It certainly wasn't because I liked Rick Lazio. I was every bit as liberal in 2000 as I am today. I didn't like the idea of voting for a Republican, nor contributing at all to the neo-con movement that was approaching full steam back then.
So, why did I vote for Rick Lazio in 2000? Solely to stop Hillary in her tracks in her transparent carpetbagging chess moves toward the presidency. Unfortunately, she picked the right state to move to...one that almost certainly would vote for her...and my preventative measures failed. So here we are today. Hillary for President 2008.
As much as I have issues with Scott McClellan's delay in telling the truth about the Bush administration, there is one core concept he brings up that hits the nail right on the head for me. That is the concept of a permanent campaign...one that we can all tell today Hillary is every bit as guilty of as the Bush Administration. Hillary's permanent campaign used New York as a stepping stone...and as a result, New York (through Hillary) voted to authorize the war in Iraq because Hillary was hedging her bets for the Presidency.
Yes, I know the first thing that comes to people's minds is that Rick Lazio would have advocated for the war...and probably would have been one of Bush's lapdogs, right along with Rick Santorum and Trent Lott. And you're right. My vote supported that poison.
But saving the Democratic Party was more important to me. For some reason, I had a feeling that Hillary would end up being the disgrace to the party that she has been in this year's primary election.
If you're an ethical liberal, how can you possibly sit back and let Hillary get away with the outright lying, deception...propaganda she has for the most part gotten away with in this campaign? This type of campaign is a cancer that we need to cut out of the Democratic Party.
Yes, Hillary has done many good things for this country. She has been an advocate of civil rights (in most cases), and a feisty proponent of the Democratic platform. But to me, the way she is conducting herself in this campaign is so atrocious it speaks to something more important to me than policy or legislation...Ethics in American Politics.
So, what's my point? We need to find an "adequate" New York Democrat to run against Hillary in the 2012 Democratic Primary. Her permanent campaign for power and ego needs to be put to bed for good.