Poor Joe. Despite his humiliating defeat, his Bush-induced schizophrenia persists, undeterred by reality: “For the sake of. . .my [Democratic] party.” I am going to run as—-an Independent. I suppose the only decent thing to do is hold shiva for what once upon a time was (by the admittedly low standards of Congress) a passably decent, if seriously flawed, political career.

Nevertheless, progressives should not allow this isolated victory to lull them into a sense of complacency. “As Connecticutt goes, so goes the country” is a nice slogan but, like most slogans, has only a glancing relationship with reality.

In 2004, many in our camp thought we had a lock on the Presidential election. I wasn’t one of them and in fact dismayed many of my allies by arguing that Bush would probably win, albeit for the first time. But, they wailed, wasn’t Georgie our worst president ever? Sure—-and so what?

I “succumbed to cynicical defeatism,” per a friend’s description, without factoring “the Ohio syndrome” into the equation.  But what I did factor in was the sheer, relentless viciousness of the Rove propaganda machine, which turned AWOL chickenhawk Georgie into a stand-tall hero and Swift-boated purple-heart Johnny-boy into a mewling wimp. I also factored in Dubya’s Colalition of the Witless, Jesus Division.

So even though Kenny Blackwell’s malfeasance and the gullibility of the electorate re Kerry’s war record may have made a critical difference in the outcome, Kerry’s numbers should still have been higher among his putative “target demograhic,” as we say in the ad biz.

In other words, despite all that delusional, wish-fulfillment rhetoric about, for example, the massive groundswell of young voters (primed by MoveOn.org, etc.)who would supposedly sweep Kerry to victory, the turnout for your (but not my) boy was, to put it politely, below expectations.

Face it: in terms of organization, discipline,  and sustained committment, the Right is much better at rallying the troops to the polls than what passes in this country for a Left. That’s especially true when your base includes a substantial number of Christian fundamentalists. Fanaticism has its uses, especially where an anxious, confused, and angry electorate is concerned.

While Lamont’s win is welcome, it shouldn’t be interpreted as proof that Dems will slam-dunk the upcoming race. So instead of sinking into the Bacalounger, afloat in the usual fuzzy-brained, self-congratulatory sentimentality about “the tide has finally turned,” try a little tough-minded realism this time. Get off your ass and get to work. It might actually make a difference come November 2006—-and 2008.

In 2000, Lieberman ran for Vice-President and Senator simultaneously.  At the time the governor of Connecticut was Republican. If you remember, the balance in the Senate following the election was 50/50.  Then Jeffords went independent and sided with the Democrats, giving them the majority and control.

But had Gore and Lieberman actually been inducted into the offices they won by all honest counts, of President and Vice-President, Lieberman would then have had to resign his seat, and a Republican would have been appointed in his place, giving control BACK to the GOP.

So Joe was saying: I don’t believe we’ll win so I’m hedging my PERSONAL bets, but if we do, I don’t care that I’ve hurt my party.  Had he resigned then to run, two things would have happened: Another Dem would have been elected from Connecticut, and the extra committment to the race might have been enough to put them over the top, even in Florida where the votes were hacked by Harris.

Now, the same thing is happening again.  In a DESPERATE race to take back the Senate and the House from the loonies who have been running it and kow-towing to Mad King George, Lieberman, for his OWN PERSONAL interests is risking one of the strongest and solidest Senate seats.

Hillary Clinton has already started supporting Lamont—with money! I hope ALL the “prominent” Dems who supported Lieberman in the primary will now stick to the party and Lamont, urge Lieberman NOT to run as an independent (including letting him know the PERSONAL consequences of such an action), and attack him if he does.  If the Democrats get back the WH, it would be approriate to cut Lieberman out of any access.

OTOH, should Lieberman drop out, he can step into the role of elder statesman, advisor, leader or member of advisory committees, like George Mitchell or his GOP counterpart, Tom Kean.

Lamont is a buffoon. He used anger about the war as his one and only issue and the voters were dumb enough to fall for it. That’s just as bad as what conservative politicians do. This is a pyrrhic victory.

