Sen. Joe Lieberman lost the primary battle with Ned Lamont for the Democratic nomination to retain his seat. As such, he's filed as an independent to run in the general election in November. If he'd have fought this hard in 2000, he'd be Vice President and not have to worry about losing his Senate seat.
A number of people have had their take on what this means. People are sorting through the tea leaves and trying to figure out what this portends for the November elections. The fact that a former Vice Presidential nominee is now considered not good enough to even run for his old seat by his own party in his own state is not what's significant here. What's significant is that the grassroots movement that started making noise in 2003 when Howard Dean went from being a protest candidate to the front-runner for the Democratic nomination, the one the Democratic party establishment thought they killed when they pushed John Kerry on us instead (and got George W. Bush re-elected), the one they thought they could just use for fundraising while still maintaining their positions of power, is alive and very potent. We pushed Howard Dean as the Democratic Party chairman and we won. We pushed to get Joe Lieberman effectively kicked out of the party and we did it. There is a potent democratic movement in the Democratic party, and we're seeing it at work here. No matter what the pundits tell you, Ned Lamont won the primary because the Democratic voters of Connecticut wanted him to win the primary. They didn't want Joe Lieberman embarassing them in the Senate, making kissy faces with President Bush while lecturing the anti-war movement as though we should be honored to listen to his vast wisdom. Joe Lieberman forgot who he worked for, and that's why he now has to file to run as an independent. Even in his non-concession speech, he lectured his constituents about polarizing partisanship, showing contempt for the people who voted against him. Contempt is all he's ever had for the people, and the people have made it clear that they have nothing but contempt for him.
"Having a few good partisans who will take shots makes politics and government better," Emanuel added. "The nomenclature of Washington is that we should all just sing `Kumbaya.' But there was no oversight of this war, and everybody sang `Kumbaya,' and everyone's paying dearly for that."
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-assess10aug10,0,3908108.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Emanuel gets it, sort of. He misses out on Lieberman's contempt for democracy, but I suppose he can't very well air that sort of sentiment in a national forum.
You see, despite what Joe Lieberman believes, invading Iraq and diverting our attention away from Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden is not being strong on national security. Blind allegiance to George W. Bush and his failed "stay the course" strategy is not being strong on national security. And no, Senator Lieberman, no matter how you demonize your opponents, there is no "antisecurity wing" of the Democratic Party.
...
As a Democrat, I respect the will of the Connecticut Democratic voters and their decision to make Ned Lamont their nominee. Even before the election results came in on Tuesday, Ned Lamont showed his respect for the voters by committing to abide by the Democratic primary result and support whoever won.
Joe Lieberman, on the other hand, began collecting petition signatures to run as an Independent several weeks ago while concurrently running in the Democratic primary. In short, he wanted to have his cake and eat it too.
http://securingamerica.com/node/1314
Ha, ha. General Clark always gets it.
Sen. Lieberman is on his way out the door. The only way Lieberman retains his Senate seat is if the Republicans abandon their hapless candidate and throw their support behind Joementum.
http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/REport_Karl_Rove_offered_President_Bushs_0809.html
Karl Rove, a close advisor to the President, has expressed interest in assisting Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman in retaining his seat, despite a loss in the Democratic Primary last night, ABC News has reported.
You're known by the company you keep, Joe.
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