Lieberman Rejects Strategy of Running to the Left

[kskiska]

Presidential candidate Joseph I. Lieberman is testing an unorthodox -- and some Democrats say suicidal -- strategy: attacking the core beliefs of many party activists he needs to win over to win his party's nomination.

Lieberman, whose lead in national polls belies his precarious political standing, is increasingly taking aim at the other eight Democratic contenders and throngs of activists who want to repeal future tax cuts, limit global trade and provide expensive health care coverage to millions of Americans.

The Connecticut senator also is ripping into opponents of the war in Iraq, hitting Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) for showing "ambivalence" about the conflict and calling former Vermont governor Howard Dean unelectable for opposing it outright.

In appearances before crowds of Democrats looking for sharp attacks on President Bush's tax cuts, trade pacts and foreign policy, Lieberman is sounding a bit like a Republican as he laments the "old" and "outdated" solutions advocated by many Democrats. "It's right out of Karl Rove's playbook," said Dean's spokeswoman, Patricia Enright. Some Democratic voters seem to agree -- he was the only candidate booed at recent candidate cattle calls.

more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A11748-2003Aug18.html

[Devlzown]

1. F*ck Lieberman

I'll be surprised if he makes it past New Hampshire and Iowa.

[sasquatch]

12. I agree

Lieberman shouldn't even be in the Democratic party.

[Born Free]

19. He can run left,right,up or down - it is all the same

Lieberman is history, he disappointed us too many times, was terrible in the VP debatesand showed us all he is not worthy. Lievberman needs to switch to the republican party if he wants to win anything, they really don't care about reality, as long as he says the things they want to hear.

[Waistdeep]

2. The Left Rejects Strategy of Running to Lieberman

Triangulate all you want, Joe, you're not getting nominated.

[Semi_subversive]

3. Please forgive me

My Mom's Jewish ancestors came over from Germany in the 1880s and were successful grocers in Colorado (and my Grandpa Benny always told us he gave up the religion because he liked pork), but face it, there is no way on earth that American voters are going to elect someone Jewish! Especially someone who is a rightist piece of cow flop to boot. Why won't somebody just tell him to get the fuck out of the way and let the real candidates do their thing? I'm so sick of hearing his drivel!

[Code_Name_D]

5. Now hold on a second.

This has nothing to do with Lebermen's religion. It has to do with the fact that he is trying to ride into office on Bush's coat tails.

Besides, the same additudes is held with Librils and progresives. This form of blatent racisem is something we have to chalange, where ever it rears its ugly head.

I have a lot of beef with Lebermen, his faith is not one of them.

[Semi_subversive]

11. This has a ton to do with his religion

How long did it take to get a Catholic president? 1960. There are people out there biased enough to vote against him just because he's Jewish, not because he's a cow flop, Bush kiss-ass! And please use spellcheck!

[w4rma]

17. No, it doesn't have anything to do with his religion.

Sen. Wellstone was Jewish and he is one of the most popular Democrats here on DU. That right there proves you wrong.

Gov. Dean's wife is Jewish and Dean is the most popular candidate for President on DU. That also proves you wrong.

I'll tell you why Lieberman isn't liked. It is because he is attacking us. He is attacking the folks he wants to vote for him. How stupid is that? He's bonkers. He's a fruitcake.

[Stuckinthebush]

21. Exactly - this has nothing to do with his religion

It has everything to do with his politics.

He is not the Democrat that Democrats need right now. I won't call him a DINO, but he is close.

[PATRICK]

25. Wait a second

Maybe it does have to with his Jewish base though. Judging from his tepid support in Jewish journals and the inroads the WH has been making by looking hawkish for Israel, maybe he is doing some base shoring here as well. All Bush wants is a Mideast ally and peeling off rich donors plus whatever he can do to eat into the Jewish vote from the right. What the papers also are uncomfortable with is Joe overly reminding people of
the religion card, so he is slipping with that posture as well.

Lieberman may be lunging suicidally to his base in imitation of Bush, the model of "success". He might as well challenge Bush in the GOP primaries.

Of course, that is just another rationale for hopeless behavior no matter what the motivation is.

[regnaD kciN]

13. Lieberman, religion, and passion

Besides, the same additudes is held with Librils and progresives. This form of blatent racisem is something we have to chalange, where ever it rears its ugly head.

I have a lot of beef with Lebermen, his faith is not one of them.

