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by Today the Democratic Party will get a preview of where its center of power could be in the 2008 presidential election. In one corner, self-described "Netroots" led by liberal bloggers like Markos Moulitsas (of Daily Kos) are backing rich businessman Ned Lamont. In the incumbent's corner: Joe Lieberman, 2000 vice presidential nominee and three-term senator, is behind in the polls and hoping he doesn't become the fourth incumbent senator since 1980 to lose in a primary.
The issue? Well, there are two- President Bush and Iraq. Anti-war, anti-Bush liberals have taken issue with Lieberman's support of both and have targeted the incumbent for elimination. Relatively pro-war Democratic presidential hopefuls like Hillary Clinton will be watching this primary with keen interest, as it may reveal the numbers and power of the Netroots--who tend to support the uncompromising anti-war style of Michael Moore, Cindy Sheehan, and Howard Dean--and who decry Lieberman's bipartisanship as "dealing with the devil."
Lieberman, for his part, plans to run as an independent should he lose today's primary. Polls indicate he would win in a three-way race.
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Lieberman's trailing by 10 points and McKinney's down by 50%. Just a few precincts reporting in both areas, though.
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Referendum on Netroots
Politicians....they just aren't what they use to be. I would vote for S. Colbert if he runs for office....I mean didn't Arnold S. actually became the Governor of California?
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Today's developments by jmarkdavison :: NR6 :: Show
Lieberman is blaming Lamont's supporters for hacking his Web site. The Netroots are internet-savvy.
Down in Jawjuh, the polls predict Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, best known for asserting President Bush had prior knowledge of 9/11 and hitting a Capitol policeman with her cell phone, will lose her run-off election today against longtime opponent Hank Johnson.
Prominent non-Republicans have weighed in on the Netroots' embrace of the "politics of hate": Cokie Roberts earned the contempt of MediaMatters.org for saying a Lamont win would "push...the party to the left ... [which is] the position from which it traditionally loses ... presidential elections." The truth hurts.
Former Clinton staffer Lanny Davis lamented the "McCarthyism" of the far left, saying "[t]he far right does not have a monopoly on bigotry and hatred and sanctimony."
Finally, Patrick Buchanan, who is as far right as they come but opposed the Iraq War from Day 1, asserts:
"Whatever happens to Joe Lieberman in Connecticut, the new center of gravity of the Democratic Party is antiwar."
My belief: the Democrats, after cynically supporting the war before the 2004 presidential election in order to align themselves with majority public opinion, are now cynically against the war for the same reasons. Without principle--or alternatives to admittedly flawed Republican policies--underlying their political platform, Democrats will be on eqaully shaky (and losing) ground in 2008.
Hillary-Howard-Whoever is going to lose again.