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It's over. We won.
I must admit last night to being bit more sanguine than I might have been throughout the results -- had I known that it all came down to Hartford, home of shall we say less-than-Lamont-friendly mayor Eddie Perez, I probably would've been considerably more agitated. As it was, three days of no sleep and an inability to eat were reaping me a harvest of admonitions for being thin, pale and a bit cranky. Gulty as charged on all counts. I'm glad I was blissfully ignorant during those last crazy minutes.
It's all a little unreal right now -- we'll have plenty of time to digest the results and analyze the implications going forward -- but today I'm actually going to cut Lieberman a bit of slack and say it's time for bygones to be bygones if he does the right thing and drops out of the race. Chris Dodd was tasked with the difficult job of telling Joe he had to go, which he was to commence either last night or this morning according to varying reports. I know Joe has vocal support from DLCers and so-called "centrists" who see themselves next in line if Lieberman falls. They want Joe to hold back the barbarian horde for all of them. It's a stupid, shortsighted and solipsistic construct. The self-righteous indignation of people like Lanny Davis and Martin Peretz are buoying Lieberman into a wholesale purchase of the myth that he is a great man and a great wrong has been done to him. Here on planet earth we call it a primary challenge, an integral part of the Democratic process. It's time for Joe to realize that in their own blindness they may be preparing him as the sacrificial lamb.
Last night key Democrats like Ted Kennedy, Chuck Schumer and John Edwards called Ned Lamont to offer their support, and Rahm Emmanuel is acting as verbal party bellweather with his comments this morning:
"This shows what blind loyalty to George Bush and being his love child means," said Representative Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, the leader of the Democratic House Congressional campaign. "This is not about the war. It's blind loyalty to Bush."
There is no future for Lieberman in the Democratic party if he runs as an independent. It will be a tough fight but the list of Democrats who will come to Connecticut on behalf of Lamont is certainly shaping up to be an interesting one. (Let's remember, however, the one who got it right before this new stampede toward the victor -- Maxine Waters).
Colin McEnroe and Lowell Weicker both think that if Lieberman continues in the race it will only be in league with the GOP and I agree that it is his only chance. Is Joe willing to go that far to stay in the Senate? Or will enough pressure be brought to bear on him today that it will offer him a reality check and enlighten him to the fact that his brand of politics is obsolete?
I hope Joe does the right thing and withdraws today. It must've been difficult to lose the race last night in such a high-profile way. Many forces are aligning behind Lamont right now that weren't there before, and if Joe goes the indy route he will only be beaten again.
We've done it once. We can do it again.
(photo of Tom Swan by Matt Browner-Hamlin)
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H A M S H E R !!!
YESSSSS!!!
GOOOOOOOOOOOOOO NETROOTS
I nominate This song from David Bowie’s HEATHEN for our unity anthem:
David Bowie - A Better Future Lyrics
Please don’t tear this world asunder
Please take back
This fear we’re under
I demand a better future
Or I might just stop wanting you
I might just stop wanting you
Please make sure we get tomorrow
All this pain and all the sorrow
I demand a better future
Or I might just stop needing you
I might just stop needing you
Give my children sunny smile
Give them moon and cloudless sky
I demand a better future
Or I might just stop loving you,
Loving you, loving you
When we talk, we talk to you
When we walk, we walk to you
From factory to field
How many tears must fall
Down there below
Nothing is moving
Oo-o
I might just stop wanting you
I might just stop needing you
I might just stop loving you
I demand a better future
I demand a better future
I demand a better future
For I might just stop loving you,
Loving you, loving you
I demand a better future
I demand a better future
I demand a better future
For I might just stop loving you, loving you, loving you
I demand a better future
F I T Z !
Yay Lamont!
I suspect it was always Joe’s intention to turn to the Republicans in the event of a primary loss. He needs their votes.
“It’s time for Joe Lieberman, and others who distrust the will of Democratic Primary voters in Connecticut, to acknowledge that Ned Lamont is the current Democratic Senate candidate for the state of Connecticut, and the future Democratic Senator from Connecticut for the next six years. Not doing so undermines the credibility of the Democratic Party, and of democracy itself, at our nation’s peril.”
It’d be damn nice to only have to win each race once per cycle, though.
Joe - Round 2 is in 2012. You lost.
Time to get his committee assignments, and inform the now-independent, opposing-the-Democratic-nominee Senator that he can no longer attend Democratic strategy meetings, unless he decides to drop his new party before it begins.