To:  Collin on 8/09 at 5:09 am

The greatest expansion came under Clinton. 

This is what the republican accomplishments have brought to your financial door see the attached links:

US DOLLAR has fallen out of bed do to China through the trade deficits (watch the us auto industry for the next time bomb = mass unemployment)  Bush will not even meet with the US auto companies after 4 requests for same.
(google up - foreign central bankers, foreign diversity reserves, IMF, central bankers dump us currency, budget deficits - foreign reserves)

When Dollar falls Inflation goes up by same percent

http://charts3.barchart.com/chart.asp?vol=Y&jav=adv&grid=Y&org=stk&sym;=$DXY&data=H&code=BSTK&evnt=adv

Confirm with the Gold Index

http://charts3.barchart.com/chart.asp?vol=Y&jav=adv&grid=Y&org=stk&sym=GCV6&data=H&code=BSTK&evnt=adv

OIL goes UP w/ commodities index:  (here is my tea cup and my handle getting ready to go UP UP UP!  Stagnation 1st, followed by hyper-inflation.

http://charts3.barchart.com/chart.asp?sym=CLU6&data=A&jav=adv&vol=Y&evnt=adv&grid=Y&code=BSTK&org=stk&fix;=

Long Term Chart of OIL:

http://charts3.barchart.com/chart.asp?vol=Y&jav=adv&grid=Y&org=stk&sym=CLU6&data=H&code=BSTK&evnt=adv

CRB Index Commodities = food and energy products

http://charts3.barchart.com/chart
.asp?vol=Y&jav=adv&grid=Y&org=stk&sym;=$CRB&data=H&code=BSTK&evnt=adv

And for dinner tonight ......more rice under BUSH menue.

Charts don’t lie but politicians will!

George W clearly bestowed the “kiss of death” to Lieberman. I wonder if at the 2007 State of the Union anyone will try to dodge a smack from the Commander-In-Chief?

On The Colbert Report the empty spotlighted chair, that had previously been reserved for Lieberman, that will never be used said it all.

“Americans are finally waking up. Lieberman lost because of two reasons; we are sick of war and of our occupation of the people of Iraq, and also sick of the neo-con, Zionist, Jews and there one-sided support of Israel.”

Re: Comment #17425 by Frank Delgado on 8/08 at 8:49 pm

>“Lieberman can now come out of the closet as a republican.  He can always be a lobbyist for Israel. He as a lot of practice at that.”

Pretty darn close to a bullseye, I would say.

What keeps it a little off-center is that it would appear that Senator Lieberman himself is a wee bit self-delusional ... and that skews the target.

I’m pretty much in favor of dumping all politicians who have the attitude that if it weren’t for THEM specifically, we the people would be left to wander in the desert ...

Well, no, that’s not ALL of ‘em. Sometimes it seems like it though, doesn’t it?

Republicans can and will send the soldiers to war but not pay for the mess that they construct!

Maybe these brain injuried soldiers should reside in full care at the White House.

Accountability number 1 job that needs repaired in Congress!

Copied from the link below:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-08-08-brain-center_x.htm

Center for war-related brain injuries faces budget cut
Posted 8/8/2006 10:01 PM ET E-mail | Save | Print | Reprints & Permissions | Subscribe to stories like this  

By Gregg Zoroya, USA TODAY
Congress appears ready to slash funding for the research and treatment of brain injuries caused by bomb blasts, an injury that military scientists describe as a signature wound of the Iraq war.
House and Senate versions of the 2007 Defense appropriation bill contain $7 million for the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center — half of what the center received last fiscal year.

Proponents of increased funding say they are shocked to see cuts in the treatment of bomb blast injuries in the midst of a war.

“I find it basically unpardonable that Congress is not going to provide funds to take care of our soldiers and sailors who put their lives on the line for their country,” says Martin Foil, a member of the center’s board of directors. “It blows my imagination.”

