Lieberman/Lamont race could galvanize anti-war wing of the Democratic party
Via the WaPo:
FARMINGTON, Conn., Aug. 5 — The passion and energy fueling the antiwar challenge to Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman in Connecticut’s Senate primary signal a power shift inside the Democratic Party that could reshape the politics of national security and dramatically alter the battle for the party’s 2008 presidential nomination, according to strategists in both political parties.
A victory by businessman Ned Lamont on Tuesday would confirm the growing strength of the grass-roots and Internet activists who first emerged in Howard Dean’s presidential campaign. Driven by intense anger at President Bush and fierce opposition to the Iraq war, they are on the brink of claiming their most significant political triumph, one that will reverberate far beyond the borders here if Lieberman loses.
I wrote the following on Thursday:
Lieberman is being demonized by the cut and run crowd in Connecticut for refusing to budge from his position on the Iraq war. In my opinion, a Lamont win in the primary there would galvanize the anti-war crowd across the country as never before.
I wrote this on July 25th:
What’s going on here is, I think, a war on what the future of the Democratic party will be: will it be the party of rabid anti-war types like Ned Lamont? Or will it be the party that is able to find middle ground on the issue of the Iraq war – with those who don’t think we should be in Iraq and those who supported the Iraq war and still do being able to agree that in spite of their differences we need to finish what we started there? With defeatist Democrats like House Minority Leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi hailing last December the “diverse” stances the Democratic party has taken on the Iraq war, as well as a repeated failure to find a unified message on Iraq, I don’t hold out any hope that the rabid anti-war faction will unite with Democrats who insist we must stay in Iraq to complete the mission.
The Lamont/Lieberman primary next month may very well be the bellwether of this year’s elections.
Does this qualify as a “Toldjah So” moment?
Seriously, make sure to read all of the WaPo article, as reporter Dan Balz expands on the point by noting the potential reverberations of a Lamont win for other Democrats (like Sen. Hillary Clinton) who supported the war in Iraq.
More: Lefty bloggers confirm.
Related: Bill Kristol takes a closer look at anti-war, anti-Lieberman, anti-Israel Democrats.
Prior:
- Being racist and homophobic – for a good cause
- Ned Lamont’s Stroker Ace moment
- Jame Hamsher’s 15 minutes of shame
- The war on Lieberman
- As if the moonbat conspiracy theorists couldn’t get anymore “out there”
- Hartford Courant paper excited about Lamont forcing primary
- It’s Democratic nominating convention day today in Connecticut
- Kos in Lamont campaign video ad debut
- Disgruntled Dems are considering challenge to Lieberman
- Joe Lieberman: Shunned in his own party
- More words of wisdom from Joe Lieberman
- Joe Lieberman: the black sheep of the Democratic party
- A Congressional Dem who makes sense