Time to stop obsessing over Lieberman!!!

[beaconess]

Although it's impossible to tell by reading the DU board, the Connecticut Senate race is NOT the only race in the country. There are a number of critical contests across the country which could have a tremendous impact on the balance of the House and Senate. Among them: Ohio, Montana, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Missouri, where we have excellent chances of knocking off the Republican incumbent. In addition, there are at least 15 House races in which the Democratic challenger stands a good chance of defeating the Republican incumbent.

The Lieberman race was energizing and continues to be interesting. But this obsession has blown way out of proportion and, if it continues, could threaten our chances of taking back the House and Senate.

Get a grip, people! Stop playing into Rove's hands by pouring all of our energy, resources and hearts into one race at the expense of other crucial contests!

[Cronus Protagonist]

1. I wish you would take your own advice

:evilgrin:



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[Phredicles]

2. But it's fun!

I didn't realize how much I hated the old coot until I saw there was a chance he'd be gone. Short of Bush getting impeached or arrested, it's hard to imagine what would be more of a hoot.

[saltpoint]

3. Lamont versus Lieberman is the political story of the year so far.

It's going to take a lot to knock it out of first place, too.

[Imagevision]

4. I agree, how many US. troops were killed this week in Iraq/Afgan?

What plans are being made for an immediate withdrw of our troops once the Civil war spreads??

[FredScuttle]

5. Ah yes....the telltale "stop playing into Rove's hands" warning

In case you're wondering, Lamont is behind in the polls. A little more attention to the CT senate race is appropriate, I think.

[InvisibleTouch]

6. I think the obsession is because of his betrayal of his own.

What's worse - an enemy who has always been an enemy, always on the opposing side, always attacking you - or an enemy who was once a friend, or at least claimed to be? I hate the latter infinitely more. That's why it's stirring up so much emotion and attention, IMO.

[ChipsAhoy]

16. Nail - Head! Thank you!

I'm with you all the way! A traitor is much worse than a known enemy!!!

[OhioBlue]

7. I agree...

I've tried to stay out of the Lieberman / Lamont threads... since I'm in Ohio, of course, I'm wishing more attention was being paid to Ohio races. Strickland was 22 points ahead of Blackwell in the latest poll I saw... things are looking promising, but we still have 3 months. I'm also surprised DUers are not taking interest in 1. defeating Blackwell for Governor, 2. Electing Jennifer Brunner as SOS so we do not have the Republican debacle in our swing state that we did in '04 and 3. Electing Sherrod Brown over Mike Dewine - a very winnable Senate seat for Dems.. (last poll showed Brown 8 points ahead of DeWine)

Of course, since I'm from Ohio, my point of view is a little biased...

I would much rather give my money and efforts to Brown to defeat DeWine than Lamont to defeat Leiberman... I feel kinda jealous of CT - we are treading water in Ohio... Republicans rule everything... wish we had a conservative dem to worry about...

[beaconess]

10. I feel your pain!

Your point about Ohio is dead on - those races there are critical and winnable, but will need lots of work. Unfortunately, so much attention is being focused on the Lamont/Lieberman race that it seems that Ohio and the other pivotal races have been kicked to the curb.

Let's hope that the obsession with the Connecticut race dies down before it sucks any more air out of the other races.

[OhioBlue]

22. I second that

let's hope that obsession over the CT race dies down... There are pivotal races this year. We can win a Dem majority, but we need to rally - we need the grassroots, netroots, Dem establishment to all work toward defeating Republicans. Lieberman was never my favorite Dem, but I would never have considered donating money or effort to defeating him over defeating Republicans... especially that POS Blackwell...

[dolstein]

8. If the DU community were pro-Democrat, as opposed to anti-Lieberman

they would heed what you have to say.

[Bjorn Against]

9. And you have not obsessed over Lieberman?

Come on, I see you on all the Lieberman threads putting out defenses of him. You call us anti-Democrat, when we are the ones that are supporting the Democrat in the race, and you are supporting the man who is running against the Democrat and has been praised by the likes of Ann Coulter, Sean Hannity, Dick Cheney, and Bush himself.

[beaconess]

12. being pro-Democrat means more than just supporting the one Democrat

who is running against Lieberman. There are numerous other Democrats running across the country who are getting scant attention or support on DU. Focusing so much attention on the Democrat who's running against Lieberman does make some DUers appear to be more anti-Lieberman than pro-Democrat.

[saltpoint]

13. I doubt your claim. I believe many DU folks are volunteering AND

supporting with time and cash their local Dem candidates in a variety of races and plan to vote accordingly in November.

I don't see anything at all backing up your slam on Democrats on DU. Maybe you aren't doing anything. Doesn't mean the rest of us aren't.

[beaconess]

17. It's great if people are doing something - but the chatter on DU tells

a different story.

If you don't see backup for what I'm saying, you're not reading the boards - which are inundated with anti-Lieberman, pro-Lamont threads.

[saltpoint]

18. Have you contacted every paper in the nation? In Europe/

How about the electronic news outlets?