What does the Big Dog have to say?
Can’t say it enough: thanks for all you and your FDL-inspired campaign workers did! You made history; and if our country’s to be saved, we’ll know who did it and how it was done.
JANE JANE JANE JANE JANE!
That’s all I have to say.
I don’t post very often, but I just had to relate this story:
My 7 year old son watched the Lieberman faux-concession speech with me, and asked me to explain. I didn’t know what to say. We try so hard to get him to follow the rules, and here’s this man on TV blatantly rewriting the rules as he goes along.
I think everybody needs to ask the question:
WHAT DO WE TELL OUR CHILDREN, JOE?
Thank you for your efforts in bringing us to this refreshing point. You note: “Colin McEnroe and Lowell Weicker both think that if Lieberman continues in the race it will only be in league with the GOP and I agree that it is his only chance. Is Joe willing to go that far to stay in the Senate?”
Maybe this is the question: Is Joe willing to go that far to keep Lamont out of the Senate?
By the way, 18,000 petitions isn’t a lot, even in places where the rules are less strict than Connecticut’s. The indy run is by no means a lock.
Text of the e-mail I posted at nedlamont.com, in response to their request for messages to be sent to Joe on accepting the will of Democratic voters:
Have a feeling a boatload of these kinds of messages are going to be accumulating at a staggering rate.
AP: Lieberman files papers to get on ballot
Our focus right now has to be hammering the Democratic leadership that Joe must be stripped of all assignments and other perks that come with being a Dem. All of them. The personal ego and arrogance he showed last night, and continued with this morning, is a slap in the face to the voters of CT and the entire Democratic party.
All of our energy for the next few weeks needs to be focused on getting Dems to force Joe to drop out. Hopefully we can have enough of an impact where that will occur within a week or two so we can start focusig on beating Republicans in November.
I’m so proud of Ned right now, and so utterly disappointed in Joe. He’s now just a sad shell of a man who’s sold his soul to power. It’s disgusting and it can’t be allowed to continue to be associated in any way with the Democratic party.
Nice Job Jane and big cheer to Ned
However…I don’t think that you have the luxury of “plenty of time to digest the results and analyze the implications going forward” and your desire to cut Joe some slack, as you say, while admirable, is misplaced.
Joe came out of the gate last night spewing venom, the likes of which I’ve never heard against a member of one’s own party in a concession speech in all of the 35 years I’ve followed politics. That bile continued this morning. It is clear that, so long as he ( and, according to the Hotline, Haddasah) believe that he can win the general, he’s going nowhere.
So, Jane, I’m going to ask you to put your H’wood producer’s hat on and tell the campaign that it’s time to fight fire with fire. The first thing that should be done would be to have attorneys at the ready to challenge each and every petition filed by the lieberman campaign for their “Joe for Joe” line. If Ned wants to pretend that he’s above it all, fine. Let the campaign take the responsibility. The meme can be that evne tho Joe doesn’t respect the demlocratic process, Ned does…all of it, including correct filings.
Sorry, you underestimate this man’s hatred for Democrats and capacity for lying at your own peril. And BTW, after his speech last night there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that he will NOT vote with the Dem caucus if elected.
I am disgusted with the MSM…I watched msnbc last night after the victory and they spent the entire hour interviewing lieberman people and discussing him. They devoted literally 2 minutes to Lamont. Washington is a cesspool.
David Sirota says it all:
“Make no mistake about it - be prepared for Lieberman, the Enron lobbyists, corporate lawyers, Establishment pundits and other assorted characters in the Washington brothel to run out immediately and trumpet how incredible it was that Lieberman got so close. What they want to do is pretend that Lieberman hasn’t spent 18 years in the Senate, wasn’t have every single advantage, didn’t outspend his opponent with a massive corporate-funded warchest, and was, instead, the courageous underdog who supposedly did not arrogantly ignore mainstream public opinion with his stands pushing the Iraq War, Social Security privatization and corporate-written trade deals that sold out American jobs. That storyline provides a convenient excuse to justify Lieberman ignoring Connecticut voters, Connecticut taxpayers who funded the election, and all the democratic principles this country is supposed to be based on. It provides a consultant-packaged excuse for Lieberman to ignore voters and insult the Democratic Party by running as a party of one, and potentially throwing the general election to the Republican Party.
