I'm talking to you, Joe.
Now that you have become the self-selected candidate of the "Connecticut for Lieberman" (C4L) Party and are running against the elected Democratic nominee for Senate, the gloves are off.
Like most Kossacks, I was prepared to support the winner of the primary. Even after you created your own little 25-person vanity party to use as a runaway craft in case the primary voters rejected you. Even then, if you had won the Democratic Party endorsement I would have urged people to vote for you.
Like many others, I had urged you to forego a run on your vanity party. (No, it is not an "independent" run. Connecticut law provided for independents getting onto the ballot with no party identification. You could have filed as an Independent candidate. But you found that you could get a slightly better position on the ballot by creating C4L. That's the contempt you have for political parties, Joe: you create them as temporary personal vehicles of convenience--and leave them when they no longer give you everything you want.)
When I asked you remain a Democrat
I was deferential and respectful. But today I'm playing the Bad Cop. (I suspect the Lamont campaign and the party leadership will be adopting the Good Cop role.) Now that you have started a campaign against the Democratic nominee, here are a few things you can expect:
- We'll be putting a spotlight on your Republican cheerleaders, Joe. There is a video of clips from your biggest fans -- Bush, Cheney, Hannity, Coulter, many others. It didn't appear on TV during the primary campaign, because we wanted to be able to support you if you were the Democratic nominee. That's no longer an issue. Now Connecticut will see just who loves ya, baby.
- You do a great job of stabbing your friends in the back all by yourself, Joe. After Bill Clinton and Barbara Boxer tarnished their own progressive credentials to campaign for you, you sneered after the primary that "endorsements don't seem to do much good." Then you spouted your usual slurs about people with Boxer's view of the war -- the "anti-security wing". And of course, you "fired" your campaign staff after your own pitiful performance lost the race. (I know, you didn't really fire all of them--many of them privately told you that they are loyal Democrats and wouldn't follow you as the C4L nominee. And you didn't have the integrity to publicly thank them, and tell people the truth.) Anyone who gets close to your campaign sullies themselves--your use of Max Cleland was particularly vile. But we will ensure that it gets worse now. Senator Pryor is looking into whether he can transfer some of his own campaign chest to you. If he does, we will make sure that everyone knows that a donation to Pryor may get spent to defeat Democrats.
- Who is funding you, Joe? That is usually not a major story in a campaign. It will be this year. GOP candidates are pledging to give you money; we'll be on top of that. The Pennsylvania Green Party Candidate for Senate was entirely funded by the Republican Party. What about C4L? You wanted to talk about issues? That issue is on the table, Joe: your personal corruption.
- Who are you going to caucus with if you manage to win in a three-way split, Joe? A lot of us will be telling the Democratic caucus: Don't let someone who ran against a Democratic nominee into the Democratic caucus. That was an issue once before: when NY Conservative Party nominee James Buckley beat Goodell in a three-way race, Lowell Weicker didn't want to let Buckey into the GOP caucus. Surely you remember that, Joe: it was a major reason for the right-wing Buckley mob getting behind you to defeat Weicker. We'll be making the case to keep you out of the Caucus during the campaign. You can explain to the voters whether you will join the Republicans.
- The new campaign staff you hire, Joe? They will be poison to any candidate who hopes to appeal to progressive voters. Their names will be known, and the C4L work won't be forgotten.
As your best buddy says, Joe:
Bring.
It.
On.