Because they are at least as keyed to the CT race as we are.

And properly so.

I think you're off-track on this one, beaconess.

We're multi-taskers around here. We can do more than one thing at once.

[neoblues]

43. It seems there's not as much to talk about...

in many of the other races; and perhaps that's what we need--to build a 'story' around every one of them, and bring it to people's attention with the request they seek to spread the stories to other forums or whatever other ways they can be popularized.

It seems that political races really do need some kind of story or narrative to capture the attention and imaginations of more people. Most of what we get is just so and so is leading or trailing by some percentage. Instead, at least regarding competitive races (especially those in which we're trailing so far), maybe what we need is more information such as this republican is known for such and such while the Democratic challenger is known for this, and we're (or we aren't) the underdog with a real chance because our guy/gal stands out in this or that way or for this or that reason and might best be seen as popularly the better choice if only we do this or that... or whatever.

So, if you live in a state/district with a Republican representative, especially if we have a competitive challenger, see if you can summarize the situation, present any unique features, identify the biggest issues to the race as well as any Republican weaknesses and/or any advantages the Democratic challenger enjoys and tell the story. If you have any suggestions for netroots or others or whatever, be sure to include them. One need not convince us that the Democrat deserves to win, but we may need to convince others. Anyway, that's just the sense I get for why other races don't get even a small fraction of what the Lamont/Lieberman contest does--aside from the important and obvious fact that it is a compelling story (seemingly with elements of Biblical epics such as David vs Goliath & Judas Iscariot, as well as generally good vs evil, truth vs deception, peace vs war, youth vs age and more) with a high-profile, provocative (unfortunately Republican-like (otherwise spelled asinine)) target that is liked by our enemies. More than enough of a 'story' there; enough so that it might well be considered Historically significant one day--especially if he's defeated. I doubt seriously that anyone can make the other races as interesting in terms of story elements, and there is a story behind every one of them--but we aren't hearing much of anything about them.

The Ohio story behind Blackwell ought to be one that does have enough details by now of efforts to subvert an already corrupted process--corrupted by the Republican candidate himself (Blackwell), which is one reason the story should be compelling. Still, while one can research the issue and find the details, it doesn't seem we're getting a sufficient freqency of posts. Perhaps the modest media attention to the corrupt situation in progress in Ohio is one of the sub-plots, but what's the story...

"Once upon a time, in a state not so very far away... the forces of the Empire sought to appoint a governor by means of the corrupt electoral processes put in place by the evil gubernatorial nominee himself. The forces of good sought to restore the truth, but were met by the Empire's division of dirty tricks at every turn... Things were looking desperate, but...". And the new Federation spread out across time, reaping the benefit of the reduction of corruption, until once again the forces of the dark side were prepared to subvert their institutions once more...

But really, what's the story?

[Bjorn Against]

32. Then why are you spending so much time on Lieberman threads?

I just used the Search function to look up your recent posts, and the majority of them were dealing with Lieberman. At least 14 of the 21 threads listed that you posted on dealt with the Lieberman race.

If you don't want us to focus so much on it, then I would suggest you turn your attention to other races as well.

[saltpoint]

11. Turns out, CT Dems voted for Lamont in the primary.

Pro-Democrats would get behind the voters' choice.

[dolstein]

14. Pro-Lieberman Dems believe they are Pro-Democrat

You may disagree, but good luck convincing them otherwise. Seriously, Lamont has been trashing their favored candidate (and, by extention, them) for months. Why should they turn on a dime and support Lamont, especially when Lieberman appears to be well-positioned for a competitive general election campaign?

[saltpoint]

19. It may bear repeating, but Ned Lamont won the Democratic nomination

this past Tuesday.

Honest to god he did.

[Zorra]

35. I believe that the majority of Lamont supporters would support Lieberman

if Lieberman had won the primary.

And Ned Lamont would have graciously acknowledged and endorsed Joe Lieberman as the Democratic nominee.

It appears very likely that Joe Lieberman has corrupt ulterior motives for running as an Independent.

[dolstein]

37. Only because Lamont couldn't win in the general election

Frankly, it purely a symbolic gesture for Lamont to announce that he'd endorse the winner of the primary. Having campaigned from the left, he knew perfectly well that he couldn't beat Lieberman in the general election unless he had the Democratic nomination. But Lieberman can win in the general election without the Democratic nomination.

And let's not kid ourselves. If polls taken two weeks before the election showed Lamont losing badly, there would be plenty of people around here urging Lowell Weicker to run as an independent.

[Zorra]

38. Lamont won the primary. He will have no problem winning the

general election.

Unless Lieberman splits the vote enough to allow the republican candidate to win.

[saltpoint]

39. dolstein, you need some reality therapy. Lamont won. Your guy lost.

Lieberman got his ass kicked. Lamont went from poll numbers in the low teens to a 3.5 winner in theDEMOCRATIC PRIMARY.

That would be the primary of the Democratic Party, of which I am a member.

Lowell Weicker is not in the race. Please check your local listings.

