Joe, It's about the Party...not the Person

[SaveElmer]

Watching the replay of that debate last night, it is clear Joe Lieberman does not understand this!

If you believe, as I do, that belonging to a Political Party is about allying yourself with fellow citizens who subscribe to an underlying notion of governance, and if you believe, as I do, that the country will be in far better shape if the Democratic Party is in power, then what Joe Lieberman has done is put his OWN AMBITION above the good of the country.

A Party cannot be effective unless its members, particularly those running for office, are willing to follow the rules agreed to by the Party. The rules are conceived to provide the maximum chance that the Party will not only succeed on election day, but will be able to govern effectively.

It does no good to claim you are a Democrat when you are willing to thumb your nose at the decision arrived at by your fellow party members. It undermines the effectiveness of the party, hindering its chances on election day, and making it harder to govern once elected. By announcing he will run as an independent should he lose the primary, Joe Lieberman has decided that HE PERSONALLY is more important to the country than the possibility of a Democratic majority. And, he has made it more likely that the Democratic Party will not achieve that majority by breathing life into a moribund Connecticut Republican Party. A truly committed member of the Democratic Party would not do that.

Though I will get backlash for saying it, I was disgusted with Ralph Nader for costing Al Gore the 2000 election in Florida. Though there were any number of reasons Gore lost, Nader's was a concious effort to draw votes from the Democratic candidate. And his contention that there was no difference between Gore and Bush was at best intellectually dishonest. In reality it was campaign pandering at its worst...and a lie! All you had to do was read "Earth in the Balance" to know this assertion was false.

Yet to me what Lieberman has done is worse. Nader never claimed to be a Democrat. He campaigned against both parties, and made no bones about the fact he would not follow a party line on any issue. Lieberman on the other hand, purports to be a committed Democrat. Yet when belonging to the party no longer suits his individual need, he abandons it. He is only a Democrat so far as it will carry his ambition.

If Lieberman is as honest as he claims he is, he ought to immedietely announce that he is leaving the Democratic Party...I would have more respect for that than this charade he has created of the "petitioning Democrat."

[AuntPatsy]

1. Kicking, well stated.

[Douglas Carpenter]

2. recommended

[ulysses]

3. I'll K&R this

even with the Nader ref. :D :thumbsup:

[Strawman]

4. Yep. It's arrogance, ego and a sense of entilement

He knows what is best for the party, not the voters. All he is essentially doing is giving them the opportunity to anoint him. If not, he's running anyway because he knows what is best for the party, not the Democrats from his state. Why is he even running in the primary as a Democrat if he doesn't want to represent the Democrats in that state? You really get the sense watching that debate that he thinks he is entitled to be Senator-for-Life.

Like you, I would contend that it is even WORSE than what Nader did. At least Nader had some merit to his critique that he could not compete for the Democratic presidential nomination with the moneyed interests in the Democratic party. Joe Lieberman has every advantage in that regard in his contest. If he wants to run outside the party, he should just run as an independent like Nader did in 2004.

And he will take more votes away from Democrats than Nader ever could. But for the disenfranchisement efforts of Jeb Bush, Nader wouldn't have mattered as much.

And "intellectually dishonest" is precisely the correct term for both Nader and Lieberman. "Not a dimes worth of difference" was intellectually dishonest as is the notion that Lamont would not win a two way contest against the Republican candidate in the general election.

[ladjf]

5. Joe is an extortionist. We now know that for sure.

[CTLawGuy]

6. i have a lot of respect for you

that you put what is right above what is expedient.

:pals: