I was ridiculously excited to hear about Ned Lamont's victory over Joe Lieberman(Neo-Conservative faux Democrat, CT). First of all, his foreign policy is horrendous. The iraq war was a mistake and is an utter failure. It is dissolving into civil war-even republicans admit this now! People like me who were marching against this war 3+ years ago were right. I hate to be self righteous, but it is true. Lieberman is in israel and AIPAC's pockets pretty blatantly, not to mention his views on religion and censorship.
Lamont is not a great candidate, but as far as i am concerned, the Democrats will never win if they are Republican lite. This is what Howard Dean was saying all along, and why I loved him. And he is right, if you look at polls. People want the parties to STAND FOR SOMETHING. It is a fact! I worked canvassing last summer and have done so much phone banking and door-to-door work that I can say quite confidently that I have a decent sense of the average voter's sentiments, at least over much of the Northeast U.S.
The reason Democrats get beaten so badly is that they have no spine. That is what people say on the street, and it is largely true. Turn-out is low because of this. We do not get out our base( i.e. the poor and urban voters, minorities, etc.) because we do not give them a a reason to vote!
I do not 100% agree with lamont, but his victory is very important symbolically. i think you are other dlc type people are making a big mistake by misinterpreting it. what it shows is that the base, the activists, the people like me who bust their asses for the party, are sick and tired of busting our asses and then being betrayed by ignorant Dems who stand for nothing.
If the U.S. electoral system were not so utterly corrupt and poorly designed, it would be like Germany, where there are 5 or 6 parties to accomodate people with different views. The two party system is corrupt and terrible in every way. Voters know this. Party affiliation has declined dramtically in the past several decades. I will dig up some stats to prove this, but I read it over and over in my poli-sci textbooks.
In an ideal world, people like Lieberman would be in some centrist party, most in the GOP would be in a conservative party, and people like me in a far left party.That is how it works in Germany, and it is much better. It is true that the Dems
lose due to lack of loyalty, but it is also true that Lieberman is terrible and does not get out the base. Lieberman is doing the party a disservice if he runs as an independent. I do not see how lamont helps the Rethugs. They may laugh because we are fighting amongst ourselves, but as long as Lieberman steps aside, it does not matter.
Personally, i am laughing at the GOP now because they have shot themselves in the foot. People have finally woken up to the hypocrisy and are sick of it. My prediction is that Dems take back one, if not two houses, and have a good chance at the presidency in 08, as long as they do not run someone terrible.
All i know is that I want to take back the Senate and House and get the Republicans out of the White House. That, and we need to start bringing our troops home immediately. And Joe Lieberman does nothing to achieve either of those goals.