Ned Lamont is the Democratic nominee.

[Ken Burch]

45. Because if you are a Democrat, you aren't supposed to campaign

AGAINST the Democratic nominee after the primary. It was enough that you guys had your chance in the primary. You don't GET to say that your candidate is ABOVE the party.

[CTLawGuy]

50. cause he's the democratic nominee

we Dean supporters came out for Kerry even though both he and his supporters got dragged through the mud. Dean didn't run as an "independent Democrat".

I didn't think Kerry was a great candidate but I still voted for him.

[beaconess]

15. I'm pro-Lamont BECAUSE I'm pro-Democrat

And because I'm pro-Democrat, I'm also pro-Brown and pro-Mfume and pro-Strickland and pro-Tester and pro-Ford and pro-Patrick and pro-Lampson, etc., etc. Lamont is not the only Democrat running in November!

[saltpoint]

20. Run a poll to determine if any DUers thought that Lamont WAS the

only Dem in November's general election nationwide.

I betcha a lot of us knew other Dems might be on our regional ballots.

[beaconess]

21. No doubt most DUers know about the other races . . .

They just don't seem interested in discussing them . . .

:-)

[saltpoint]

23. Perhaps you should start a thread asking folks if they believe that

Jon Tester will win enough of the city of Helena to carry the Montana race against the shit-for-brains Conrad Burns.

Or, you could post a thread asking SW Ohio DUers if Victoria Wulsin has enough oompf and cash to unseat Mean Jean Schmidt.

Or, if Claire McCaskill can whip that robotic jerk Jim Talent in the Show-Me State.

We're game for just about anything.

[derby378]

25. You're fucking kidding me, right?

We were at the Texas Democratic State Convention in Fort Worth back in June. My wife got her picture taken with Nick Lampson, who's about to replace Tom DeLay in Congress. I chewed the fat with another Congressional candidate, Gary Page, over problems with the Texas Democratic Party platform. I got chummy with Senatorial candidate Barbara Ann Radnofsky after she accidentally elbowed me in the gut at a bloggers' party.

On edit: I might have misunderstood part of the intent of your message. Just as long as you weren't patronizing anyone here, we're cool.

[saltpoint]

28. derby, you missed the red side of a green barn on that one.

PM me if you're still confused.

[derby378]

29. Reread #25 - edited

I think I got it now. Thanks.

[saltpoint]

30. derby. Jesus. I was speaking in support of DUers' knowledge of and

participation in their regional elections.

[derby378]

33. I know, I realize that now...

I just saw Hotel Rwanda for the first time ever and I'm still digesting the atrocity and the madness of it all. But we're cool.

[saltpoint]

34. Anybody who watches a film like HOTEL RWANDA

is A-OK in my book.

Film-watchers generally have been my champions and hanger-outters-with for years.

Good for you.

I went to see Robin Williams in THE NIGHT LISTENER this past week. Not as sharp as the novel but not bad either.

I'm serious about the film-watching. I have learned an awful lot from films and especially the people who see them and respect them.

A sincere tip of the hat to ya for that. And all good wishes.

:hi:
:thumbsup:
:dem:

[Name removed]

42. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Ken Burch]

44. You are no longer pro-Democrat

If you are campaigning against the Democratic nominee AFTER the primary.

Give it up already dolstein.

[CTLawGuy]

49. I wish Lieberman were pro-democrat

I wish he would endorse the 3 CT Dem House challengers instead of being a "non-combatant."

[OzarkDem]

24. Agree, thanks! n/t

[kentuck]

26. I think we need to "obsess" more....

because this is not just another race for the Senate. The Repubs hope to use Joe to divide the Democratic Party nationwide. At the same time, they hope that Joe will lend credibility to their only issue - the war. It's a win-win for the Republicans with Joe Lieberman. To think this is not important is an error of gigantic proportion.

[OzarkDem]

31. Nah, lets get busy and kick some GOP ass

I want to WIN!

[ChipsAhoy]

27. Time to stop telling us what to do. n/t

[Clarkie1]

36. I must recommend this thread. nt

[neoblues]

40. Lieber-who-mentum?

It will be a happy day when we'll have forgotten this guy's name.

[GreenTea]

41. Agreed! Lieberman is now just another an Independent ...

and Lamont must and will be the elected democrat!

Let the neocons obsess, as they try to spin & distort and keep our minds off getting Dem's elected.

[thatsrightimirish]

46. YES! nt

[mmonk]

47. More than one democrat shares his views and they are in

part responsible for where we are. I'll quit obsessing about it when they no longer wield power in the democratic party.

[Vinca]

48. Sorry - I can't seem to get past the unfairness of it all.

There's a reason for primaries. You have one, there's a winner and there's a loser. The loser - usually - accepts defeat gracefully and goes on to support the winner. Then there's Joe. Is he afraid he might have to resort to a minimum wage job or something? It's not a noble thing he's doing. It's a self-serving exercise to keep a cushy position and if he happens to screw an entire political party along the way, so be it.