A Rant About Lieberman and the Midterm Election

I must admit that, at first, the recent Lieberman/Lamont skirmish in CT had me quite worried that the Democratic Party would be powerless against the post-primary squawking by GOP staffers and right-wing pundits. I was worried that the usual bile like “latte liberal,” “soft on terror,” and “McGovernites with modems” would finally resonate beyond controllable levels. All the talk of Lieberman being the VP candidate six short years ago as well as his decent liberal record on everything but Iraq had me saying “now is a bad time to target this guy, even if he is disastrously disappointing on the war issue.”

However, I have changed my tune. I have realized that Lieberman’s primary loss is a sign of a party that has the courage to make changes in difficult times. Low and behold, votes and grassroots mobilization still count in this great nation. Incumbency, ego, and corporate cash don’t always win, at least not in the Democratic Party. Fact is: the Democratic Party is the only major party left in this country that has any real concern for the democratic process, effective governance, and basic reality. I admit that there has been some trouble campaigning against the fear and smear tactics of Karl Rove. However, while Rove’s methods have won the GOP some elections in the last few cycles, his party is a total disaster when it comes to actually doing the job the American people hired them to do. Let’s see, well the list of incompetence is far too long for this piece but Katrina, Iraq, basic oversight, and hordes of bloated ear-marks come to mind. Not only has the GOP leadership betrayed the American people; they have betrayed the principles of their own party.Many people shout about the division in the Democratic Party and the difficulty in crafting a sound message. Yes, there is some interest group friction within the party and messaging has been lackluster but at least when the Dems are in control of the government, the American people are better off. When the Democratic Party is in control, good things happen. The New Deal, The New Frontier, Soviet containment, Medicare, Civil Rights, Welfare Reform, The Family Leave Act. What has the modern Republican Party done for the American People, for the common good? They have done nothing and the American people know it. They can’t even get national security right and it’s their signature issue.

Some have said that Lieberman was challenged for being too hawkish about the fiasco in Iraq. He was challenged because he aligned himself too closely with a party and a President that is a total failure in all areas of governing. Lieberman should have known better that primary voters would not accept his alliance with failure. Lieberman can squawk all he wants about bipartisanship. Doing business with pampered rich boys who can’t do their job gets the country no where. He was not purged, he was rejected.

With that rejection in mind, the American people are ready this fall to once again embrace the Party that made America the envy of the world. Incompetence and failure will no longer rule the day. The modern GOP is a massive fraudulent wasteland and fear and smear can’t cover it up this time.

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