As U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman campaigned at the Milford Senior Center earlier this week, a familiar sight arrived in the parking lot on the bed of a black Chevy truck.
Through the glass of the center’s front doors, Malcolm Boxwell, an employee and Lieberman supporter, observed the puckered lips of a giant, papier-mache bust of President Bush aimed at a similar likeness of the senator.
“It’s the kiss of death, I think,” Boxwell said.
The Kiss, of course, is a papier mache replica of image of Bush appearing to kiss him on the cheek after the February 2005 State of the Union address.
Here’s the original photo
For the last month of the primary campaign, “The Kiss” appeared outside many of Lieberman’s campaign stops. No jeering, no negative behavior by the folks driving it around the state — just a reminder of which side they felt Joe Lieberman was really on.
Last night, Lieberman lost the Democrat Primary to a novice politician — an anti-war, libertarian millionaire named Ned Lamont. Lieberman lost by 4 percentage points. Only the 4th Senate incumbent to lose a primary since 1980. And there were other issues.
“Lamont would not have gotten this far ahead if it were not for those other issues,” which boil down to a question of whether Lieberman has lost touch with Connecticut Democrats and their generally liberal views. It’s reflected, for instance, critics say, in Lieberman’s toying with Bush’s proposal to semiprivatize Social Security and his support for Republican efforts last year to keep Terry Schiavo on life support.
Lieberman figured out a few weeks back that he might lose the primary and in a stirring endorsement of Party democracy in action began collecting signatures to put him back on the ballot outside the primary process.
Meanwhile, the Republican candidate — originally intended to be a sacrifical lamb against Joe Liebermann — has less name recognition than Lamont after this bitter campaign. A few weeks ago, the Hartford COURANT dropped this on him.
The Hartford Courant sent a bunker bomb in to Connecticut Republican U.S. Senate hopeful Alan Schlesinger’s flagging campaign today with revelations that the former legislator was successfully sued for thousands of dollars in casino debts he ran up in Atlantic City venues. Schlesinger’s campaign was rocked last week by the news that, among other things, he had gambled in a Connecticut Indian casino under an assumed name, Alan Gold.
The Republicans are probably sitting, right now, in that proverbial smoke-filled room — trying to figure out how to get Schlesinger to withdraw — so, they can join with Lieberman to run him on a Republican “Independent” ticket.
Don’t need him to run Republican… he’s do just fine as in independent.
Seems like it should be called the kiss of gold, since it got him out of the second-place party. He’ll carry more weight as an independent on The Hill than he does now.
As always, the left’s loss is the right’s gain.
Lieberman is not a republican and republicans dont want him on the ticket as one. He votes with the Democrats 90% of the time and the DNC has thrown him under the bus because *gasp* he disagrees with them on one issue – National Security. This was the best thing Republicans could ever hope for because they were never going to take his seat but with Lieberman at the bottom of the ticket as an independent the other two Democratic candidates won’t recieve votes from people voting the party line and the Republicans might be able to hold the seats. The Dems really need those seats if they want any hope of taking over the house. This a good thing because as much as Republicans screw up does anyone really want Nancy Pelosi as thrid in line to the presidency?
Just keep repeating that when the Democrats win the House and impeach Dubya. I used to be a conservative until I found the neocons didn’t share my Republican values like less government, budge discipline and freedom. Wake up and smell the coffee James.
The republicans are out of luck in Connecticut, as their candidate is a closet gambler (reported that he uses a false name to get into casinos). Plus he racked up major gambling debts.
People want out the the Iraq civil war now. We can not fix them with a democracy, but we can at least say we will support any non-violent fair government, if Iraq even wants our support. How do we fix their culture? We can’t. Civil War will take its toll. Suicidal finatics will win.
But I digress. I think Lamont has a good chance to kick some serious politic but.
Even if the Dems with the house and the senate and every state election in the US you still wouldnt get the 2/3rds needed to impeach bush. That and the Senate will still belong to the Republicans and they do the trying so no I’m afraid Improbus its you who needs to wake up and smell the coffee and perhaps take a step or two the the right because Neo-Liberals like you are destroying the democratic party as you move them further off center to the left. All you do is empower the Republican party by making them seem more centerist taking votes away from your party.
This is a pyrrhic victory for the Kos Krowd.
Polls show that Lieberman will win the general election regardless of what his affiliation will be.
All this means is that Lieberman will still be in the Senate, but there will be one less Democratic senator. The remainder of the Democratic party will shift still further to the left, thus further weakening its chances of ever winning the Presidency again.
