Shalom,” also means “Goodbye”
EmailHuge but unsurprising news from the Nutmeg this morning, as a Quinnipiac University poll shows anti-war businessman/challenger Ned Lamont claims a 54 – 41 percent lead over incumbent Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., among likely Democratic primary voters.
Just a couple weeks ago, Lamont’s lead was within the margin of error, 51-47 percent. And as Democratic strategist Ken Smuckler once told me — it ain’t where the numbers are, it’s where they’re going.
Lamont’s are going up; Lieberman’s are plummeting.
Other tidbits from the poll….though there’s a big push from Lamonsters to say this is not just about the war — as the New Yorker’s Rick Hertzberg did artfully the other day in a TALK OF THE TOWN PIECE, other issues include Lieberman’s chastising of then-Lewinsky-scandal-besotted Bill Clinton, his running for re-election to the Senate while also running for Vice President in 2000, etc., etc. Quinnipiac says otherwise, with 44% of Lamont voters supporting their man because of LIEBERMAN’S support for the war in Iraq, and 50% saying that’s one of the reasons. Those are big numbers for one issue, especially when 65% of Lamont voters say they will be pulling the Connecticut lever not FOR Ned, but AGAINST Joe.
And 85% of the voters say their minds are made up!
Lieberman is lashing out, going negative, acting like he’s applied a few too many of Floyd Landis’s alleged testosterone patches….He’s been slamming Lamont’s loose affiliation with a blogger who portrayed the senator in Minstrel-show blackface on the Huffington Post yesterday, which was soon stripped from the site AT LAMONT’S REQUEST (the Revs. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton were in town to campaign for Lamont at the time…AWKWARD!)
Still…if folks are so opposed to Lieberman because of the war in Iraq, will one blogger’s crudeness change their minds?
Yesterday Lieberman attempted to combat this, saying "I supported our war in Iraq but I have always questioned the way it was being executed…This administration took far too many shortcuts. We continue to suffer the consequences, as do the Iraqi people." This has been portrayed in the media as a "HAIL MARY PASS", though Lieberman folks say their guy has always criticized the way the war’s been handled….
Lastly, there is of course, the Colbert Primary…..Our old friend and White House Correspondents’ Dinner date Stephen Colbert is TRYING TO GET LIEBERMAN to come on Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report; Lamont appeared on the show on Monday.
Offering what he said are some of Lieberman’s fave items based on a 2004 questionnaire — Cocoa Puffs, an Andrea Bocelli CD, a trip to south Florida — Colbert said "all of this could be yours if you’ve got enough Joe-mentum to get to my studio before the primary day next Tuesday."
Lieberman has so far declined….
More later –
jt
Mitt Romney's Full Speech at CPAC 2012 
Romney Makes His Case to Conservatives at CPAC
Jake, perhaps you can help us here. Has Lieberman “always” criticized the way the war’s been handled? If so, I’d like to know, because I certainly don’t recall ever hearing about it.
Also, this most recent poll did not look at how a three way election including Lamont, Lieberman, and a Republican (other than Lieberman) would go. That’s where Lieberman is strong, since so many Independents and Republicans support him. Let’s hope Lamont continues to roll after the primary.
Posted by: DKNY | August 3, 2006, 9:48 am 9:48 am
Love it!!
I think the most disappointing is that Lieberman is tired and soooo ANGRY and it showed during the debate — guess it’s all those testosterone patches as previously mentioned.
Colin McEnroe had a great article in Salon on why Connecticut wishes “Shalom” to Joe. Just can’t have it both ways, now or November!!
Posted by: Paulet | August 3, 2006, 11:08 am 11:08 am
Good riddance to Bush-kisser Joe!
Posted by: Frank Fletcher | August 3, 2006, 11:22 am 11:22 am
what IN the HELL kind OF writing IS this? I EXPECT more OUT of ABC news CORRESpondents THAN the ILLEGIBLE and ANNOYING ramblings OF a BLOGGER…more to come soon! ;)
Posted by: Ben Spierenburg | August 3, 2006, 12:50 pm 12:50 pm
Can’t wait, Ben!!!
Posted by: DKNY | August 3, 2006, 1:54 pm 1:54 pm
Just for the record I am an independent recovering “Republican” who will not support Lieberman in this quest.
There are a lot of us here in Connecticut — the phones are only ringing at the dems houses now, after Tuesday there is a bigger audience of people very disappointed in Lieberman.
