Hotline After Dark: Lieberman Speaks
The CT SEN results broke too late for cable primetime. The nets offered updates throughout the evening but the majority of the news was on the Middle East.
Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-CT) made the morning show rounds this a.m.
Asked if he'll listen to calls of Dems for him to drop out: "I'll always take the calls of friends. But my mind is made up. I'm going forward. I'm going forward because I'm fed up with all the partisanship in Washington that stops us from getting from anything done. If my opponent, Mr. Lamont, ever is successful, the fact is he would just be one more partisan polarizer."
Asked if there is anyone who could get him to drop out: "Respectfully no. I am committed to this campaign -- to a different kind of politics, to bringing the Democratic Party back from the extreme, back from Ned Lamont and Maxine Waters, to the main stream. And for doing something for the people of Connecticut. That's what it's all about" ("Today," NBC, 8/9).
Asked if his support for the Iraq war led to his defeat: "Oh there's no question about it. Everything indication I had from the voters of Connecticut -- including public opinion polls -- said that they agreed with me on most issues, that they appreciated all the work I had done for the state of Connecticut, but my opponent convinced them -- with a lot of distortions I think -- to use this as a referendum to send a message of opposition and anger to President Bush. ... But there's more to our future than that issue."
On running as an independent: "Yesterday less than 15 percent of the registered voters in Connecticut voted. A little more than 7 percent of the registered voters voted for my opponent. I think this is such an important decision ... for our future that all the voters should have a choice and that's why I'm running."
More: "I think this is all about Iraq and opposing President Bush. ... I certainly believe we did the right thing in going in to overthrow Saddam. I said, along with John McCain and others, that we made mistakes after that. ... The key question is what do we do now. My opponent says let's get all our troops out by a deadline. I saw that will be dangerous for our troops, disastrous for the Middle East and really make America vulnerable to another terrorist attack like 9/11."
Asked if he's opening the race to a GOP victory: "I don't believe that is of the actual risk. I think for the most part, and in the end, that this is going to come down between round two or the second half between Ned Lamont and me. Ned Lamont and his supporters on the margins of our party and Joe Lieberman a mainstream Democrat who can win and will win in November" ("Early Show," CBS, 8/9).
Asked if he'll be out there all alone: "I'm in until November and I will certainly not be all alone. ... It's not selfish. It would be the easiest thing in the world for me to walk away. And as my wife always tells me, I'd make a lot more money than I do as a senator. But I believe in public service. I believe in my vision of the Democratic Party."
On the blogs: "The blogs are a form of expression. There is nothing wrong with a blog. It depends how you use it. I will tell you that the bloggers who came after me -- some of them were so full of hatred ... that it is just not good for our politics. And, frankly, on some of those blogs was the kind of bigotry that just has no place in American public life. So I worry that this victory by Ned Lamont ... will send a message across our state and our country that the Democratic Party has been taken over by people who are not from the mainstream of America. And they are going to make this not Bill Clinton's party anymore" ("GMA," ABC, 8/9).
ABOUT LAST NIGHT
Although Paul Begala offered this pre-results spin: "President Bush is on the ballot in Connecticut probably as much as Joe Lieberman and Ned Lamont. ... These Democrats that are up for re-election this year, all of whom voted for the war: Hillary Clinton, Dianne Feinstein of California, Tom Carper of Delaware, Maria Cantwell of Washington state, Herb Kohl of Wisconsin, Bill Nelson of Florida. None of them have primary challenges, even though all of them voted for the war in Iraq. ... I think what has happened here is that it's not simply Iraq. It's the president's desperate unpopularity" ("Situation Room," CNN, 8/8).
And Mary Matalin offered this pre-results spin: "You know, it says not much. It doesn't portend much nationally, because Connecticut is a very, very blue state. It hasn't voted for a Republican president in four presidential races, but it does say something about the Democratic Party. ... You know what this victory says tonight for Lamont? When the bad guys turn up the heat, we're going to beat a hasty retreat. That's what it says about that party. It's sad" ("Hannity & Colmes," FNC, 8/8).