But as Ezra Klein astutely notes, “If this gets spun in the next few days as a microscopic margin so infinitesimal as to be mere statistical error, try and keep in mind the towering mandate the media agreed Bush had after his three — not four — percent win over Kerry.” I’ll put it in exact language that Lieberman himself can understand: “It’s time for Joe Lieberman and his friends in the Washington Establishment who distrust Ned Lamont to acknowledge that Ned is now the Democratic Party’s nominee for U.S. Senate, and that we as Democrats undermine our nominee’s credibility at our party and our democracy’s peril.”
Lieberman’s concession speech tonight spitefully announcing that he will abandon the Democratic Party that he has spent the last week transparently pleging his fealty to is classic Lieberman. You may recall that after he was crushed in the New Hampshire primary, he proudly boasted that “we are in a three-way split decision for third place” - as if he really thought voters were stupid enough to think that was a good thing and that he was well on his way to winning the nomination. Similarly today, he is claiming that the Democratic Party primary election is just the “first half” of the election process - again, thinking voters are so stupid, they don’t see that what he’s really doing is giving the big middle finger to American democracy.
But voters do see what’s going on - and that’s why Lieberman, an 18-year incumbent who outspent his opponent, was handed a crushing defeat tonight: because ordinary people realize that Joe Lieberman and the Washington Establishment he represents has for too long been allowed to sellout their constituents and this country as a whole. Ned Lamont is the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in Connecticut. Every single Democratic officeholder in this country (that means YOU Kerry, Feingold, Clinton, Edwards, Warner, et al.) has an obligation to respect the Democratic Party primary election that took place tonight, lest they too go on record as saying Democratic Party voters and America’s democratic process as an afterthought in comparison to their own personal political ambitions. Likewise, Democratic leaders in Congress now have an obligation to remove Lieberman from his committee assignments, and cut off Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee resources, now that he has officially left the Democratic Party.
This is an incredible victory tonight. Ordinary people showed that no politician - even a snake like Lieberman with every single advantage - is above American democracy. Though Lieberman and the lobbyists who are backing him would like everyone to forget about democracy, Ned Lamont tonight showed that ordinary people in this country still have power and that no Senate seat is the exclusive property of any one individual.
Oh, he’s wrong there too - it’s about the war, it’s about LIEberman’s big mouth and his willingness to be Bush’s lapdog. And a host of other issues besides. You cannot parse it out. And the dems will not come out of their doldrums until they get a clue!
considering joe has spent the last month braying about his credentials as not just a dem, but a “progressive” dem, how does he really think he can run as an indy and appeal to republican voters. does he think that he can be progressive in july and moderate in august and no one will notice? i know that some of the early three-way race polls gave joe the edge, but i would like to see what people think in a week or two.
From today’s NYT editorials(nailing it, for once):
The rebellion against Mr. Lieberman was actually an uprising by that rare phenomenon, irate moderates. They are the voters who have been unnerved over the last few years as the country has seemed to be galloping in a deeply unmoderate direction. A war that began at the president’s choosing has degenerated into a desperate, bloody mess that has turned much of the world against the United States. The administration’s contempt for international agreements, Congressional prerogatives and the authority of the courts has undermined the rule of law abroad and at home.
Yet while all this has been happening, the political discussion in Washington has become a captive of the Bush agenda. Traditional beliefs like every person’s right to a day in court, or the conviction that America should not start wars it does not know how to win, wind up being portrayed as extreme. The middle becomes a place where senators struggle to get the president to volunteer to obey the law when the mood strikes him. Attempting to regain the real center becomes a radical alternative.
When Mr. Lieberman told The Washington Post, “I haven’t changed. Events around me have changed,” he actually put his finger on his political problem. His constituents felt that when the White House led the country into a disastrous international crisis and started subverting the nation’s basic traditions, Joe Lieberman should have changed enough to take a lead in fighting back.
Emanuel and the House Dems will probably have as big a role in twisting Joe’s arm as the Senate caucus. The three vulnerable CT seats are low-hanging fruit this election, and the House is the easier target of the two.
I think there has to be as much carrot as stick right now: if Joe bows out with the grace he’s yet to show, he can huddle up to Bush as much as he likes for the next few months, as long as he doesn’t tread on the election campaign.
Give it till the weekend and the gasbag shows, and let the Senate Dems go to work behind the scenes. Ego is a big thing in politics, and Joe’s just took a pasting: demanding that he be stripped of committee positions before other Senate Dems and party leaders have had the chance to a) talk quietly to him; b) appear very publically with Lamont may play into his martyr complex.
And if Joe is still campaigning next week, let’s hit him with all we’ve got.