Posted by: Paulet | August 3, 2006, 1:58 pm 1:58 pm
This is a potentially dangerous situation, indeed…
Quite a few years ago, IL senator Alan Dixon lost in the Democratic primaries because he voted to confirm justice Clarence Thomas hearings. At the time, Dixon explained that – as an attorney following due process – he had to give Thomas the benefit of the doubt regarding Anita Hill’s sexual harrassment allegations. They had NOT been substantiated in any way, and Dixon could not condemn Thomas based on a “he-said, she-said” scenario.
Well, the furious feminists and fringe leftists made it a single-issue primary and rallied to oust Dixon from the nomination.
The result? Six (6) years of Carol Mosely-Braun.
Cool your jets, folks. Don’t make it a single-issue election. If you do, you’ll get a single issue candidate – i.e. Braun. She made history as the “first African-American female senator,” but she was essentially useless in all other areas and accomplished very little for the state of Illinois.
Posted by: Burning chrome | August 3, 2006, 2:09 pm 2:09 pm
Joe is getting the boot for sticking his finger in the eye of his supposed party mates, and fellow CT citizens, a number of times. In no particular order:
Iraq, and the assertion that to criticize Bush undermines America.
Looking to cut a deal on Social Security Privatization after public outcry made the issue DOA.
Preaching to Clinton during MonicaGate.
Butting his Holier Than Thou nose into the Schaivo issue.
Forget the Indie run. We’ll wake up next Wed. to a Lamont landslide in the neighborhood of over 60% for Ned to under 40% for Joe. It will take the better part of 2 weeks to verify the signatures to get Joe on the ballot, during which time new polls will come out showing even less support for Joe than he polled in the primary, the Democratic powers that be will lean on Joe to drop it, subtly and not so subtly, and Joe will have time to ‘reflect’ and ‘do the right thing’.
Posted by: Bill From PA | August 3, 2006, 3:38 pm 3:38 pm
For me, a lot of Lieberman’s flaws were bearable until he made the much quoted statement:
“It’s time for Democrats who distrust President Bush to acknowledge he’ll be commander-in-chief for three more years,” the senator said. “We undermine the President’s credibility at our nation’s peril.”
That statement was basically him rubber stamping–enabling–the grand authoritarian power grab by the executive. That was him telling those of us who were uncomfortable with that power grab that we were just supposed to deal with it, that the democracy that had survived the Kaiser, the Nazis and the Soviet Union was too delicate a thing for the endless war that the administration is determined to keep us in.
What Joe Lieberman didn’t understand is that, while we’re still a democracy, he undermines that democracy at the peril of losing elected office.
Posted by: DarrenK | August 3, 2006, 3:42 pm 3:42 pm
Well said, DarrenK. And Bill From PA, I hope you’re right.
Posted by: DKNY | August 3, 2006, 4:11 pm 4:11 pm
Lieberman’s praise for the FCC crackdowns is what arrested Joe-mentum for me. Hillary has done her share of matronly tut-tutting at video games, much to everyone’s annoyance, but at least she shows some backbone against Dubya.
Posted by: Rob | August 3, 2006, 4:48 pm 4:48 pm
If Joe is a Democrat, he should abide by the
result of the Primary and support the winner of that
Primary.
Posted by: Elias Saab | August 3, 2006, 5:13 pm 5:13 pm
World War 3 is not what we need just as the economy is tanking. In my opinion, Joe Liebermann should retire, rather than face charges of treason. Maria
Posted by: Maria Robles | August 3, 2006, 7:42 pm 7:42 pm
Oy gevalt! What will Joltin’ Joe do with his poll numbers in the toilet and continuing to sink faster than Donald Rumsfeld’s reputation as a brilliant war strategist? Obviously, his pathetic attempts to sound like a long-time critic of the Bush administration’s handling of the war in Iraq aren’t working, since absolutely no one can EVER recall a discouragin’ word Lieberman has said about it.
Moreover, Lieberman’s attempts to display his “testicular virility” (to borrow a well-crafted phrase from Illinois’ governor Rod Blagojevich) come off as forced, artificial, and desperate. ‘Tis a pity that he probably won’t fade into the sunset gracefully after the primary, but rather be led kicking and screaming as a nudnik after Connecticut’s voters reject him as an independent, too.
(And as an additiion to Burning Chrome’s comments, during her term, Carol Mosely-Braun DID accomplish something in Illinois: embarrassing new lows in scandals involving her paramour and various African dictators.)
Posted by: chuck | August 4, 2006, 9:13 am 9:13 am
“Holier than thou” has been a Republican staple for a long time and hopefully with Lieberman gone, it will stay that way…
pk
Posted by: Peter Katz | August 6, 2006, 2:51 pm 2:51 pm