The Albany Times Union
ran a column today by Gannett News columnist Richard Benedetto titled
Democrats step back from centrist Lieberman
It opens with the premise that the Democratic party is being taken over by Extremists
We hear and read a lot about the disappearance of centrist or moderate Republicans. But that moderate breed is becoming endangered in the Democratic Party, too.
Case in point: Connecticut Democratic Sen. Joe Lieberman, who is fighting to survive an intraparty challenge from activist liberals who don't like his middle-of-the-road stands, particularly on Iraq, and want to punish him.
Notice how supporting the Iraq war is "middle-of-the-road"? I guess he doesn't pay attention to polls. He then goes on to say that Lieberman's comments on his support of the war "incensed" the blogosphere
The remarks incensed not only many fellow Democratic members of Congress, but also hard-core liberals who vent their hatred of Bush in the blogosphere, where political discourse knows little civility.
I of course expected him to then blame the Daily Kos but he really went reaching for an example
"If Lieberman admires Bush so much, he should make it official and switch parties," said a posting on the Tennessee Guerilla Women Web site. "The Dems have enough problems without this traitor in the ranks." In Connecticut, several anti-Lieberman Web sites have sprung up.
That's right, those people at the Tennessee Guerilla Women Web site made some comments about Lieberman and apparently it shook the roots of the Democratic establishment. And Richard doesn't like this one bit. He doesn't think someone like Lieberman should have put up with this because of how it will damage the democratic party. The money quote
Even if Lamont fails, as is likely, he is helping to set a tone within the party that independent thinkers who stand on principle are not welcome.
This is the part I think is dangerous. This whole piece is way off the mark but for him to say that Lieberman is the independent thinker as opposed to Lamont is a load of crap. I'm concerned this piece is showing up in all of the Gannett related papers since it is in a New York paper. Did anyone else see it? Perhpas someone from the Lamont campaign could ask to write a piece responding to it? I'm not a Lieberman/Lamont expert so I figured someone else could take a better crack at responding. The writer's e-mail was included in the print version (rbenedet at gannett.com)