Take care of yourself, Jane. You’ve done a great job.
Ned’s so nice he’ll beat Joe twice. I just hope it doesn’t come to that.
You wonder if he understands that running is likely to mean losing again. No lingering ability to say, “I could have won, if I had run as an indpendent.”
Jane,
so sorry about the not sleeping, not eating thing - hope the coming days provide relief
just want to say Thank You, Thank You, Thank You, it’s not lost on any of us that you took a time of great sadness in your life and did something incredibly, progressively good with your grief - and multitudes of folks you will never meet are better off as a result - without ever meeting her, I am certain a righteously proud mama is beaming this morning -
Or will enough pressure be brought to bear on him today that it will offer him a reality check and enlighten him to the fact that his brand of politics is obsolete?
Not necessary for Joe to have this epiphany. Just to recognize the havoc he will wreak by being stubborn and not listening to his better angel, assuming he has one.
Hey the Lamont win is great! Any thoughts on Ciro Rodriguez(D) (remember him, against Liebermanesque Henry Cuellar) to unseat Henry Bonilla(R) in Texas. This would be on the new district created by the Supreme court decision.
C’mon, bring some of that ass kicking to my part of town.
Please…
The air is crisper, the sunshine is sunnier, my tea tastes better and i have this feeling that things are getting better.
Good Morning All!
isn’t it amazing how the wingers can so vociferously support a well-known babykiller like Lieberman?
of course, that was their word they used to use on him …
Maxine Waters will always have my support.
Shorter Joe this morning on Today to all Democrats, establishment and insurgents:
Fuck you. I’ll do what I want.
If Joe doesn’t get out, folks, this is a problem. Yes, Lamont will win, but this race will suck out oxygen, embolden the Rovian right, and waste our time.
zergle 16, you are absolutely dead-on:
“Our focus right now has to be hammering the Democratic leadership that Joe must be stripped of all assignments and other perks that come with being a Dem. All of them. The personal ego and arrogance he showed last night, and continued with this morning, is a slap in the face to the voters of CT and the entire Democratic party.
All of our energy for the next few weeks needs to be focused on getting Dems to force Joe to drop out. Hopefully we can have enough of an impact where that will occur within a week or two so we can start focusig on beating Republicans in November.”
I also do not like seeing this vote portrayed as an anti war vote. This is what the republicans want the media to call it. What it really is, is the adults taking back control and putting the kids to bed. The republicans are a pack of immature, incompetant, fantasists (and thieves) who need to be sent to the naughty corner for a hellava long time.
*ilson46201 @ 15
I’d bet money that most of them were Republicans.
The bastards.
Why doesn’t Lieberman just run as an R? Huh?
Further proof of Joe’s collossal arrogance;
What the hell kind of person names a party after HIMSELF? I mean, really, not pretty little abstract monikers like “Freedom Party” or Liberty Party” or “Douchbag Appeasement Party” or “Traitorous Scumbag Egomaniac Party”?
It only goes to show that Joe’s whole party is about Joe, and nobody else.
Wanker.
www.CT4Joe2006.com
Way to go, Ned! A great morning in America. Except for the poops needing scooping up.
My nominees? CT AG threatening investigations, jailtime for hackers of Lieberman site just now on MSNBC. Liebercrony, anyone?
And J-Lie himself. His politics of blind loyalty…to himself…and his threatened politics of personal attack and destruction just aren’t going to play this time. He’s gone to that well too many times.
I hope SOMEONE talks some sense into Loose Lips Lieberman, and point out that his already tainted legacy will be destroyed if he campaigns AGAINST the Party that supported him for eighteen years.
Come on Bubba… Go to Joe… ’splain it to him…
and Jane..
EAT some nourishing food and get about 2 days of SLEEP !!!! You and the others have kept us in the blogsphere so informed during this triumph I feel like I was almost there..
Good on ALL of you that reported from the trenches in Conn.
It’s time to stop referring to Lieberman as a democrat.
A diarist at MyDD points out that, by law, Lieberman cannot claim affiliation with a party that has not chosen him in a primary. He’s not a democrat anymore. He’s not an “independent democrat.” He’s running on the Connecticut for Liberman ticket.
The diarist suggests writing to the various CT publications that are running quotations of Joe continuing to claim Dem status. I think that’s a good idea. And we also have to stop referring to him as a democrat. He has left the party.
Whaaaa - America does not START wars. Period.
