Inouye Pulls Lieberman Endorsement

[Bob Geiger]

When Joe Lieberman gave the middle finger to Democratic voters in Connecticut after they selected Ned Lamont as their Senate nominee and promptly jumped into an ill-advised independent bid for the Senate, my guess was that the whole thing would run its course and begin to unravel by the end of September.

It looks like it's starting a month early.

Senator Daniel Inouye (D-HI), a longtime Lieberman supporter, has announced that he is pulling his endorsement of Lieberman's independent candidacy. The Honolulu Advertiser reports that Inouye was under fire by Hawaii Democrats for his steadfast support of Lieberman and that there is precedent in Hawaii for Democrats facing disciplinary action within the party for backing a third-party candidate over the voters' choice.

The newspaper also reports that Inouye became disenchanted with Lieberman after he made a speech critical of the party. "I told some of my friends after he gave his speech saying the party isn't the party he knew that he doesn't get my support," Inouye said in an interview.

I have a call and an e-mail in to Inouye Communications Director, Mike Yuen, and I will update this post when I get confirmation and further information.

This leaves Tom Carper (DE), Mark Pryor (AR), Ken Salazar (CO), Ben Nelson (NE) and Mary Landrieu (LA) as the only Senate Democrats still supporting Lieberman's trashing of both the party and the will of Connecticut voters.

Stay tuned…

You can read more from Bob at BobGeiger.com.

[Idioteque]

1. Sen. Inouye is a hero...

I'm glad to see he's on the right side of this now.

[KKKarl is an idiot]

2. ..

This is a good point for elected officials to take into account. Do not mess with the voters. Stop patting the good ole boys on the back. The revolution in congress is coming. The democrats will control the house.

[Cha]

3. YES!!

The Honolulu Star says that ed case, the primary challenger to the other Senator in Hawaii, Akaka, is still supporting lieman..what a freakin' idiot.

"Hawai'i Rep. Ed Case, who is challenging Sen. Daniel Akaka in the Democratic primary, also announced he would support Lieberman as an independent, and has given no indication that he's joined Inouye in changing his mind."

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x2003065

[Bretttido]

8. They will continue to turn around or suffer the consequences of ignoring

voters. If YOUR representative has endorsed Lieberman or has NOT endorsed Lamont, call them frequently and voice your disapproval. It works.

[Larkspur]

4. Commonsense prevails again! Thank you Inouye

[ArkySue]

5. Pryor-AR

Sen. Pryor is a co-chair of the DSCC. He should be booted off there immediately! Pryor is up for re-election in '08. I'm praying there will be a progressive Dem to step up and challenge him. Hell, he votes with W 63% of the time, anyway. W's approval rating here is around 35%.

[Vidar]

6. Good to hear. Thanks for posting.

[Canuckistanian]

7. Very good

A little slow on the uptake, though.

He became disenchanted after Lieberman "made a speech critical of the party"?

Uh, which speech exactly, Daniel?

[Cha]

14. Plus, I think his Con-stit-tu-ents

(think "Oh, Brother Where Art Thou" pronunciation of constituents)were raising holy sugar cane!

"A few Democrats are discussing whether Inouye and Case should be sanctioned by the party for backing a candidate other than the Democratic nominee in Connecticut, noting that local party rules seriously frown on such disloyalty.

Other Democrats here have faced discipline for crossovers in the past; O'ahu Democrats brought charges against former state Sen. Milton Holt for supporting Frank Fasi in his Best Party run against Ben Cayetano, and the state party tried to sanction at least one Democrat who supported Ralph Nader's third-party run for president against Al Gore."

http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2006/Aug/16/op/FP608160318.html

[LynneSin]

9. I am working on Carper

:grr:

I can't believe he would betray me like this. I haven't even gotten a letter back from him yet replying as to why

[Czolgosz]

10. Carper has no excuse.

Bush won AR, CO, NE, and LA so I am less surprised those states would elect turncoat Senators who are weak on party loyalty.

But Kerry won DE and Bush is less popular than the plague in DE:



Carper should be made to feel the heat of his erroneous judgment which is out of step with his constituents.

[LynneSin]

12. And it's not like Carper could actually lose in November

Or perhaps he knows that and therefore he figures "Why not Support Lieberman"

[sarcasmo]

11. Kick to the Top for having a pair.

[citizen snips]

13. Good for him.

I am glad that he decided to change his mind.

[bigwillq]

15. That's great news.

:bounce: