. All the flack that Holy Joe took from his constitutents could have been ameloriated by a few simple statements criticizing the conduct of the war, the use of torture, and the administration’s blatant disregard for existing laws. Instead, he alienated the people who elected him by slamming any dem who didn’t support Bush and the war.
    Doctor Gonzo:

    This was about a politician who routinely trashed his own party and who had beliefs that his constituents did not agree with. So they replaced him with somebody that they think will better represent them. It’s called democracy.

    And it still works. More work to be done, but this is a good start.

  36. 36.

    Zifnab

    August 9, 2006 at 11:40 am

    You have plenty of company on getting things wrong. I’m a lifelong dem who believed Colin Powell when he made his presentation at the United Nations. I still admire him, but he’s loyal to a fault, a trait I’ve noticed in career military folks.

    Everyone believed him. He was a four-star general and Secretary of State laying down photographic evidence of mobile chemical weapons plants in front of the collective UN. You’ve got to have balls of solid steel to make shit up in a situation like that. Fortunately, our elected representatives were up for the job.

    I’m fairly confident that the UN presentation was Powell’s signature reason for jumping ship from the WH Administration.

  37. 37.

    Nutcutter

    August 9, 2006 at 11:42 am

    And it still works. More work to be done, but this is a good start.

    Indeed it is. My faith in America, temporarily restored.

    I sincerely hope that every liar in a suit in Washington DC is looking at this primary today and coming to some sort of realization … you can’t fool all of the people all of the time. And right now, if you are a Republican, or a mealy-mouthed Democrat, you just might not be able to fool 51% of the people any more with a particular line of bullshit.

    New lines of bamboozling bullshit will soon replace the ones we have today, but that’s a problem for … a future president, as a great man said recently about a war he started but doesn’t care to take responsibility for.

  38. 38.

    Nutcutter

    August 9, 2006 at 11:49 am

    this morning Lieberman stated on the Today Show that he was committed “to bringing the Democratic Party back from the extreme, back from Ned Lamont and Maxine Waters.”

    As reported by a blogger.

    Joe Lieberman’s depth of self-interest and destructive attitude toward the Democratic party has yet to be rully revealed. This man is far worse than even the Kossacks painted him. He’s truly evil. He has become the very thing he piously used to decry, the divisive and abusive politician interested only in his own failing grip on power.

    I hope that he stays on this suicidal Indy run just long enough to completely disgrace himself in the eyes of every voter and every politician in this country …. which at the rate he is going, won’t take very long. I think he’s going to melt down, especially when he finds out that the Democratic party is going to run away from him at 4-minute-mile speeds.

  39. 39.

    srv

    August 9, 2006 at 11:51 am

    I wonder if GW is so in the bubble that he doesn’t even know how the Kiss of Death played for old Joe.

    Why worry about enemies when you have friends like GW?

  40. 40.

    Vladi G

    August 9, 2006 at 11:55 am

    He needs to be stripped of all of his committee assignments if he stays in the race. No one actively working to defeat a Democratic nominee in a general election should be allowed to caucus with the Democrats. Senate Dems need to do more than support a Lamont candidacy through words alone. They need to completely disavow Loserman, and quickly.

  41. 41.

    SeesThroughIt

    August 9, 2006 at 12:08 pm

    First of all the word/concept “netroots” is digital ipecac.

    This was about a politician who routinely trashed his own party and who had beliefs that his constituents did not agree with. So they replaced him with somebody that they think will better represent them. It’s called democracy.

    Exactly. I find it rather funny that hardcore right-wingers are engaging in extended hand-wringing about how awful it all is. “How could they just boot Joe like that? They must be entirely consumed by hate.” (rhetoric (TM) Mark Noonan) This from the same people who embrace that little fuckface Tom DeLay–party loyalty uber alles!–and who, if Lieberman actually retains his seat, will go right back to trashing him as a loony liberal-leftie from New England. Basically, they needed Joe’s cover for their phony concept of “bipartisanship” on top of his usefulness as a punching bag.

  42. 42.

    p.lukasiak

    August 9, 2006 at 12:24 pm

    My faith in America, temporarily restored.

    I wish I could say the same, but the fact is that this was an election in Connecticut…..

    *********
    On an unrelated note, he’s a Myth to Watch Out For….

    The bloviators from the Mainstream Media are promoting Lieberman’s chances based on the high (44%) percentage of “independent” voters — that somehow these voters will vote for Joe because he is labelling himself an “independent”. But voters aren’t that stupid — they know Joe ran in the primary as the “insider”, “establishment” candidate — and that Lamont represents the true “independent” candidate in this race; i.e. the one who is not beholden to special interests and the Democratic Beltway establishment.

  43. 43.

    Pb

    August 9, 2006 at 12:27 pm

    Speaking of the kiss of death, OMFG…

    Rove Backs Lieberman–no, really.

    According to a close Lieberman adviser, the President’s political guru, Karl Rove, has reached out to the Lieberman camp with a message straight from the Oval Office: “The boss wants to help. Whatever we can do, we will do.”

  44. 44.

    Ancient Purple

    August 9, 2006 at 12:29 pm

    Well, this is interesting, but not surprising…

    Karl Rove calls Lieberman to help him in his independent bid.

    I guess we now know – once and for all – that the GOP always saw Lieberman as an ally.

    Good riddance, Holy Joe. Enjoy K Street.

  45. 45.

    kchiker

    August 9, 2006 at 12:34 pm

    Can we redeploy the troops in Iraq…to CT? I’m wondering how many thousands of them it would take to STOP.THE.WHINING. I am so sick of Lieberwhining.

    Maybe it’s the heat, but the very recollection of “more in sadness than in anger” sends me into a froth usually reserved for USPS employees.

  46. 46.

    Rusty Shackleford

    August 9, 2006 at 12:34 pm

    2.) For much of this race, I felt like the Lieberman/Lamont race was less like a political race than it was a Cold War era proxy war. I do not think we will see another Democratic candidate recieve this much support from Republicans any time soon, and had Lieberman won, the same ‘supporters’ would have no problem trashing Lieberman.

    Shady.

  47. 47.

    Tsulagi

    August 9, 2006 at 12:43 pm

    With the backing of Rove ole Joe is not going to cut and run like Tommy DeLay. He’s going to take the fight to the terraists of CT. Well, as soon as he can figure out that internets thingy with all those confusing tubes. Lieberman’s site is still down.

    I’m telling ya Joe, Bushy is just one big walking stupid/asshole/incompetent virus and you’ve been badly infected. Next time take the safe sex option.

  48. 48.

    Pb

    August 9, 2006 at 12:45 pm

    Watch out Joe, I hear you can get AIDS through sweat and tears too, and who knows what else you could get! Don’t hang out with Bush when he’s busy clearing brush!

  49. 49.

    Arkanssouri John

    August 9, 2006 at 1:01 pm

    As an independent, Joe pulls enough independent and Republican support to add to his Democrat supporters to win. Cheney is rumored to want to quit after the November elections. If he does, and Bush names Joe VP, that opens a vacancy in the Senate for CT’s Republican governor to fill.

    Republicans get the seat; Joe gets the veepship, switches to Republican and in ’08 might win the Presidency.

    I can think of no better way for Joe to punish the party that threw him under the bus for daring to disagree with them on ONE issue.

  50. 50.

    searp

    August 9, 2006 at 1:13 pm

    Joe has just set himself up for a bidding war. If the Dems offer him a nice plum, he will, with heavy heart and for the good of the party, withdraw his indpendent effort. If the Republicans offer him a better plum, he will try to tear the house down, again for the good of, well, you figure it out.

  51. 51.

    Zifnab

    August 9, 2006 at 1:29 pm

    As an independent, Joe pulls enough independent and Republican support to add to his Democrat supporters to win. Cheney is rumored to want to quit after the November elections. If he does, and Bush names Joe VP, that opens a vacancy in the Senate for CT’s Republican governor to fill.

