Howard Dean to Joe Lieberman: Please drop out and endorse Ned Lamont

[patrioticliberal]

Dear Fellow Democrat,

Ned Lamont -- that's the name of the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate from Connecticut. He defeated Senator Joe Lieberman yesterday in a hard-fought primary election.

There's been a lot said about this race and what it means for our party, so I wanted to get a few things straight.

One big issue in this race was the war in Iraq. Like the vast majority of Americans, Ned Lamont believes that "staying the course" will only drive America and Iraq deeper into disaster.

Lamont's courage and conviction on Iraq will make him a good Senator. But his positions on all the important issues -- on Iraq, but also balancing the budget, getting every American health insurance, and solving the energy crisis -- will make him a great Senator. These are not just the values of the Democratic Party, they are mainstream American values, and they are Ned Lamont's values.

After his loss, Joe Lieberman announced his intention to run as an independent. That's the wrong thing to do.

Ned Lamont won fair and square. We have a process, and those who participate in it should respect the outcome. Joe Lieberman should respect the Democratic voters' decision. He has to do what all of us who have lost an election have done: support the winner.

Our party is united on a new direction for our country. Joe Lieberman has been nominated for Senate by Democratic voters three times, and has served admirably for 18 years. But this moment in our country's history demands that we be unified.

This race wasn't about ideology. Ned Lamont succeeded because of participation politics -- he talked plainly and honestly with the people of Connecticut, and his campaign engaged in the kind of neighbor-to-neighbor organizing that has reinvigorated our party across the country.

Over a quarter-million people voted in the Democratic primary in Connecticut yesterday. Among those taking part in that exceptionally high voter turnout were tens of thousands of people who are new to our party. Voters included Republicans and Independents joining the Democratic Party and others registering for the first time and choosing to be Democrats.

That bodes well for our chances not just in Connecticut but everywhere that people like you have been working to build this party from the ground up.

We've got to be unified through November.

Thank you,
Howard

Governor Howard Dean, M.D.
Chairman, Democratic National Committee

http://americablog.blogspot.com/2006/08/howard-dean-joe-lieberman-is-wrong-to.html

[movonne]

1. The problem is, he is not a man, he is a weasel....

[The Straight Story]

2. Don't be like Kerry! Stand up and fight

It was rigged I tell ya. Joe was screwed!

Oh wait. Just kidding. Passing along a KICK!

[Sequoia]

Joe, do the Independents even want you?

And what's this I hear about Ralph Nader wanting to run. Forget it Ralph mouth.

[KurtNYC]

3. So he didn't really use the phrase "be a man"

whew! I hate that phrase. It is usually interchangeable with "be a sucker." In my epxerience when there is no contractual, rational or moral reason to be cited, they fall back to "be a man."

And it's sexist to boot.

[SaveElmer]

4. "We've got to be unified through November"

Everyone should take this to heart!

[DianaForRussFeingold]

5. Joe,What are you waiting for?

[welshTerrier2]

6. finally, a leading Dem gets it right

i'm no big fan of Howard Dean ... but his clear call for Lieberman to get out of the race is exactly what we should be hearing from all our party leaders ...

i'm not quite sure how Dean squares his statements that the primary was about the war and about universal health "insurance" and about it being time for a "new direction" and about energy policy with his seemingly out of place statement that the election was not about ideology ...

nevertheless, kudos to Dean for getting this one right ...

[FreeStateDemocrat]

7. Howard Dean, a responsible voice of reason and common sense..

[dazzlerazzle]

8. lieberman votes

if he voted for the bankruptcy bill when his vote was not even
necessary for it to pass, how does that sit with middle or
lower income working people in his state??  He would have been
better served to vote no.
Also his undermining the president speech sounded condecending
to me, as if democrats shouldn,t have a right to another
opinion unless it agrees with his.

[dolstein]

9. Lieberman voted against the bankruptcy bill.

http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=109&session=1&vote=00044

17 Democrats voted for the bankruptcy bill, including Harry Reid. Joe Lieberman didn't.

Please try to get your facts straight.

Now perhaps you intended to refer to the cloture vote. Lieberman supported cloture on the Bankruptcy bill, as did 13 other Senators.

http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=109&session=1&vote=00029

The Democrats fell nine votes short of defeating the cloture motion, so it's not as if Lieberman's vote alone changed the outcome. Do I wish Lieberman and the other Democrats voted against cloture? Sure. But for some reason, Lieberman is the only person people around here blame for the passage of the bankruptcy bill.