Ned Lamont a true Democrat
By WAYNE MADSEN
www.onlinejournal.com
During much of the 20th century, Democratic Senate whips never hesitated to use the lash to ensure party discipline on crucial votes. Unfortunately, the current Democratic whip, Dick Durbin of Illinois, is no Captain Bligh.
A prime example has been Durbin's failure to crack the whip on Sen. Joe Lieberman after the Connecticut Democrat's repeated votes supporting President Bush's failed -- or failing -- policies in Iraq.
As the Democratic whip, Durbin long ago should have demanded that Lieberman hew to the party line rather than creating even more fissures in a heavily fractured party.
While intestinal fortitude is AWOL among the current Democratic leadership these days, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee showed a little spine by saying it would ''likely'' back the winner of the Aug. 8 Connecticut primary -- either Lieberman or his more progressive, Ned Lamont.
Cozying up to the GOP
Lamont is the ardently anti-war opponent running for the Democratic nomination for U.S. senator in Connecticut against incumbent Sen. Joe Lieberman. He is doing to Lieberman what the Senate Democratic leadership should have been doing all along -- holding the neo-conservative Democrat accountable for supporting the illegal occupation of Iraq, the heavy-handed administering of the Patriot Act, school vouchers and most of President Bush's tax cuts for the rich.
Even before Bush II moved into the Oval Office, Lieberman was cozying up to the GOP and shunning the mainstream positions of his own party.
In 1988, Lieberman welcomed the support of William F. Buckley Jr. and other staunch conservatives in his first Senate race against progressive Republican Lowell Weicker.
With their aid, Lieberman barely edged the popular Weicker. Mindful of the debt owed his hard-right benefactors, Lieberman often embraced conservative positions -- irking much of Connecticut's traditionally liberal voting base.
Lamont has emerged as the Democratic left's champion by fashioning a powerful coalition of Democrats, independents and even a few Republicans who are tired of Lieberman's unbridled support for the Bush administration.
Lamont's supporters number some of the Nutmeg State's most famous political names, including Weicker and Jim Dean, brother of Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean.
Ready to retire
Lieberman's so-called Joementum cadre largely consists of many old, wealthy and establishment Democratic Party regulars. Lamont's message, meanwhile, is resonating among younger voters and on the Internet blogs.
Lieberman's message is whiny with a selfish threat of bolting the Democrats to run as an independent in November if he loses the primary. The Connecticut incumbent looks more and more like he's ready to retire. Lamont is exactly what the Democrats need to revitalize their party -- a young entrepreneur with ideas who is itching to take on Washington and the Republicans.
Connecticut Democrats have a real chance to restore the Democratic Party to its progressive and populist roots on Aug. 8.
Bouncing Lieberman from the Democratic ticket will serve as a wake-up call for certain 2008 presidential candidates -- especially a pro-war Democratic senator from New York named Hillary Clinton.
Wayne Madsen is a contributing writer for Online Journal. |