    Republicans get the seat; Joe gets the veepship, switches to Republican and in ‘08 might win the Presidency.

    I can think of no better way for Joe to punish the party that threw him under the bus for daring to disagree with them on ONE issue.

    Scary. The ultimate “Bi-Partisan Ticket”. Lieberman/McCain. Everybody loses.

  52. 52.

    ThymeZone

    August 9, 2006 at 1:52 pm

    Joe has just set himself up for a bidding war

    Uh, no. He’s now tagged as a loser. A sitting Senator who was on the national ticket only six years ago, loses his party’s primary. It doesn’t get much worse than that in a two-party system.

    I think he is now radioactive, and doesn’t know it yet.

  53. 53.

    Rusty Shackleford

    August 9, 2006 at 2:00 pm

    Arkanssouri John Says:

    As an independent, Joe pulls enough independent and Republican support to add to his Democrat supporters to win. Cheney is rumored to want to quit after the November elections. If he does, and Bush names Joe VP, that opens a vacancy in the Senate for CT’s Republican governor to fill.

    Republicans get the seat; Joe gets the veepship, switches to Republican and in ‘08 might win the Presidency.

    I can think of no better way for Joe to punish the party that threw him under the bus for daring to disagree with them on ONE issue.

    August 9th, 2006 at 1:01 pm

    You’re one of those “always votes Republican” Independents, aren’t you?

  54. 54.

    HyperIon

    August 9, 2006 at 2:20 pm

    Zifnab wrote:

    I’m fairly confident that the UN presentation was Powell’s signature reason for jumping ship from the WH Administration.

    well i hope so. when the CIA goes out of its way to deceive the SecState (who was evidently suspicious about some of the intel) only a moron (or an extremely craven individual) would continue to “serve”. he is neither.

    i like colin powell (for all the ususal reasons given by others). i might have even voted for him if he had run for POTUS. but this is deal breaker for me:

    loyal to a fault, a trait I’ve noticed in career military folks

    when you’re in the military, loyalty is obviously mandated; but SecState is a civilian post. IMO he was/is obligated to get on record about what went wrong at the UN. he was made to look like an idiot; we were made to look like idiots. the only way to fix this is admit it and discuss the process, naming names. so i conclude: colin powell is a bush enabler. how did his loyalty to the POTUS help his country?

    again my grandmother was right: “tell the truth and shame the devil.”

  55. 55.

    ThymeZone

    August 9, 2006 at 2:24 pm

    I can think of no better way for Joe to punish the party that threw him under the bus for daring to disagree with them on ONE issue.

    Teeny problem: Joe is not going to win the Senate seat.

    I would be surprised if his candidacy itself continues past September. I would not be surprised if it folded before Labor Day. If he is foolish enough to hang on to the bitter end, which he is certainly capable of doing, then he’ll be humiliated even worse. He will lose the seat and become the poster boy for how not to do party politics, forever. His name will become synonymous with putting one’s own interests above those of the party, for purely self-interested reasons. And then sticking your tongue out and going down looking like a fucking cartoon.

  56. 56.

    ThymeZone

    August 9, 2006 at 2:26 pm

    Joe’s new slogan, if he continues with the Indy farce:

    “You won’t have Joe Libernixonman to kick around any more.”

  57. 57.

    Rusty Shackleford

    August 9, 2006 at 3:15 pm

    Anybody else think that the reason why the Republicans are working themselves up into a lather over Lieberman’s defeat is because they fear the same fate for their candidates this November?

  58. 58.

    Punchy

    August 9, 2006 at 3:25 pm

    As an independent, Joe pulls enough independent and Republican support to add to his Democrat supporters to win. Cheney is rumored to want to quit after the November elections. If he does, and Bush names Joe VP, that opens a vacancy in the Senate for CT’s Republican governor to fill.

