Friday, July 7, 2006
And That's Why A Lot Of Democrats Don't Like Joe Lieberman..."I am going to be positive tonight. I'm not going to indulge in negative personal attacks...I have great respect for Dick Cheney ... and I don't have anything negative to say about him."Joe Lieberman made that comment at the outset of his only debate against Dick Cheney during the 2000 campaign.
He was far less cordial last night while debating a fellow Democrat, his primary challenger, Ned Lamont. As has become his trademark, Lieberman saved his harshest comments and criticisms for someone on his side of the aisle.
Joe even resorted to using Saint Ronnie's "There you go again" line against Lamont. That's a pretty unique way for a Democratic politician to solidify his standing among his party, don't you think?
As I've mentioned before, this is precisely what separates Lieberman from other "centrist" Democrats like Ben Nelson, Mary Landrieu, Byron Dorgan, and Max Baucus. He has an almost pathological desire to badmouth his fellow Democrats, while rarely turning a critical eye against the Republicans across the aisle.
The four Democrats I mentioned rarely, if ever, do that.
On a personal level, you might've noticed that I haven't added Ned Lamont to my list of candidates on my front page. I'm not going to, either. At the end of the day, Lamont doesn't really impress me, and I'd honestly rather have Lieberman in the Senate than Lamont.
That being said, if Lamont wins the primary, I'll be more than happy to throw my support behind him, and not a petitioning Joe Lieberman.
I trust the Democrats in Connecticut to decide who they want as their candidate and to respect their decision.
I just wish Joe Lieberman felt the same way...
UPDATE: Steve Gilliard does an awesome job of deconstructing the claim that Democrats are "purging" pro-war candidates.
It's funny that I don't hear Republicans complaining that Sen. Lincoln Chafee, a GOP'er who is also facing a tough primary in Rhode Island, is being targeted by the "fringe" of the Republican party.
Chafee's primary opponent, Steve Laffey, even has the backing of the vaunted Club For Growth, which also tried to "purge" GOP Senator Arlen Specter in 2004...
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