(well, until Wenie took over that is)
Jane — Congratulations, you worked hard for this. You did an exceptional job in view of the odds, the power of the incumbency, etc –
We owe you a huge thanks! — now get some sleep!
As with all campaigns, the next few days are also crucial — you’re still needed and need to be alert.
Ned was great, he did it. Great job all.
Thanks, Jane, for spending the last month in CT. For those of us who couldn’t make it, reading the blogs was the next best thing.
(And I’m thrilled that you’re accepting crankiness as a way of life. It’s worked for me for years!)
www.ConnecticutForLieberman.com
www.LiebermanForConnecticut.com
dratty–if Joe is willing to put it behind, we should let him serve out his remaining term in peace. If he isn’t trying to break the party with an indy run he isn’t worth spending the time between now and November.
Our key task now is making Joe irrelevant. I imagine we only have hours or days to bring enough pressure to bear in order to do that.
Thank you Jane for the great ride. Lets take ‘er on home.
Joe can’t heeearrr yooouuu!!!
So who thinks Dodd can talk Holy Joe down from the ledge?
mark my words
lieberman will run as mccain’s vp candidate
I said it, I didn’t say it first, but I’m calling it now
Jane - a huge “thank you!” for all your work up there. Those of us unable to get there had a ringside seat to history thanks to you (and mydd and the rest of the lefty blogosphere) (I’m thinking Scoobie-Do right now- Joe’d gotten away with it if it weren’t for you meddling kids!)
I sent Joe an email via Lamont’s tubes encouraging him to honor the vote, and one to Harry Reid as well - I agree with pseudo22 above, give Joe a few days, but if he persists, lock him out and hit him hard. The Republic is at stake, after all.
This is so unbelievably awesome - winning sure does feel nice.
Amazing that Joe is willing to fight now, against the party he claims to be a member of, but wasn’t willing to fight in 2000, when the election was so close.
I was struck last night when some talking head on Tweety’s show was talking about how Joe had been in favor of war in Iraq since 1991 — this said to show that the war was a long term principled position. I couldn’t help but think that with all that time to plan, they should have done a much better job of it.
And also, Joe20006 being down for so very long…was his web security being handled by Ahmed Chalabi?
Did you see Lieberman on the Today show this am. He told Lauer Ned L cleverly distort and lie about his records.
The sheer arrogance!!!! What a bozo.
From the evergreen state of WA, I want to thank all of you in CT for taking this faux Democrat off the list! I have never trusted Lieberman. His support for Israel is blind as is his support of the Bush doctrine.
We don’t need another war monger.
I hope his defeat serves as a wake up for the rest of the DEmocrats who voted for the war. They have 3 long years already to admit they made a mistake and so far, hardly any had the integrity or courage to say so.
Dune Messiah @ 28
Dune, it would be nice, but…
As much as I hate his frickin’ guts, Cuellar would probably have a better shot at winning in this district. I’ll have to look at the re-drawn boundaries a little more closely, but Bonilla barely has to campaign here. I live just a few miles from Pinche Vanilla’s office, and most of this area is white, conservative and has a higher income than most other parts of San Antonio (Shavano Park is part of this constituency). In other words, very, very Republican. I think this district went for Bush something like 66-33. Still a lot of people proudly displaying their Bush stickers from 04.
blogenfreude @ 44
I think only Bill Clinton can convince him. Where are you Bill?
We can use the ReThug line they insesantly used during the Clinton years…. “What do we tell the children?”
Afterall, if you play by the rules and run a race fair and square, you loose, then you cannot just change the rules and keep playing.
So what do you tell the children?
YEAH - a post went through from the laptop!
I may go back to having a side fling with the NYT after all. That editorial and that one backing Lamont, were so spot on.
Congrats to all the FDLers. The blogs may not have made a huge difference to CT, but CT made a huge difference to the “irate moderates” reading the blogs and talking “amongst themselves” bc of a media and party that seemed to have lost a connection with truth and values.
Jane,
Thanks so much for all of your work on this race. You deserve a lot of credit. Take care.
Now that we’ve done this, is it possible at all to get folks to take a look at Bush loyalist Gov. Doofinator here in California and get rid of him too?
He is faking a centrist line to get re-elected - once he does he’ll become an “out” Bushie once again. Please, stop the madness.
Good news; the powers that be turns out to be the people.
And the people are fed up. (Just ask Cynthia McKinney).
Actually, the people are Really fed up. (See http://www.Amendmente.com)
Especially in this area - http://www.FamilyLawCourts.com/judging.html
“For the sake of our state, our country and my party, I cannot and will not let that result stand.”
