Hat tip: Drudge
No comments needed. The Donks speak for themselves. (There's a reason they have an ass as a symbol.)
In today's intense Democratic politics in Connecticut, "The Kiss" does not refer to great works of art. Speak of "The Kiss" and you conjure up an embrace immediately after the President's State of the Union address in January 2005. The embrace was between George Bush and the state's junior senator, Joe Lieberman. A better name for it would be the kiss of Judas - or the kiss of death.
Mr Lieberman is one of the Democratic Party's grandees, a vice-presidential candidate in 2000 who, two years later, ran for President. Today, however, he is in the fight of his life; a senator of 18 years standing who must endure the ignominy of a primary against a dangerous challenger who has built his campaign on his opposition to the war in Iraq.
The candidate himself remembers his brush with Bush slightly differently. "I don't think he kissed me," he told Time magazine. "He leaned over, gave me a hug, and said, 'Thank you for being a patriotic American.'"
But in anti-Bush and anti-war Connecticut, the dispute is academic. Bush's alleged words only remind voters of Mr Leiberman's still unwavering support for the invasion of 2003. "He's a Republican mole in the Democratic party," says Pravil Banker, director of a financial company and a man who in other circumstances might be a natural Lieberman supporter. "He's the guy who goes on [Republican-supporting] Fox News. He's the tame Democrat that even conservatives can stomach.
| We do like him, don't we. |
The Lamont-Lieberman struggle is a battlefield in the civil war within his party. The race will set the tone for the mid-term election campaign this autumn, and have a large bearing on the contest for the Democratic nomination for the White House in 2008.
If all that sounds oddly familiar, it is. In 2004, a similar conflict played out, as the populist Howard Dean, a previously little known governor of Vermont became the darling of the activists. Propelled by internet-raised millions and the enthusiasm of his volunteer supporters from across the country, the governor briefly seemed a sure thing for his party's nomination. Moderates were horrified. A vote for Mr Dean, warned Mr Lieberman, would be "a ticket for nowhere", that could sent the party "back to the political wilderness for a long time".
| Turned out Joe was wrong, voting for either Dean or Kerry had the same result because the nutroots are the same regardless. |
Today the roles are reversed. The bloggers and activists have rallied behind Mr Lamont, making him the symbol of what Markos Moulitsas, founder of the Daily Kos, current king of the liberal blogs, calls "the people-powered movement".
Daily Kos, and organisations like Moveon.org, have thrown all their energies into toppling Mr Lieberman. The primary outcome will thus also be a measure of the true influence of the blogs, held by some to be the new arbiters of American politics. Alas however, even the vote count on the evening of 8 August may not settle things.
More at the link. More proof (if you need it) that the Dems are f#@*ing NUTS. |