True, one should not vote against Lieberman because of his religious affiliation. (Nor should one refrain from criticizing him because of it.)

But we do have to look at facts. It's a lot harder to get the majority of voters to support a candidate different from them (Jewish, Muslim, Roman Catholic, African-American, and so on). This is a built-in prejudice that needs to be overcome. It can be overcome by a candidate of passion and ideas, who can inspire those in the racial, ethnic, and religious majority to overcome their prejudices and decide "I don't care what race/religion/gender s/he is...that person will do the best job in the office."

John Kennedy was one of these people. Paul Wellstone was another. Joe Lieberman isn't. It's a lot harder to overcome the prejudices of the average voter when the main thing you're offering is virtually the same as the WASP now in power.

[ping_PONG]

16. I have a beef with his religion.

Or at least at the way he infuses his politics with religion. The guy wants to undermine the separation between church and state by supporting Bush's "Faith Based" initiatives.

The separation is there to keep religion from corrupting politics and vice versa. Holy Joe's religion is not out of bounds for criticism because he is the one that brought it up.

[Boom_cha]

7. Joe won't bow out

until it's painfully obvioius that he doesn't have a prayer. He suffers from delusions of grandeur because Gore picked him as a running mate. Gore created a Frankenstein with that choice.

[Mari333]

4. Its LONGGGGGGGG overdue JOE

for you to pull your sorry ass out of the race
No one likes you, and no one will vote for you, you asslicking DINO.
Now go away.

[markses]

6. Why is Lieberman's anti-leftism a news story???

Inscrutable.

[bluestateguy]

8. And the Left will reject him

While the mushy centrist he courts will be staying home on primary day.

[The_Casual_Observer]

9. The only running that guy is going to do

is away from the mob with the hot tar & feathers.

[Sweetpea]

10. He wouldn't know how to turn West if the wind blew him over.

[0rganism]

14. Democrats Reject Strategy Of Running Lieberman

Still waiting for that headline.

[Khephra]

15. My own personal feelings about Lieberman aside

I have no frigging clue as to what in the hell his strategy is. It sure isn't aimed at winning over the base, and that's most of the struggle of the primaries. And he's not doing well on the other major factor which is fundraising.

I just don't get the logic. Forget my feelings on him. There's just no logic to it.

Does he really think that the country is moving to the Right?

Sigh...he's making my head hurt.

[Fovea]

26. I keep listening to him

And I figure his base is disaffected Repubs.
Maybe he is trying to win the moderates in the other party to crossover.
But why would they do that, when they can vote libertarian?

[laconicsax]

18. Joe's got a great plan...

piss off the party base, and look like a watered down * to the rest of the country.

I'm not sure what it's a great plan for, but I'm sure it's good for something.

[0rganism]

20. perhaps he plans to disguise himself as bush*?

I imagine a sort of "pod people" thing, where he turns himself into a double of bush*, changes his name to bush*, and then confuses the hell out of everyone in the general election.

"Who's that debating bush?"
"I think it must be bush!"
"But wait, could it be Joe Lieberman disguised as bush!"
"I have no idea. Maybe the other guy is Lieberman?"
"Lessee... ballot says they're both bush."
"Well, one of them's a Democrat. That's gotta be Lieberman."
"Don't count on it."

[LeftHander]

22. No one ran...we've been here all along

It is Bush and Co. that has pushed everyone so far right...being even a little left of center is considered bleeding heart and raging

THis kind of shit os not "news". Lieberman is not a Democrat. Just another corporate elmer fudd.

[ewagner]

23. If you think about it

What Lieberman is trying to say is that the country is so far to the right that there isn't any room for the ideals of the left anymore. Or, more bluntly, Liberalism is dead in America. In order for Dems (who would be or used to be liberals) to have any place at the table, again following his logic, we have to be "moderate republicans" or the"liberal wing of the Republican party".

That's what I have a beef about. Nothing else.

[MisterP]

27. he's paraphrasing Rush, then

[Larkspur]

28. A corporate Elmer Fudd?

Love it! That's a perfect description of Lieberman.

[Dhalgren]

24. And so the question is:

What do you do, if Joe's pollers are correct and some sort of right-wing ground swell occurs and Joe gets the nomination in a bloody, explosive convention fight? Could it happen? I don't see how. Could the Supreme Court select a president? It just couldn't happen. Right?