Lamont Beats Lieberman for Connecticut Democrats’ Senate Nomination

Ned Lamont won the primary election held in Connecticut yesterday, defeating three-term Senator Joe Lieberman for the Democratic Party’s nomination for the seat Lieberman holds. The man who held the second spot on the party’s ticket for the 2000 general election lost to a man whose public service is limited to 8 years as selectman of Greenwich, Connecticut. Senator Lieberman’s support for Mr. Bush’s War in Iraq is the reason.

Senator Lieberman was one of the civil rights workers in Mississippi in the 1960s, and for that, he deserves the admiration of every civilized human being. However, his moral compass wandered after that. He denounced President Clinton’s boorish behavior in the Oval Office with Ms. Lewinsky (rightly so), but he cannot bring himself to condemn the war of aggression Mr. Bush launched on a false pretense. As a very pro-Israel politician (and an orthodox Jew), one might think the Green Zone government’s support for Hezbollah’s resistance to Israel’s military actions of the last month might cause him to question the president’s Iraq policy, but Senator Joe doesn’t seem to see the tension.

In his concession speech, Mr. Lieberman said he was disappointed that the old politics of partisan division won out. It was a sad thing to see. Bipartisanship is a noble thing in the cause of right, but in the poor execution of bad policy, bipartisanship is tantamount to betraying the Republic’s foundations. Most of the American people believe the war in Iraq was a mistake, and the troops need to come home (or at least redeploy to Kuwait). Mr. Lieberman’s bipartisanship contradicts the will of the people, which violates the spirit of democratic government.

Ned Lamont won 52% of the primary vote by campaigning against President Bush as well as Mr. Lieberman. In their televised debate last month, Mr. Lamont told the senator, “if you won't challenge President Bush and his failed agenda, I will.” He attacked the senator’s vote in favor of the “Bush/Cheney/Lieberman energy bill.” Mr. Lieberman made a big deal out of voting with his party in the Senate 90% of the time. Unfortunately, the Senate is full of other Vichy Democrats who believe collaboration is the best means to retain their positions. Moreover, the 10% of the time he voted against the party was on substantive matters like Iraq and energy. Voting with the party on a matter of procedure is nothing.

Mr. Lieberman says he will fight on, running as an independent. His theory is Mr. Lamont can’t pick up any more support than he already has, and Connecticut has a tradition of voting for mavericks without party backing (e.g., Lowell Weicker). Still, the Democratic Establishment is already lining up behind Mr. Lamont, and Mr. Lamont is a multi-millionaire (having spent $4 million of his own money on the primary campaign). He could well lose in November to either Mr. Lieberman or the Republican nominee Alan Schlesinger but for now, the political class is on notice; backing the war in Iraq is a losing position.

© Copyright 2006 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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