_____
The HELL with the expressed will of the people.
The arrogance is this asshole is turning me into a venomously rabid angry polarized moderate extremist. And I’m not even a Wealthy Multimillionaire Cable TV Businessman.
_
What kind of karma is it that Lieberman lost on the same day Delay “made way for a write-in candidate”? With Scalia putting the shiv into Texas GOP efforts?
Ultimately, Tom Delay out of politics, that’s a beautiful thing.
I think only Bill Clinton can convince him. Where are you Bill?
You might be right … oh shit - J-Pod is on WNYC re: this race and just said he wasn’t a professional Republican. Feh!
Blumenthal just on msnbc talking about the alleged hack attack and the fact that his office is taking it very seriously.
Blonde bobblehead repeatedly calling it a ‘hack’ job and no mention of any other reason for the site going down.
Thank you Jane and ‘ere’s hoping you get a nice celebratory brunch (with warm pumpkin muffins) and some cool, crisp sheets to envelope you shortly…
So many people to thank and so much work ahead that I am so looking forward to!!! Reclaiming our country sure feels good.
Penman: Yes, Lamont will win, but this race will suck out oxygen, embolden the Rovian right, and waste our time.
Your point is well-taken, but I’m a little more optimistic about the situation for the moment. The polling I saw that shows Leiberman doing well in a three-way race was also taken back when he was also polling ahead of Lamont. He has more to contend with now: he’s lost once, he’ll lose the Democratic party’s support along with most of its precinct organization, and even if the Republicans in Connecticut decide to tacitly support him (a big if, given L’s history in state politics), that would further cut into his base of support in the Democratic Party. I won’t believe he has much of a chance until I see polls taken about a week from now, when his abandonment of the party has had a chance to sink in. The we should decide whether all the Republican’s old “Sore Loserman” merchandise needs to be retasked.
Some should make an ad of a child playing a game, losing, then changing the rules.
Say it with me:
WHAT DO WE TELL OUR CHILDREN????
WHAT DO WE TELL OUR CHILDREN????
WHAT DO WE TELL OUR CHILDREN????
Oh Jane! You must be utterly exhausted.
We THANK YOU so very much!
Those of us “just sittin’ around” watching the numbers were indeed getting antsy as the gap narrowed, then narrowed s’more last night.
And THEN it held, & it HELD s’more — hearts were in our throats twd the end.
YOU DID IT! NED DID IT!
And Pach et al. were dead-on accurate. It took every ounce of the energy & smarts you guys brought to the task, but it WORKED!
WE ARE SO PROUD, and SO GRATEFUL!
{{{{{THANK YOU ALL}}}}}
priller @ 23
Ditto priller plus love.
EPU’d -
Next Steps:
We all need to do the following today:
1. Email or call Harry Reid and ask that Lieberman be stripped of all his committee assignments as he is no longer a Democrat.
2. Email or call our local Democratic representatives and strongly state our demand that they publicly support and endorse Ned Lamont as the Democratic candidate for Senate in Connecticut and denounce Lieberman’s betrayal of the party.
3. Brainstorm here at FDL about ALL possible ways to apply pressure to politicians who may be on the fence with regard to Lieberman. Now is the time, folks. We need to shape public opinion immediately before Lieberman can develop any sort of momentum. His selfish desire to get a “do-over” must be made dead on arrival.
4. Keep a running list of who has stood up for Ned Lamont as the Democratic nominee for Senate.
5. Also, as importantly, keep tabs on WHEN each Democrat came forward with an explicit endorsement of Ned Lamont.
We need to let Democrats know that they need to act FAST to get on the side of Lamont. Any delay will be noted and remembered for a long time to come. This is significant because such delays aid Lieberman by giving him time to shape the narrative in his favor.
Any Democrat in office needs to get on the public record YESTERDAY about Ned Lamont, in clear, forceful, and unambiguous terms. They must be made fully aware that if they sit on their hands regarding their support for Ned Lamont this race for ANY LENGTH OF TIME, we won’t forget about it.
I really expected something like this graphic to accompany this post.
He should be called to task for most likely false claims his site was hacked, and preferably mixed to Ted Steven (R - Alaska) who essentailly has oversight of the internet in his “its like a series of tubes” speech.
$15 a month for the web site what an idiot.
The win was a good one for democracy, but the effort needs to be made in 50 states x100 in the next few months.
