Connecticut Bob posted something disturbing today (in addition to the creepy Bill O’Reilly audio clips that are making the rounds ::shudder::) about how Senator Chris Dodd intends to be the one who opens the door to let Sen. Joe Lieberman back into the metaphorical family home of the Democractic Party. Bob writes:
Joe Lieberman has been, for all intents and purposes, forgiven by Chris Dodd and the Senate leadership for his little foray over to the dark side in 2007-08.
Of course, Lieberman wants to have it both ways, and he continues to call himself an “Independent Democrat”. I don’t know if that’s supposed to be a party designation or simply an expression of what a wild and unpredictable “free-thinker” Lieberman fancies himself to be.
Using his video expertise, Bob put together footage from Sen. Dodd’s appearance on Face the State with tape of Joe Lieberman stumping for McCain:
Below is how I imagine things went on the day that Joe Lieberman decided that he wanted to rejoin the Democratic Party:
*Knock-knock*
Sen. Chris Dodd: Who’s there?
Sen. Joe Lieberman: Why, it’s Independent Democrat Joe Lieberman. I plan to endorse you in 2010, won’t you let me in?
Sen. Chris Dodd: Sure!
What I have trouble illustrating with words above is that it seems that Senator Dodd could not open the door fast enough.
Senator Dodd has many redeeming qualities–and I am a big fan of his work–but his soft-spot for Joe Lieberman goes a long way toward overshadowing all of them.
There is no real liberal candidate in the race. The Democratic Party’s progressive wing doesn’t have a candidate yet. Lamont, if he did jump in, would instantly have a core group of dedicated, enthusiastic supporters to promote his candidacy. None of the other announced candidates have this.
I added the emphasis there.
I think that Genghis is spot on — the field is not particularly exciting to progressive liberals who want to challenge Governor Rell. Considering the path that she’s taking the state down (by giving the finger to education, for one example), I think that the best challenger to Rell would be someone who stands in stark contrast to her. Ned Lamont may be that person, and if nothing else he proved in 2006 that himself willing to step up to a challenge, unlike some folks we know…
He is months away from a final decision, but after previously disavowing any interest in the job, Mr. Lamont said that a gubernatorial campaign grows more intriguing as the economy worsens and the deficit deepens, all harbingers of a protracted budget fight in Hartford.
[...]
Mr. Lamont said Mrs. Rell and the Democratic-controlled legislature are more intent on gamesmanship than confronting what even some Republican legislators privately concede: in addition to the budget cuts proposed by the governor, tax increases and labor concessions must be part of the mix.
“I think she punted,” Mr. Lamont said of the governor’s two-year budget proposal, which the legislature’s nonpartisan budget office says may be out of balance by more than $2 billion. “Frankly, the legislature hasn’t stood up and come forward with anything very cogent. To me, both the legislature and the governor are playing a game of cat and mouse.”
Pazniokas continues, writing about how Lamont might find himself in a four-way contest for the Democratic nomination against Former CT House Speaker Jim “The Crusher” Amann, Stamford Mayor Dannel Malloy, and Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz. That’s a crowded field, but I want to see Ned jump in — and I think there is room for him — because with three solid candidates (plus Amann) piling on Rell, I don’t see how we could lose.
“We’re not bankrupt, but we’ve been flat as a pancake for a generation,” he said of the state economy.
Unlike Rell, who has flat-funded education, Obama has proposed increased spending for priorities such as education and health care, he said.
“We haven’t added any new jobs and many young people are leaving,” Lamont said of Connecticut.
He called her budget — $38.3 billion over two years with cuts meant to correct predicted billion-dollar deficits — a smattering of quick fixes with little in the way of important changes.
[...]
Rell recommended that people turn out lights when leaving their offices and not travel out of state as a way of paying down the deficit. Lamont hit at her intention to borrow against the state’s rainy-day fund.
“Her plan is extraordinarily shortsighted, and you young people should be outraged because they’ve borrowed against your future,” he said to the students.
In any case, Ned’s criticisms of Rell and the budget are spot on.
Education is the safest investment in town. It is critically important not to underfund or flat-fund our state’s institutions of higher education, because the Community College System and the State University System will play a vital role in helping Connecticut residents–and by extension, Connecticut itself–bounce back in the years to come.
It is downright shameful that Governor Rell is demanding these kinds of short-sighted cuts before considering any avenues for increasing revenue. By doing so, she is putting her bid for re-election before both the short and long-term welfare of the state. For an accidental governor, this lack of leadership and abundance of poor judgment could be excused but for the fact that she sought and won re-election.
In her 2006 campaign, she “stayed away from any flashy campaign promises,” according to this NY Times bio. Who would have thought that promising nothing meant we might actually end up with it?
[A]t the weird ritual known as the Annual Alfalfa Club Dinner, outgoing club President Joe Lieberman decided it was a good time to test out some new material that involved that goldmine of comedy material known as torture.
Once inside the banquet hall, which is always off-limits to the media, the Alfalfans took turns trying to crack each other up. Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.) — the club’s outgoing president — noted that former vice president Richard B. Cheney injured himself while moving into his new home, according to a source inside the dinner.
“I had no idea waterboards were so heavy,” Lieberman quipped.
If after all these years you needed some more evidence that Joe Lieberman’s moral compass is broken, this is it. Joe Lieberman is a man who rails against depictions of violence in video games for adults, but thinks that torture devices make a dandy punchline.
New Hampshire is getting a huge amount of attention this election cycle. It was lavished with attention and candidate visits last year because of its first-in-the-nation primary, and this year because it is a swing state.
Apparently, NH is where the action is. So when I had the chance to go to the Merrimack County Democrats fundraiser to see Ned Lamont speak, I took it. Below are some highlights from his speech:
Connecticut Bob posted something disturbing today (in addition to the creepy Bill O’Reilly audio clips that are making the rounds ::shudder::) about how Senator Chris Dodd intends to be the one who opens the door to let Sen. Joe Lieberman back into the metaphorical family home of the Democractic Party. Bob writes:
Mark Pazniokas has a new gig at the NY Times, and he’s writing about how