Chris Matthews spoke with Ned Lamont pre-results and asked him about the problems withLieberman's web site. Lamont: "We don't know anything about it. If anybody is out there actually sabotaging something, we tell them to stop doing that. But for him to jump to conclusion that it has something to do with this campaign is just false" ("Tucker," MSNBC, 8/8).
And DailyKos' Markos Moulitsas said of the Lieberman web incident: "It's more evidence of the incompetence of the Lieberman campaign, incompetence that has put them in a position to potentially lose the election today. The fact is, they had a cheapie hosting account. They were paying maybe $15 a month for hosting. There were 73 other Web sites on the same
server as their own. And any kind of increased traffic that might come about if, say, maybe because of an election day ... crashes the server. They need a scapegoat for their own incompetence, and they're looking at bloggers" ("Countdown," MSNBC, 8/8).
FNC's Cameron: "As we begin to sort of take a look at how these precincts, how some of these towns and cities in Connecticut appear to break and what that might tell us about who is voting for Ned Lamont and Joe Lieberman and why you begin to see that many of the wealthier communities in Connecticut, many of the towns and cities where there's a higher level of education, a lot of college graduates and professionals, those are towns and cities where Ned Lamont seemed to do much stronger than Joe Lieberman. When you look at some of the more blue collar cities, New Haven, Bridgeport, down along the Long Island Sound those are areas where Joe Lieberman has done very well" ("On the Record," 8/8). [EMILY GOODIN]
the "modus operandus" for going to war in Iraq was stupid, especially when engaged in a "war on international terrorists". But Lieberman,s lack of vision in the realm of health care delivery and the advent of the globalization of the economy and consequences of same, contributed as well to his failure. May the voters in connecticut now rally behind Lamont and hope for the best.
It's amazing how few people "get it"... imagine if, during the Clinton administration, a Republican had been such great pals with Clinton, kissed him, supported his most left wing policies, accused people in the mainstream of his own parties as being possibly traitors... how long would he last?
Last night's CT,MN,GA primaries were great examples of democracy at its best. It showed that voters still have voice in American politics. Last night speaks of volume, it's say's, 'Voters are fed up and they demand change.' Let Libermann's defeat be a lesson to members of congress and to those who have political aspirations in '08 whether it be democrats or republicans; if you continue to support the war and this president you will suffer the consiquences at the polls.
reading you article reminded me of a conversation my wife and I overheard in New York some two years ago, at the time we were visitors in that fine city I born in England my wife from Germany, an American lady with some years behind her was criticising the stance the Germans were taking about the war in Iraq she was to put it mildly not happy with the French and Germans, my wife and I looked on with amusement and probably the same thought hit us both that this lady would one day understand the error of her homeland, and it has to say mine
Why can't he just bow out gracefully? Basically he’s saying the voters don't know what they want so “I’m still running” even though they don't want me to run. What an insult to voters everywhere. I think he’s a Republican plant, trying to help Demo's to loose. As if we need any help losing! We're expert at it now!
"FNC's Cameron: 'As we begin to sort of take a look at how these precincts, how some of these towns and cities in Connecticut appear to break and what that might tell us about who is voting for Ned Lamont and Joe Lieberman and why you begin to see that many of the wealthier communities in Connecticut, many of the towns and cities where there's a higher level of education, a lot of college graduates and professionals, those are towns and cities where Ned Lamont seemed to do much stronger than Joe Lieberman. When you look at some of the more blue collar cities, New Haven, Bridgeport, down along the Long Island Sound those are areas where Joe Lieberman has done very well" ("On the Record,' 8/8)."
Cameron is a moron. How he is on television is a mystery.
Lamont WON both New Haven and Hartford, and only lost Bridgeport by 300 votes. Lamont won clearly around the state, losing only the more conservative blue-collar Democrats in the Naugatuck Valley and in places like West Haven and Waterbury. Is he trying to say that since Lamont won higher-educated voters he is not legitimate?
I'm glad Senator Lieberman will run in November and wish I was a Conn. resident so I could vote for him. He is one of the view who values what is good for the country regardless of the Party Line. We need more in office like him. I would love to see a McCain/Lieberman ticket in the next Presidential election.