Well I woke up today and saw
this diary by Armando going after me for being insufficienty outraged about Lieberman considering running as an independent. Armando's a smart guy, but I think he
misread my
blog post on Lieberman's strategic outlook.
First, here are my bona fides in terms of attacking Lieberman and standing up for the Democratic Party brand. I went to Connecticut to meet Ned Lamont a few months ago, I did a fair amount of research on CT state politics, I gave $500 to Lamont, I've attacked issue groups that support Lieberman and I met with the DSCC to see what their plans are. I just reported today that Dean won't back Lieberman if he runs as an independent. Lieberman is an outrageously bad man, and I've put my time, my money, and my effort where my mouth is.
More on the flip.
Here are some quotes
from me on Lieberman:
"exceptionally weak as a man"
"These catastrophes can be managed, they will in fact have to be managed. But Lieberman cannot be trusted to manage them, because he has proven himself, through his political choices, to be an awful awful 'friend' of the environment. And certainly no leader."
"As a nice and cowardly man, he just cares about the sensitivities of those surrounding him. And since those who surround him are a mix of corrupt lobbyists and right-wing nutcases, his decisions are awful and morally cruel. And that's where Lieberman is today. He's a cruel, callow, weak little man. He needs to go.
"Everyone knows the government failed. The city is, you know, underwater. The issue here is Bush lying about what he knew and when he knew it so he could protect himself. It's about a cowardly, crybaby President and Republican elite who can't take responsibility for taking naps during national tragedies, and the men who love them."
"Lieberman's got his stooges whining about democracy."
"Lieberman makes this case very hard, because he is forcing Democrats running in these districts to explicitly disavow this argument. It's really a nasty self-serving pattern of putting himself before others in nearly all cases. Lieberman does this to Senators, and isn't well-liked in the Senate, but this is a clear example where Lieberman at the top of the ticket is jeopardizing two pick-ups in the House for Dems. So next time I hear that we are 'wasting' resources by going after a Democrat like Joe Lieberman, I'm going to point to this. Lieberman's presence in the race means we are less likely to take the House back because he gives cover to moderate Republicans in his own backyard."
"There's more, but there's a clear pattern here of failed, cowardly judgment on Lieberman's part. He's just out of touch, and not a leader anymore."
"It's not just the consistent Bush-kissing, it's how he grandstands against Alito and the Bankruptcy Bill and then votes for cloture, the only real vote that matters. It is, in short, how Lieberman has no principle, no vision, and no ability to lead this country in the right direction."
Joe Lieberman is an abhorrent and bad man. I've made this clear. So why did Armando attack me on this?
My only guess is that he took my political analysis about what Joe Lieberman is likely to do based on his own political advantages, and imputed support for Lieberman leaving the party. I don't support Lieberman bolting the party. I think he's a coward, and I've said so on many occasions. That doesn't change the fact that from his perspective it's probably not a bad move. And you can be sure that the folks in CT are looking at it nervously as well; I mean there are House seats in play, and these are impacted both message-wise and money-wise by what Joe decides. We should be aware of these ramifications and consider what to do should he bolt the party.
Brainwave says it best:
I see you really didn't get Stoller's point. Lemme break it down for you then. Joementum is in trouble in the primary, but would be a shoe-in for the general, due to his popularity among rethugs and indies. If he runs as an independent, chances are he'll defeat Lamont handily. Then what? If we wind up claiming 50 seats, we'd have to basically beg Joementum to elect Harry Reid majority leader. In other words, his power would only increase.
So what Stoller is saying is that running as an Indie must look pretty desirable to ol' Joe. In other words, this isn't an empty threat - it's a very plausible and viable scenario for Joe. And therefore, we shouldn't take it as an empty threat. We should take it seriously and think about how to counter it, how to neutralize it.
I think we should figure out how to knock out the pillars of Lieberman's power. That means planning NOW for the possibility that Lieberman will bolt the party. What happens to all the institutional support for Lieberman? I'm not sure, but heck, we're going to need that support or something in its place. But we can't make plans like this if we can't look at what Joe might do based on his public statements based on Maoist sensibilities of what can and can't be discussed.
We can both be horrified by someone, and seek to understand their motivations so we can figure out how to beat them.