Lieberman Doesn't Get It

Okay, here is a question: if Bill Clinton had kissed a Republican Senator would the GOP have supported that Senator or run him out of the party? If there were liberal commentators on cable news who are as liberal as O'Reilly and Hannity are conservative and they endorsed the Clinton-kissing Senator would Republicans continue to regard that person as a Republican? If our hypothetical Republican Senator went on television after losing a primary to a fellow Republican and announced that he was not going to honor the results of the primary but would run as an independent would Republicans still support that Senator? The answer to all those questions is a resounding NO. Why then do right-wing commentators believe that Democrats should feel bad about Lieberman's defeat or back him against Lamont in November?

In the coming months Democrats may hear Republicans tell us that the defeat of Lieberman tells us something about the Democratic Party. Such claims will be bs. What the defeat of Lieberman shows is that Democrats want their elected officials to oppose Bush. They want him opposed on the Iraqi War, on his plans to privatize Social Security, on his plans to turn America's schools over to private companies, on just about everything he stands for or supports. Democrats want their elected officials to be an opposition party, not an accommodation party.

Make no mistake about it, a accommodationist is exactly what Joe Lieberman was and is in the Senate. Anytime Fox News wants a Democrat to come on their shows and tell America what was wrong with the Democratic Party, Joe is the person they call. This was the person who blasted Bill Clinton on getting oral sex from an intern, but can't seem to find it in his heart to criticize George Bush's illegal power grabs. This was the person who wouldn't be tough with Cheney during the their debate in 2000, but was willing to be tough on Ned Lamont, a fellow Democrat. This was the person who said that Kerry shouldn't challenge the results of the 2004 election yet now wants to run as an independent after losing the Democratic Primary.

In the short run the mainstream media will portray this as some sort of set back for the Democratic Party. Of course these are the same geniuses who said that Clinton was toast in 1992, that he would be a one term president, that the public wanted Congress to impeach him, that Gore would get rolled by Bush in 2000 and that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. In the long run the Democratic Party is better off without him.
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