PS. I noticed your website was “hacked” last night - by hacked I mean slow since the site saw a lot of traffic due to —gasp— an election last night.
I would advise that you upgrade before Nov 1st or your site will go down the day before, the day of, and the day after the election this November.
I would advise Loeloser to suck it up and make a few million with the defense lobby.
Best $50 I ever contributed. The beginning of the end for Republicans? One can only hope (and keep on contributing, writing LTEs, GOTV, etc.). woohoo!
www.Salon.com
draw your own conclusions …
Please don’t use the neologism “Lieberman Democrat”. If he does not accept the primary results, he is no longer a Democrat, and cannot be allowed to pose as one. He has the right to run as an independent or Repub, of course, but he’ll have to throw his rhetorical firebombs from outside our tent, not inside.
Jane: Re: Dems backing Joe: “It’s a stupid, shortsighted and solipsistic construct.”
Damn, I wish I had said that. Solipsistic is one of my favorite words (German Philosophy 201). Solipsism: theory that only the self exists.
I remember Liebnitz and his ’solipsistic monads,’ existing out there all by themselves, disconnected…like Joe Lieberman?
*ilson you are the sneak aren’t ya? Love the sites. Sweeeeeeeeeeet.
“He’s not a democrat anymore. He’s not an independent democrat. He’s running on the Connecticut for Liberman ticket.“
That’s absolutely right jayackroyd. Joe and Democrat cannot share the same space any longer. This has to be drilled home everywhere. We need to put as much pressure on this situation as humanly possible in a short amount of time. We need to get him out of the picture as quickly as possible. The Dems have to make him feel completely cut off. No more policy meetings, no more dinners, no more committees, nothing. He is a self-centered outsider now and deserves to be treated as one.
Sluff him off like dead skin.
your title is what I wrote to Hillary and Schumer last night….
are you a Lamont Democrat or a lieberman democrat.
this morning the DSCC is STILL touting Lieberman as the democratic candidate….if you call Schumer’s office to ask about who he plans to support they get mighty testy (i know, i called the NY office and the DC office)
seems Schumer has still not made up HIS mind which kind of democrat he is….a democrat who supports our party and the will of our voters or a democrat who stands with the man (in the red tie) who gave us the finger from his concession/i need republicans now podium speech
Senator Schumer needs to be flooded by calls today with people asking him the question WHICH KIND OF DEMOCRAT ARE YOU….one that stands with the voters of our party or one that stands with the man who told us to basically F Off…and wore a red tie while doing it.
1-888-355-3588….
the TOLL FREE congressional switchboard
I agree with dratty @17 and with Jane too. If Lieberman drops out, I am happy to see him in cabinet in 2008, but I doubt very much that he will drop out if polls have him anywhere near having a chance. My strong suspiciaon is that the Repubs will force out their nominee after it is too late to name a replacement, Lieberman will pretend not to care, and then caucus with the Republicans after he is elected. It is, after all, likely his last term regardless and he will imagine that he is doing all this to save the world.
*ilson46201 @
42
You know, *ilson, those sites are good candidates (ha!) for some Google bombs. Maybe one for Douchebag. Another for Asshat.
Consider it.
The only person who could convince Joe not to run as an independent is, of course:
His BFF George W. Bush.
I really hope the Democrats in the House and Senate can talk Joe out of the race. Who the hell wants to see him running in his Independs?
They just read my email on Diane Rehm!!!!
WHOOO HOOOO
but then they blew off the substance….
effin brilliant:
*ilson46201 @ 42
Are you a Good Witch or a Bad Witch?
thank you jane. thank you and, did i say, thank you?
you’re the stick that stirs the drink. you did say you’d gotten thin, right?
you’re our battlefield general (appologies to the General. he may be our Robert E. Lee, but you’re our Nathan Bedford Forrest, as it were). in that vein we all say, what do we do next sir/ma’am?
send us off to meet the battle, and you crash for a few days and trough it up at least twice a day.
There are more numerous “smart” Republican voters. They are pretty sure their guy is a loser, but everyone I heard on the call-ins said they would vote for Joeloser.
This of course because he gives them almost everything they need.
I wish they had a sore loser law like in Ohio.
I actually thinking lieberman CAN’T run for senator if he wants to be on a vp ticket
two loosing campaigns would make it hard to put him on a ticket
I’m thinking he “withdraws for the good of the party” and then accepts some kind of post.
liiiikkkeeee
oh, I don’t know
secretary of defense?
then on to the whitehouse
Okay, now I’m calmed down.
