The liberal blogosphere has been promoting an unknown Democrat, Ned Lamott, to unseat Lieberman. I’ve skimmed a few posts, but haven’t paid too close attention to it, but maybe I should. The Times thinks that the liberal bloggers might be making difference.
“George Bush’s favorite Democrat,” they call him. “Republican Lite,” they sneer. But liberals are no longer just venting on Internet blogs and talk radio programs about their centrist nemesis: Senator Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut.
Now, from across the nation, a determined alliance of antiwar activists is working overtime online and on doorsteps to defeat Mr. Lieberman, whose political moderation helped him earn the Democratic nomination for vice president six years ago. Their goal is not only to punish Mr. Lieberman for staunchly supporting the war in Iraq but also to protest what the activists consider the Democratic Party’s willingness to accommodate President Bush.
Every Democrat who went into this war without asking enough questions deserves to be grilled over hot flames. My only worry is that should we bring down fellow Democrats before dealing with the Republicans? Hell, maybe I shouldn’t worry. Could be something called momentum.
Apt. 11d 
don’t you mean Joe-mentum? ha. Honestly, Joe has been a DINO for years, and taking him down isn’t taking down a Democrat but a Republican with a blue donkey badge. Now if we could just replace crazy Zell Miller…
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Hey, you want to take down every Democrat like Joe Lieberman, go right ahead…the GOP certainly needs all the help it can get.
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I know only a little about the Lamott campaign but I say GO! I’ve just been invovled in a primary campaign of an unapologetically progressive candidate for congress. She didn’t win but she did get a lot of folks to think about issues and not just out of hand vote for the blue dog democrat who was her opponent. And I think that it’s generally a good idea to make people think during elections and to support democracy whenever possible. And she’s even gotten her opponent to re-think some of his positions on the issues (the idea of pre-emptive war, for example). So I just don’t buy the idea that “fighting” within a party leads to that party losing when you get to the general election. But then again I also don’t buy the idea that we should vote for centrist Democrats because they are the only ones who can win and it’s important we win because the GOP is bad. The GOP is BAD but I don’t want folk in power who are just a little bit less bad. I want to vote for people who are truly progressive and who will try to change where this country is and where it is going. It may take a long time and a lot of faith. But the Goldwater-backers had it. And look where the GOP is now. I think we can effect real change too, but not if we keep electing lame Democrats because we’re too scared to do anything else. Whew, sorry to hijack the comments, Laura. But it’s a good thing to talk about.
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And I don’t want to be snotty, but Zell Miller has already retired from the Senate – so, emjaybee, your wish has been granted.
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mjb, I vote Dem for state and local offices, Reep for national – will continue doing so til the Dems nominate someone as serious about national security as Lieberman. So, if the Dems win with your strategy, they will do so without me. How many more are there like me out there? Who knows?
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Yeah, I don’t know, guys. The old rules would be that dave s and dr. manhattan would be right. It’s stupid to pick off your luke warm allies, before you pick off the enemy. But with Bush’s numbers in the can and a BIG Republican loss in the near future, this isn’t politics as usual.
There are some that say that we can’t win and win for the long term without picking off the Liebermans first. The Democrats need new ideas to really win, and the Liebermans are pulling them down.
I don’t know what the right answer is. Nobody does. This is all terribly exciting.
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Won’t Ned Lamott probably win the general election if he wins the primary? I don’t see the big risk here.
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It’s risky, because this fight uses up resources that could be spent on elections where actual Republicans are involved. It also may alienate some moderate Democrats, like dave s. Lieberman is real hero for the moderates. Maybe we can afford to cut them loose, but I’m not sure about that. Great article in the New Yorker about this, but I’m posting about that tomorrow.
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