no, that's not a typo. This Lieberman just happens to be a woman, a state senator named Ida Ruben. Like the senator, Ida has been in office a long time, over 30 years. Like Joe, Ida has grown out of touch as well as increasingly ineffective.
Since January, Jamie Raskin has been running against Ida Ruben. Jamie is a law professor at American University in DC, a leading scholar of constitutional law for many years, and has worked on civil rights, labor rights, tenant rights, student rights and voting rights. He started a program putting law school students into local high schools to talk about the Constitution. Our campaign has widely been described as the most effective grassroots campaign Montgomery County has ever seen. The Raskin campaign has received over 1,300 donations totaling $175,000, all from individuals -- he doesn't take corporate contributions.
The first similarity between Lieberman and Ruben is that they both have an opponent whose last name starts with the same letter as them.
See some additional similarities between the "L" and the "R" on the flip.
since January, we've been surging and she's been panicking. Sounds familiar, right? Reminds me of two other candidates whose last names start with the same letter -- I think it was "L" in that case.
So we're having a fight between two Democrats, right? She's a Democrat, sure, we just don't think she's a very good one.
And Jamie Raskin's a Democrat. He fights for the little guy, and has for 20 years. You surely wouldn't accuse him of being "not a Democrat," would you?
Ida Ruben would, though. She sent out a mailing that arrived today, claiming that Jamie Raskin, champion of the little guy all these years, is "not even a real Democrat."
Wow, that's news to all the Democrats supporting Jamie Raskin. Why, Senator Ruben, do tell us why Jamie Raskin isn't a "real Democrat." What possible reason could there be? Other than the fact that he's beating you, that is.
Here it is:
Democrats have had a hard time winning national elections lately, and Jamie Raskin's had a lot to do with that. Raskin worked against Bill Clinton and Al Gore, helping put George W. Bush into office through his support of third party candidates like conservative Ross Perot.
Raskin's even stood with radical pro-life groups that intimidate women and doctors. That's not the kind of Democrat Montgomery County needs. In fact, that's not a Democrat at all.
And what support for these claims does Ida Ruben proffer? That Jamie Raskin, who is a lawyer, (1) represented Ross Perot in his efforts to be part of the presidential debate in 1996, and (2) that he, again as a lawyer, submitted a brief to the Supreme Court arguing that the RICO statute shouldn't apply to civil disobedience, whether from abortion clinic protesters or from non-violent left-wing protesters. I happen to agree with his position in both cases. And in the clinic case, he wasn't representing the clinic protester, but a group of unions and environmentalists. Does Ida Ruben think they're undemocratic, too?
In short, a lawyer who has done nothing but stand up for civil rights isn't a "real Democrat" according to Ida Ruben. So, dear readers, do you think civil rights are "un-Democratic"? Are they Republican? Really, Senator Ruben?
This is repulsive, arrogant, lying, smearing tactics worthy not only of Joe Lieberman, but of Karl Rove. Most importantly, it's desperate and it's a lie. Have you ever seen an incumbent say something like this about a challenger (pre-Lieberman, that is)? This Swift Boat tactic must be seen in context -- Senator Ruben is falling behind in the polls, and needs to do something to distract attention from her increasing ineffectiveness and inability to attract support from the voters of her own District. So she stoops to smearing her opponent with not being a good Democrat when he has simply stood up for civil rights -- everyone's rights, including hers.
One of the tactics of the Ruben campaign has been to collect endorsements from elected officials, often by way of threats and coercion. Congressman Ben Cardin, Congressman Steny Hoyer, Congressman Al Wynn, Senator Barbara Mikulski, County Executive Doug Duncan, Takoma Park Mayor Kathy Porter, County Council President George Leventhal, and many others have supported Ida Ruben, however reluctantly, and now they're going to have to answer for it. I am going to be contacting every one of the above, and anyone else I can think of, to see what they think of a Democratic incumbent accusing her Democratic opponent of "not being a real Democrat" for standing up for civil rights.
If the Democratic Party of Maryland agrees with Senator Ruben, and civil rights is no longer a belwether issue for our party, I think there's a lot of people out there who'd like to know that. And if criticizing someone for standing up for civil rights is still acceptable in the Democratic Party, that's news to me.