The Brain Injury Center, devoted to treating and understanding war-related brain injuries, has received more money each year of the war — from $6.5 million in fiscal 2001 to $14 million last year. Spokespersons for the appropriations committees in both chambers say cuts were due to a tight budget this year.

“Honestly, they would have loved to have funded it, but there were just so many priorities,” says Jenny Manley, spokeswoman for the Senate Appropriations Committee. “They didn’t have any flexibility in such a tight fiscal year.”

George Zitnay, co-founder of the center, testified before a Senate subcommittee in May that body armor saves troops caught in blasts but leaves many with brain damage. “Traumatic brain injury is the signature injury of the war on terrorism,” he testified.

Zitnay asked for $19 million, and 34 Democratic and six Republican members of Congress signed a letter endorsing the budget request.

The House of Representatives approved its version of the spending bill June 20. A vote in the Senate is pending.

Scientists at the center develop ways to diagnose and treat servicemembers who suffer brain damage. The work is done at seven military and Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals, including the center’s headquarters at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, and one civilian treatment site.

The center has clashed with the Pentagon in recent months over a program to identify troops who have suffered mild to moderate brain injuries in Iraq from mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and roadside bombs — the most common weapons used by insurgents.

Preliminary research by the center shows that about 10% of all troops in Iraq, and up to 20% of front line infantry troops, suffer concussions during combat tours. Many experience headaches, disturbed sleep, memory loss and behavior issues after coming home, the research shows.

The center urged the Pentagon to screen all troops returning from Iraq in order to treat symptoms and create a database of brain injury victims. Scientists say multiple concussions can cause permanent brain damage.

The Pentagon so far has declined to do the screening and argues that more research is needed.

Your Life Jacket “was” = NO IRAQ WAR SUPPORT on 8/07 at 4:40 pm

Dearest Red Voters:

Another one to throw OVER BOARD.  Lieberman didn’t use LOGIC, therefore NO LIFE JACKET!

Bye bye Lieberman, as the ship slowly intakes more and MORE water as the tides turn.  Who will remain with the BUSH supporters on board?

Oh Westmoreland, Oh General Westmoreland….......come for the call of the sinking!

Oh the “ pain “ of supporting BUSH!

Lovely eve to you all,
Cheers
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Now we have more to do:

Remove all Republican trash from White House including BUSH.

Remove all Republican Murderers from the Hill. (the list is to great)

Remove all Republican Enron thiefs from public office.

Remove all Republican Hitlers from public office.

Remove all Republican incompetent Katrina management.

Remove all Republican big oil lovers from public office.

Remove all Republican silver spoon spenders for foreign countries out of public office.

Remove all Republicans that own stock in defense corps from public office.

Now there isn’t many republicans left!

You can count them on your fingers, literally!

This will divide the Dems and weaken the party.
Joe should have been supported more strongly from day 1.  Why?  Because he’s not the ideologue that the new Left wants everyone to be in their exclusive club. 

Collin

http://evangelicalperspective.blogspot.com

First off, whether or not Lieberman drops out Lamont will win in Connecticut.  Lieberman would be an ass to continue running. The population of the state is overwhelming against the war and Conn citizens are relatively well educated.

However, Lamont is another conservative who is backing IsraeliAmerican aggression

This is the type politician I would like to see in this country: George Galloway speaking at a rally in London of over 100000 opposed to Israel and George Bush/NeoCons.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14415.htm

Before I decide whether to support Lieberman or Lamont, can anyone tell me what other offices Lieberman is running for this year?  He usually runs for at least two simultaneously, right?

there’s plenty of time for lieberman to consider deferring his voter base to lamont, just as there’s plenty of time for the voters to wake up to lamont’s hollow, reactionary, and weak political agenda. let’s not call one another traitors just yet.

Lieberman, you’re a selfish prick. You know full well that your run as an Independent could split the Democratic vote and give your Sentate seat to a Republican.

Having watched you in action for the last 18 years, I’ve long-since come to realize that you put your own self-interest above everything else; but you’ve truly stooped to a new low.

You’re no Democrat, Joe. Why not just go ahead and join the GOP? Ann Coulter said they’d welcome you!

