If things remain roughly the same – he is now up 20 in the polls – Joe Lieberman will have a rather triumphant walk back to his Senate seat come January. I wonder what his supposed friends will be thinking … Chris Dodd, Ted Kennedy, among others, not to mention Al Gore, who, of course, no longer sits in the Senate … the ones who deserted him for the not-ready-for-prime-time Ned Lamont. Will they come up to congratulate him? What will Lieberman say? He will have the power to wound them – morally and politically – but my guess is he will be gracious. People like Dodd (I understand he supported Lamont because he didn’t want his own presidential ambitions to be tainted by apostate Joe) and Kennedy (who is an all-time champion when it comes to cowardice, for reasons we all know) don’t deserve to sit in the same chamber as Lieberman. They hew to the lines of their party like over-stuffed apparatchniks of some lost Politburo of the mind (separated at birth – Ted Kennedy and Malenkov?). Maybe this election will begin an awakening of sorts. The public is no doubt disgusted with latest Congessional political hijinks. Anyone with an IQ in triple digits knows it is nothing more than a sideshow. The tremendous success of Lieberman (so far) shows that the citizens of Connecticut (at least) respect a man who thinks for himself and does not adhere to the brain dead orthodoxies of party politics as currently practiced in this country. In his interview with Pajamas Media, he indicated pretty clearly he would be an Independent first, then a Democrat. What a guy. What a grown-up!
Can’t say I blame Chris Dodd and Ted Kennedy for supporting the Democratic candidate. They are Democrats after all. Expecting them to leave the party is asking a bit much at this point.
No one asked them to leave the party. It’s just the vigor (vigah?) with which they distanced themselves from an old personal friend who was following his convictions. I guess it’s just another example of the famous Truman apothegm: “If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog.” (BTW, they deserted him during the primary.)
At least the Dems have some semblance of party discipline. There seem to be a lot of “RINOs” in Washington, compared to a scarcity of “DINOs.”
Minor typo quibble: “They hue to the lines of their party …” The correct usage is from the days when timbers for framing were hewn out of logs; a chalkline was used to guide a man with a Swedish broadaxe as he “hewed the line” to square up a trunk into a usable timber.
The Dems may well kick Republican tail this November, but it’s pretty clear that they screwed the pooch in the Nutmeg State. Two truisms–all politics are local–good politicians win elections.
Dodd and Kennedy and others tossed over an old friend for political expediency. So what else is new? The local Dem politicos let the nutroots hijack the process. A more disciplined organization would have focused on winning in November.
Maybe they figured that they could dump the popular VP candidate in favor of a nobody because, hell, it’s Connecticut. We can’t lose. Let’s not piss off the nutroots.
Guess who can’t lose now? Independent Joe. Think there are some favors to be called in? Joe? Joe? We always knew you’d win didn’t we Teddy? Yeah Chris…
If you mean “adhere closely to” you mean “hew.” “Hue” is a noun meaning “color.” If you turned it into a verb I suppose it would mean “tinting” a line.
I need a copy editor often enough, myself. Enough pedantry for one day.
Lieberman will be just the first of many Democrats to COME OUT! As independants!
“They hue to the lines of their party …”
Perhaps they ‘hue’ to the color of their party. Which might mean blue, or (as per Mr. Simon’s assessment of Kennedy) yellow…
Joe has been given a tremendous amount of slack by conservatives and Republicans for his support on Iraq. But other than this one matter, as important as it is, Joe is otherwise a down-the-line Democrat.
Oh, he makes a show of wrestling over matters, but for some reason–except on war issues–he always comes down on the straight Dem Party side when it comes to casting his vote. Always. It’s uncanny how that works!
It could get very interesting if Joe doesn’t join up with the Democratic Caucus. That doesn’t mean he joins the Repiblican Caucus either.
as long as we’re hewing to all things proper, and at the risk of making our faithful correspondent change to a hue of the pinkish variety, it’s rout, not route. and, dang my tightness in the rear, it’s high jinks — unless the associated press has gotten permissive on that one while i wasn’t looking.
sorry; but the route/hue things really mar the point for me. i’d expect it from the illiterati littering kos, etc., but …
dotting,
For someone who doesn’t use capitalization, you certainly are a fussy one.
Joey will continue to be the hawkish democrat he is, and in his bones he will know who is on his — and God’s side.
Popeye: Thanks for the lovely etymology lesson.
Joey will continue to be the hawkish democrat he is, and in his bones he will know who is on his — and God’s — side.
Popeye: Thanks for the lovely etymology lesson.
I think I will raise a hue and cry. I’ve got the blues.
A half dozen of Roger’s favorite independent secular conservative candidates can win election to the House or Senate — under parliamentary rules, they’ll still have to decide if they are going to caucus with the senior center from Massachusetts, or that senator from Kansas who wants to kill doctors that perform abortions. One or the other.
As long as Lieberman caucuses with Democrats, he’ll be more of a help to the Kennedy-Dodd agenda than Lincoln Chafee will ever be.
All of this is to say — from a mainstream moderate-to-liberal Democratic perspective, it doesn’t matter who wins.