It was pretty much that Lieberman has been supporting the Pres, saying he was elected so get over it, and that Lamont won with about the same percentage as Bush, so Lieberman is being a hypocrite etc.. then some heated stuff.
Heh
Tag?
I looked up ‘Concern Troll’ in the DMSV-IV
and Lieberpuss was staring right back at me
Musical Editorial
How To Handle The Right Wing
Oh, and Jane. There’s a lot going on right now, tis true. But do yourself a favor if you can…
Take a nice 2-3 day break. Really. We all need you healthy and ready to go as we get closer to November. Don’t hurt yourself in the warmups before the big race.
Just take a short break for now…pamper yourself for a little while, you deserve it.
It’s not about explaining things to Lieberman. He’s obviously made the calculus that he can betray the Democratic party and still retain his Senate seat - with the help of powerful interest groups and Rethug operatives. It’s clear that retention of the Lieberman Seat is more important to Lieberman than the Democratic Party. And if he can’t retain the seat then he will be happy to be a Nader and act as spoiler. Pathetic. Vomitous. And he doesn’t give a shit.
Sooooo-o-o, I think that there has to be brass-knuckle politics brought to bear. I don’t know what those might be but I’m hoping that folks like Rahm Emmanuel do…those are the only tactics that Lieberman will understand. Maybe being stripped of the committee assignments is a place to start. Who knows…but I think they have to strike early and hard.
*ilson –
What about LiebermanForLieberman & Lieberman4Lieberman?
Truth in advertising, and all that . . .
Oh wait — this is Joe Lieberman we’re talking about.
Truth has nothing to do with it — nevermind . . .
Breaking News From Atrios:
Posted by Atrios
From email:
Democratic Leader Harry Reid and DSCC Chair Chuck Schumer issued the following joint statement today on the Connecticut Senate race:
“The Democratic voters of Connecticut have spoken and chosen Ned Lamont as their nominee. Both we and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) fully support Mr. Lamont’s candidacy. Congratulations to Ned on his victory and on a race well run.
“Joe Lieberman has been an effective Democratic Senator for Connecticut and for America. But the perception was that he was too close to George Bush and this election was, in many respects, a referendum on the President more than anything else. The results bode well for Democratic victories in November and our efforts to take the country in a new direction.”
Thanks whomever … we’ll never take back the House if we don’t close our tags …
Duncan Black
“The Democratic voters of Connecticut have spoken and chosen Ned Lamont as their nominee. Both we and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) fully support Mr. Lamont’s candidacy. Congratulations to Ned on his victory and on a race well run.
“Joe Lieberman has been an effective Democratic Senator for Connecticut and for America. But the perception was that he was too close to George Bush and this election was, in many respects, a referendum on the President more than anything else. The results bode well for Democratic victories in November and our efforts to take the country in a new direction.”
Oh man, I so need a massage. And we need to send Jane on vacation. *g*
I only have two contemptuous words for Holy Joe and his “I”ndependent bid:
Ralph Fucking Nader
OK three, but who’s counting?
There is no “I” in team, but independent starts there.
Go Lamont!!! What a great day!
Lieberman’s actions today are so transparently selfish, and he has placed himself in a logic paradox you read about in high school — the mere fact that he wants to WIN as an independent become the reasons he will LOSE.
Well, it’s a start, but what about his committee assignments? His key to the Dem washroom, etc?
This sure feels better than the day after…
Ciro ; )
Whewwwwww!!! Wooo Hoooo!!!!
It will have to come down to Clinton to talk some sense into Joe, but I think ol’ Bill will let Lieberman twist in the wind from hoisting himself on his own petard…for a while. For the fun of it.
You know, Bill has been waiting for a day to get even with Joe for that Monica business. He’s gonna make this moment last. And savor it.
Count on it.
Why do people have such a hard time realizing this primary is about more than one thing? It starts with Bush, but it also ripples out from there to many, mnay issues.
My sincere admiration goes to Jane who is willing to lighten up on Joe this morning. I’m still furious that he’s got that web page up and that he’s stomping all over our democracy. I will work on lightening up on him, too. He is obviously in a world of hurt.
Thanks whomever … we’ll never take back the House if we don’t close our tags …
we will never take the house if we don’t do something about electronic voting
this is a FACT and this HAS to be the next roots project
Good on Schumer and Reid. Finally!
That this was even in question tells us all we need to know about Schumer, especially. I might just move to New York, to let him know I haven’t forgotten.