Improbus –
Why do you want to see Dick Cheney become president?
They can impeach Dick while they are at it. He and Rove are the puppet masters anyway.
It’s just sad that Democrats can’t tollerate a moderate opinion. Senators with seniority are hard to find. If I recall, the only dem that has maintained a consistant anti-war stance went down with a infamous scream.
lieberman is a good man… he voted his convictions on iraq or ( iwrecq) he is jewish and sees the middle east a great deal differently than the average american does. time really really tell how stupid or how smart those who wanted to go into iraq really were. with iran hell bent on trying to blow the region up into an all out war it seems the truth is, as usually, somewhere in the middle. if iran wants some of us our army it is in the right place with the right gear. is it in the right place to try to prevent suicide bombers from rivial tribes from blowing each other up?? no. but make no mistake we are not pinned down. its the army over there and armys fight wars, they are not police officers. if this comes to be about fighting a real war we are in position bulldoze the middle east off into the dead sea.
7. Your more then welcome to have your own oppinions but when your not willing to settle or compromise and are in the fringe be it left or right you cant get mad and accuse others who are more centrist of spouting the party line. The partys use talking points for a reason because if falls within the beliefs of most Americans and im not spouting either parties political agenda im saying how I feel if its not radical enough for you im sorry.
If Bush were impeached, I wonder whom Cheney would appoint to be his VP. Rove? Now that would be funny.
“It’s just sad that Democrats can’t tollerate a moderate opinion.”
Which is exactly why the democrats lost the last 2 presidential elections. It wasn’t election fraud, it wasn’t dirty tricks, it was simply canadates too far out of touch with mainstream America. And yes, Conneticut doesn’t count, as it is a blue state.
Another Jew betrayed by a kiss.
I just wonder if Bush used the Judas kiss as an example, or possibly the mafia Don as an example.
Lieberman was the best Republican Senator that Connecticut ever had.
He voted for so much that the Republicans, and the President wanted, that there is no place for him in the Democratic party.
Reasons why Lieberman has no place in the Democratic Party
1) For the war in Iraq
2) Wants to privatize Social Security
3) Wanted gov’t to interfere in Terry Shaivo thing
4) Voted for Alito
5) Supports school vouchers
6) Supported impeachment of a “fellow” Democrat
7) Voted for cloture on the Bankruptcy Bill
8) Supported the Energy Bill proposed by the Bush Administration
9) Voted for Gonzales as A.G.
10) Voted to confirm Condi Rice as Sec. of State
11) Is now willing to pay college Republicans to campaign for him
12) Voted to confirm Mike “Heckuva Job” Brown as head of FEMA
13) Endorsed by Sean Hannity
14) Endorsed by Ann Coulter
15) Endorsed by Rush Limbaugh
16) Endorsed by Pat Robertson
17) Endorsed by Tom DeLay
are these enough reasons? If not I have more.
So Roc you are saying that if you don’t fall in line with your party on every issue and have your own opinion instead of listening to your bonehead party leader then you are unfit to serve your party. Wow, how sad is the current state of politics.
16. God forbid that he might break the lockstep of the fringe in the democratic party. Your last 5 reasons are pure BS I listen to Sean Hannity and he doesnt endorsed him he praises him for being one of the few politicians who is willing to set aside political bickering and work with the other party to accomplish things but points out every time after that comment that he does NOT agree with Lieberman on anything but national defence. Even as a Republican Ill give you that Pat Robertson is a religious nut job and Coulter and Limbaugh are as bad for our party as Pelosi and Lamont are for yours. The Fringe on both sides of the debate are turning the American political process into a joke. As for you list what did you do browse his voting record and find the 12 things he didnt vote democrat on. The man votes 90% of the time with the party to call him anything but a democrat is idiotic. To further the stupidity of your argument of the 12 left 3 are for confirming political appointees who were going to get confirmed sooner then later. As a closing point putting Rice as one of those appointees makes no sense considering the last democratic secretary of state Albright was 3 steps below useless. Hows that deal with the sharing of Nuclear technology with North Korea working out? Or what about her Middle East peace plan i can tell thats still going stong.
Wrong. Wanted government to stop Michael Schiavo from starving his wife, when her family was willing to care for her.
gquaglia: I believe Roc was pointing out that Lieberman was out of line on several party issues; certainly enough to warrant a challenge from within.
Wow so much spinning to extremes!!
