Let's hope Sen. Joseph Lieberman comes to his senses and pulls out of the Senate race in Connecticut. The voters in the Democratic Party, as they say, have spoken in the Nutmeg State. Senator, you lost.
Lieberman is thinking now only of himself and his long career. His independent candidacy risks a three-way split in November and electing a poor Republican nominee in a true blue state.
Of the past 400 Senate races involving an incumbent, only three have lost in a primary. Lieberman should take a long look at that statistic and decide to practice law in Hartford.
Lieberman can claim his candidacy represents a bipartisan spirit in the capital during a time of bitter division between the two parties. The truth is that voters are worn out over the war in Iraq and the Bush administration's pitiful handling of the continuing quagmire. The senator's continuing support of the war was too much for the voters back home.
Ned Lamont, the winner in Connecticut, may not be a powerful alternative. However, Democrats of all stripes should rally to his candidacy and persuade Lieberman to step aside. That includes former President Clinton and all the other big names who came in to try to save Lieberman.
Some political observers think Republicans will seize on the result to target all Democrats as the party of cut-and-run wimps.
Let's hope the voters see through this specious argument. The reality is that voters have been saying for months in polls they are weary of the Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld policy to stay the course and a democratic Iraq will eventually result. How long will it take--10, 20, 30 years? Maybe never in a sectarian society where Shiites, Sunni, and Kurds hate one another.
William Kristol, editor of the conservative Weekly Standard magazine, argues that the Democrats have a surrender personality. Kristol's words come from one who has never been in combat and has no grasp of the consequences of a nonending war that has cost more than 2,500 American lives andabout$300 billion.
Democrats should stand up to folks like Kristol and Karl Rove, the president's political brain and another source with no wartime experience. They deserve to be challenged openly on where this administration has led the country.
For now, the Republicans and Joe Lieberman by extension represent a truly wrongheaded policy. Call it quits, Senator.
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