In respoonse to comments 17425 tghrough 17441 ...
It seems to me hugely important that Senator Lieberman’s Connecticut Senate seat remain Democratic.  It does not matter much now what the Senator did or will do now in the Senate.  What matters is that with any luck the Democrats will gain some Senate seats in November and the Connecticut and Ohio Seats are the tipping ones.  If the Democrats achieve a majority in the Senate most of the Bush disastrous mistakes will come under scrutiny
and the Senate will resume its Constitutional duties
of “Oversight” of the Executive..  The abscence of Oversight is perhaps the main reason why we have landed in the mess that we are in. 

I hope Senator Lieberman will have the grace to step down and support Lamont.  Losing Connecticut
to the Republicans would give Bush and the neo-cons two more years without oversight.  A disaster in the making.

Walter, “betrayal of his party” is a position Lieberman took up in the ‘90s and found that it got a lot of ink for him.  He’s well used to the betrayal of his party by now.

Watch for there to be a strong reaction against his self-serving preening (not to mention the $money that will not come and Beltway Democrats running away from Bush to Lamont).  I predict that Team Joe’s campaign will enjoy its high point tomorrow, and go downhill from there through November.

<<how can he defend splitting the Democratic vote to make sure a Republican wins his Senate seat.  That would be a gross betrayal of his party>>

It was a no-brainer: “Let’s see — he obviously doesn’t care about either my principles or my party, and I’m supposed to vote for him WHY?”

This is the best fucking riddance ever.

I’m smiling. As a grandmother who is making her first run against a 36 year Republican Incumbent in Florida’s 10th Congressional District.  Lamont’s victory gives me great hope that Americans will rise up and take back their country - and their Constitution. 

We’re all in this together.  The truth will set us free.

Tonight, Wandering Joe, it would appear you’re not CHOSEN after all.

Why don’t you wander off to the so-called Holy Land where you belong?

You can bob up and down all day in front of your stupid Bible —maybe take a break to bulldoze something now and then.

wow… close race… lamont really doesn’t stand a chance. were the primary tomorrow and not today, i’m confident lieberman would have won.

Well, the die has been casted. The moment of truth revealed as well. A real change, has finally come. The voters in Conn. have spoken. It now seems to be true that which has long been suspected. Americans, that is one’s who can still think for themsleves independently, without having to be told what to by the so-called independant main stream media. That cluster of talking heads more intrested in keeping their J.O.B’s than reporting the truth, no matter how much its hurts. The pawns of those claiming to be acting in the best intrests of the rest of us; and in the name of the Republic. We all know who they’ve been, thier the one’s who have shown no interest what-so-ever in what’s best for the rest of US. No real health care reform, no real job protection here, at home, tax relief only for those who can afford to pay them but, don’t. A foreign policy that makes any-thing we say to the rest of the planet about real liberty and justice for all, sound like a joke at best; and at worst, a lie, outright. Well now is not the time to fall back on our laurals. No, the time is now. The time to regain the true and put it back in Our Goverment; time to tell those we send to Washington who claim to want to speak for us, Yes Us, We The People of These United States of America; that we want a real goverment for the people and by the people. Not just a hand full, with a hand full of cash, for a hand full of those with any of it. Get up from behind the PC and get active. If that is not possible, then pick up the phone and start by saying Hello, to somebody, anybody, willing to hear a new yet, old message; that being were in this altogether, and we’ve done it once before and Yes, we can do it again! Yes we, the People of these United States can do it again! And that is make this thing, our thing, work; for one, and all. Get Out The vote. Because your either going to be with us or, against what this great country of ours once stood for. Liberty and Justice for all; and the pursiut of happiness for all those who wish to have it.

Lieberman can now come out of the closet as a republican.  He can always be a lobbyist for Israel. He as a lot of practice at that.

Does not Senator Lieberman care about the Democratic Party?  If so how can he defend splitting the Democratic vote to make sure a Republican wins his Senate seat.  That would be a gross betrayal of his party