Actually this is just a wake up call by proactive americans (many did last minute party switches, or vote registrations) so that we can start the process of ending the war. Americans are voting out the war mongers and war incompetants in congress. End of story.
Democrats – well they choose who they want to represent them. Lamont is inexperienced (does not have the political connections yet) but he seems smart enough, and certainly does not need money. Connecticut is liberal blue in the democratic party. If that means democrats are smart enough to handle watching Stewert and Colbert every night, and understand about truth warp, and spin doctoring, and deep sarchasm (and how politicians use it against the average american to get support by the average american); then that means democrats decide to put someone in who listens to them, and cuts down on the spin.
Republicans – Go ahead and spin that Joe will get back in anyway. Go ahead and try to distract from the war problems. Go ahead and spin that the democratic party will gut itself. Wonder what republicans will do when all their re-election candidates get voted out?
Look at all the comments. Tell us which are obviously blogging Republican spin masters, and which are Independent, and which are Democratic spin masters.
Roc –
Lieberman:
-voted “no” to a constitutional ban on same-sex marriages
-voted against movements to create an amendment in the constitution that would prohibit flag burning.
-received an “F” rating from the National Rifle Association and a 90% from the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence
-Lieberman has a 95% pro-choice voting record in 2005
-supports stem cell research.
-voted against the Bush Social Security plan
(source: WikiPedia)
Hardly “Republican” positions.
Who has been “voted out of congress”, Kevin?
WTF are you babbling about? Methinks you’ve watched Monty Python one time too many, Kevin.
And what on earth does “use against the average american to get support by the average american” mean?
Geeze, you neocons sure know how to beat up on a guy when you can’t make a well reasoned rebuttal.
Roc –
So I pointed out that Lieberman is not as reliable a “Republican” as you claim he is. Deal with it.
And if you can give me a translation of what Kevin is trying to say in #21, I’m all ears.
25. Appears like 22 and my 18 (more 22 since he counters your BS claims with facts) are both very reasoned rebutles. It seems to me besides trying to “slander” Leiberman by lableing him a republican so that moderate democrats wont vote for him, sarcasam is your only response.
21. There is no spin, the poles say Lieberman wins a three party election. Its not like CT is a Republican stronghold that will distrort numbers (New York Times) to paint the political landscape the way they wish it would be. Also if you really did include John Stewart and Colbert in a serious political discussion and used them as a reason democrats are more informed then Republicans then Im sorry i wasted my time even responding. That would be like me quoting Bill O’Reilly as a strong reasons republicans are more informed. While entertaining to watch he is not a source of true political knowledge and neither is Colbert or Stewart. (Colbert > Stewart FYI)
Lieberman voted against Alito. I’m guessing most of your other examples are misleading too.
If Lieberman was so Republican, then why did Democrats think he was good enough to be their vice-preidential candidate? Do Demcorats really think Lieberman is no good for the Senate, but should have been one heartbeat away from the Presidency?
Roc Rizzo –
Do you believe that Joe Lieberman was a “sore loser” in 2000?
It was not just that Joe disagreed with his fellow Democrats about the war – plenty of them actually voted for it – it is just that the guy fell so completely in lock-step with Dubya on it that it was difficult to tell them apart. He also publically chastized his fellow party members for critisizing the conduct of the war, essentially saying that the C-in-C should be immune from criticism during wartime.
and national security is not just “one issue,” it is the most important issue right now. I also would not call preemptive war against a country that is not a threat to be a “moderate” position – it is quite radical.
I have noticed that these GOPers who say that the Dems are conducting some kind of purge of ‘moderates’ dont say the same thing about the ‘purge’ of a moderate Republican House member Joe Schwartz from Michigan in favor of a hard core conservative Evangelical ex-pastor Tim Walberg.
What’s interesting is that Lieberman’s seat was previously held by Lowell Weicker, of the Republican Party’s then ultra-liberal wing. During the 80s, Weicker, along with Charles Percy of Illinois and Mac Mathias of Maryland, were either voted out of the party or otherwise disowned by their party. Not that I was a great fan of any of the three, though.
30. You’re right doug and with Bush’s administration approval numbers at an all time low, it was political suicide for Lieberman to be seen as another crony “supporter” of this administration. His publicly diverging view on the war [and being Jewish] also made it seem as though he was more concerned about Israel’s well being than about the safety of our troops regardless of our interest in Israel’s safety. In effect, he’s made himself look like a “DINO” at a time when the shine has been stripped off the Republicans thus snatching defeat from the arms of victory.