    This is spoof, right? Joe cannot garner enough votes as an Indy, unless Lamont does something stupid in the next 3 months (i.e., bags a mistress, cross-dresses, blows 2 mill in Vegas). There’s NO WAY (respectfully, IMO) that Bush names Joe VP. Remember, Cheney worked THIS hard to give the Pres all this power. There’s no chance in hell he’d let Joe screw that up. Now GUILIANI for VP…that makes more sense to me….

  59. 59.

    demimondian

    August 9, 2006 at 3:37 pm

    I can think of no better way for Joe to punish the party that threw him under the bus for daring to disagree with them on ONE issue.

    You’re right, there would be no better way.

    Of course, since the party didn’t throw him under the bus, it’s a bit of a joke. Joe was thrown under the bus by the same *electorate* that put him on the bus to begin with, back in the day.

  60. 60.

    Ancient Purple

    August 9, 2006 at 3:54 pm

    Of course, since the party didn’t throw him under the bus, it’s a bit of a joke. Joe was thrown under the bus by the same electorate that put him on the bus to begin with, back in the day.

    Oh, please, demi. That is pre-9/11 thinking.

  61. 61.

    mrmobi

    August 9, 2006 at 4:08 pm

    I can think of no better way for Joe to punish the party that threw him under the bus for daring to disagree with them on ONE issue.

    Two problems here (aside from the fact that Joe is cooked). One is that Joe threw himself under the bus. He could easily have made it clear that, while he supports the war on terror generally, that the administration has done a horrible job of executing it. Instead, he sucks face with the Decider. Try to remember, his constituents threw him under the bus.

    Second, is that it wasn’t just one issue. First he tried to have it both ways with the bankruptcy protection act, voting against the bill, but voting for cloture, effectively voting FOR the bill. This was a truly horrible bill, an he enabled it.

    Then there is his famous statement about a theoretical rape victim denied plan B by a hospital because of the “ethical” concerns of the hospital. He said she could get in a cab and go a few blocks to another hospital. BULL. SHIT. As we know from another thread here, Plan B is not an abortifascient, therefore there is no ethical reason why a hospital should deny a rape victim such treatment. This is simple pandering to the christianist end-times nutbags, and it is not the act of a Democrat, even a pro-life Democrat.

    As an independent, Joe pulls enough independent and Republican support to add to his Democrat supporters to win. Cheney is rumored to want to quit after the November elections. If he does, and Bush names Joe VP, that opens a vacancy in the Senate for CT’s Republican governor to fill.
    Republicans get the (senate) seat; Joe gets the veepship, switches to Republican and in ‘08 might win the Presidency.

    Among the many problems with this scenario is that CT is a very blue state, and that people there, like a lot of places are god-damned tired of one party rule. Bottom line: Lieberman doesn’t win, no faux dem VP.

  62. 62.

    DougJ

    August 9, 2006 at 9:06 pm

    Update:

    Raw Story is reporting that Cynthia McKinney will run as a Republican…

  63. 63.

    John S.

    August 10, 2006 at 8:15 am

    I see a minor inconsistency in Cole’s post.

    John says Radley Balko “brings it home” when he says:

    In other words, he’s wrong on every issue. He’s a culture warrior, a values cop, a Nanny Statist, and a big government foreign policy hawk.

    But just earlier, John said:

    And that is how I see things, basically. I guess I have one final thought- I was never a fan of Joe Lieberman. I did cheer him for ‘getting it right’ on the War on Terrah (and I have gotten so many things wrong about that I shouldn’t even be allowed to speak about it), but I was never a fan of Joe Lieberman.

    So which is it?

    Is what we see unfolding before us in regards to the “War on Terrah” right? Because the plan in place that has been embraced by Lieberman and praised by John as being “right” seems to most people to be horribly fucking wrong.

    So which part was Lieberman right about, John? And which parts were you wrong about?

    Just a point of clarification, please.

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  1. The Original Blog » Blog Archive » Lieberman toast says:
    August 9, 2006 at 5:45 pm

    […] H/T to John Cole for this opinion. […]

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