So, how do we use what we learned from the Lieberman experience?

[JAYJDF]

Face it, he was only elected because of the repuks.

So, since most Dems just want a Dem elected, do we register repuk so we can screw with the primaries?

I ask only because I still am not satisfied that the next election is going to be fair.

I am afraid that election fraud is alive and well.

[Norquist Nemesis]

1. No, he was elected because CT law allowed him to scam the system

Once he lost the primary, he shouldn't have been able to kick-off an independent second bite at the apple. That's why he won.

[loyalkydem]

2. not to mention

He's a crook

[ieoeja]

3. What the hell do you mean?

"most Dems just want a Dem elected"

Here in Illinois we had a Democratic gubernatorial candidate start campaigning FOR HIS REPUBLICAN OPPONENT one election because he got saddled with a nutcase running mate out of the primary. I believe most Dems want what they believe is best for this country.

For that matter, your own example misproves your statement. If all Democrats wanted was to elect someone with a (D) after their name, the Democrats in Connecticut would have re-nominated Lieberman. They voted him out of the Democratic party precisely because they wanted something more than just any Dem.

[Joffan]

4. And...

the Democratic primaries in CT were not skewed. Why would you want to mess with the Republican primaries? Who would you want to finagle into place, come to that? A moderate Repub with a higher chance of electablility? A screaming Bushbot that makes Lieberman look more moderate?

Frustration I understand. Don't let it get translated into pointless gestures.

[JAYJDF]

5. I read here all the time that whomever gets the Dem primary nod

will be well supported by us Dems.
Doesn't that mean vote for any Dem?
Yeah, I agree that there are very different Dem reps but bottom line seems to be to get a Dem elected.

Like my final opinion, it's all eye wash if the election process isn't fixed.

[Alexander]

6. Didn't that happen 25 years ago?

"Here in Illinois we had a Democratic gubernatorial candidate start campaigning FOR HIS REPUBLICAN OPPONENT one election because he got saddled with a nutcase running mate out of the primary. I believe most Dems want what they believe is best for this country."

Are you not referring to Adlai Stevenson III's 1982 gubernatorial election? You really couldn't find a more recent example?

[Bluzmann57]

9. Yeah, I sort of remember that

Can't remember the Democratic candidate's name at this moment, but didn't he get some La Rouche cultist as a running mate? It was sad really. But in reality, is Blago any better? As a border person, I look in on Illinois politics from time to time and Blago doesn't seem like the best Governor the state has ever seen.

[ieoeja]

10. Blagojevich is a disappointment.

He refuses to face harsh realities and promises more than he can deliver. He is also greatly faulted for not getting along with Democrats in Springfield, but that may not be his fault. If those Democrats really are as crooked as everyone says they are, then shouldn't he keep his distance?

He gets a really bum rap on ethics issues. One of the first things he does in office is use his authority to shut down a dump that had been operating illegally for years under Republican administrations. The dump itself was owned by an in-law of Blagojevich's. So he does the right thing in shutting it down as soon as he has the power to do so, but gets himself forever associated with the very wrong he chose to right.

And then there is the Rezko thing. EVERYBODY appears to have trusted Rezko. Obama, Blagojevich and Daley. Accordingly, Blagojevich gives him the job of contracting out state work. And Rezko starts shaking down the contractors. Blagojevich finds out and immediately fires the guy. Prior to this, nobody ever accused Rezko of doing anything wrong. So it's hard to blame Blagojevich for not anticipating Rezko's actions when nobody else did either.

[Norquist Nemesis]

13. Don't forget the flu vaccine shortage, too

Fought w/hubby over that one up through the election. When they announced there would be a shortage of vaccines, Blago secured doses for Illinois citizens and Bush had them stopped at the ports. We still ended up paying the tab though. But, I'm betting that if it had been Sonny Perdue, Haley Barbour, or Jeb Bush those doses would have shipped right through without a hitch!

[yurbud]

7. you can't hurt the repukes by registering as one. If you vote for a moderate in the primaries,

that helps them.

If you vote for the biggest dipshit hillbilly, he could actually win and you would have helped propel us into the third term of DELIVERANCE: the White House Years.

[Norquist Nemesis]

14. It's tempting...very tempting

If nothing else, I'd get on their mailing list. :puke:

[yurbud]

15. that would have some entertainment value: "please join us in prayer for the elimination of

the estate tax."

[NoodleBoy]

8. we need to be better at pointing at that "moderates/mavericks" aren't better politicians by way of

their ideology or political affiliation.

We lost that race because Independents voted in droves for Lieberman, even those holding the lowest opinions of the war and the Bush administration, because of the myth that as a supposed independent, he would better represent them in Congress.

[The Magistrate]

11. That Is An Excellent Point, Sir

This whole 'parties are bad' thing has gotten well past any conceivable usefulness. The more splintered the whole, the smaller the determined clique that can manage to drive and control events....

[Warren Stupidity]

12. Lieberman exploited a loophole in state election laws

in Connecticut that allowed him to refile on another party line after losing in a primary. Most states do not allow this sort of gross idiocy. What we learned, or what I learned from that sorry episode was that if we energize the base and run a good candidate we can knock out dipshit corrupt dinos. The blogbarians helped fund and energize the Lamont campaign, and we can and must do this again and again until we, the people, once again have a progressive party of the people.