"I'm gonna get the seniority when I get back there."
After taunting every Democrat in creation, threatening to bolt the party if the kook kidz aren't nice to him and refusing to say whether or not he thinks it would be a good thing if the Democrats retake the House, Joe is awfully sure he'll keep all his marbles.
I think the Lieberman4Lieberman candidate is getting a little touchy with the video bloggers these days, don't you?
Oooh Spazeboy very scary.
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Ned?
Ex-Senator Lieberman is just about a footnote.
That YouTube video won’t play back as long as it’s set to ‘Private’.
edit: Ah, there you go
OK, if it is just you and me Jane, can we talk about poodles while I wait for the YouTube to load?
Nice!
Hound him incessantly. What a maroon!
I gotta say I’ve been a little annoyed at all the second-guessing of Ned the past few weeks. Consider the hurdles Ned has had to overcome:
1.) Lieberbutthead has a HUGE advantage in name recognition. HUGE! I think these polls that people seem to be worried about are a reflection of this advantage for Lieberdumbass, since Repubelickins and other uninformed voters are included now.
2.) Liebermean has a HUGE advantage in cash. Even though it’s from child abuser/molesters like Mel Sembler and big, big business, John Q. Nascar will never hear or care about this aspect, which leads to my next point…
3.) The lapdog media is not doing Ned any favors, in fact just the opposite. Big advantage for Lieberevildoer.
4.) Lieberme obviously has a mega advantage from his experience as a politician and elections. Lots o’ tricks of the trade Ned’s having to learn as he goes.
Could go on and on, but c’mon, the trending has been in Ned’s favor well before this debate. The last poll I saw last week had Ned within 7%. This is so similar to the primary. I’ve seen some of Ned’s “negative” ads, and I think they do a great job of not being sleazy and risk turning off the so called moderates, at the same time making a strong point. Plus, Ned’s doing a great job of balancing neg/positive ads. Negative doesn’t always work after all.
So if you believe in karma, or a collective consciousness at all, y’all gotta chill a little. We need the positive vibrations more than ever right now! All you chicken-littles are harshing my buzz, man. Go Ned, and I mean Ned! I don’t care about Alan, since Ned’s gonna win this on his own, no matter what the other two dudes do.
http://nedlamont.com/
Jeepers. Spazeboy is DEADLY!!!
Not really. Lieberman is twisting the knife all by himself. Why was he in such a hurry to get out of there…late for a Republican fundraiser?
Rayne @ 7
He had a tea and thumbscrews engagement with Mel Sembler
;>)
Those authoritarians in DC who like engineering the Surveillance State seem awfully touchy when it comes home, don’t they?
Can I just say…LIEberman sucks!
He got a smackdown today, and hopefully Ned will give him a bigger smackdown at the next debate. Ned is getting better. Ned needs to stop moving his hands all the time.
Gnome de Plume @
4
I can talk poodles all day.
Spazeboy today has become SPAZEMAN!
It brings a tear to my eye to see him grow into such a great “Lieberman-annoyer”!
I’ve never been prouder.
bonkers 6 — well said. Nobody mentioned but all the questions today were skewed very anti-Ned — nobody called Lieberman on any of his bullshit, but you didn’t really notice because Alan S. was doing such a good job of hammering him for being a gutless wonder.
Connecticut Bob @ 12
You’re like a proud papa. Raised him well, Bob.
We need to tie Lieberman to Iraq. This is legitimate. Link Joe to Iraq and he will lose even more independents and Democrats. Anti-Iraq sentiment is now a bi-partisan issue.
Gnome de Plume @
4
OT, GdP… Thanks for enlightening me about koi the other evening. I had dragged myself to bed and only found your commment in the morning. Always glad to be taught something!
my favorite line in the debate was the repub (whose name i should someday learn to spell) telling joe “you’re time is up”. joe does not look happy in tthhat video. spazeboy ROCKS
Oklahoma kiddo @ 15
Absolutely. To use a REALLY ugly term from the South African agony we need to “necklace” him with Iraq.
Little Lord Lieberman.
His whining got too much for me, and I had to turn the debate off.
His obvious sense of entitlement to “his” seat was just too much for this American to bear.
We don’t have hereditary seats, Lord Lieberman, you putz. Go home.
Nice going, Spazeboy!
But …
Will Joe Caucus With the Democrats?
That will depend on what is to Joe’s advantage when the time comes. We don’t know. He doesn’t know. That is then and this is now.
I love watching a cornered politician…
bonkers – I totally agree with your comment. It gets tiresome defending Ned – I think people want a savior or some superhuman being. He’s just a guy who had the guts to take on Lieberman when no one else would. He’s a quiet, unassuming business man who came from a family that valued community service (a rarity in Greenwich).
It’s not bad enough that he’s being maligned by BushCo – but folks who think he should be perfect are picking apart his every move – second guessing everything he does or says.
Enough already. And that means you, too, Arianna. (Arianna wasn’t that successful running for office – you would think her experience would have made her more sympathetic.) Well, at least she had the decency to tone it down a bit.
Ned has done an incredible job of learning and improving every step of the way. He fought his way through a tough primary and won. But those circumstances were vastly different than the general election – which apparently is much more boring to some folks. Who among us would have withstood the vilification Ned received after winning – from BushCo, from Lieberman, from the Washington establishment, from the MSM.
As far as some folks are concerned – Ned’s 15 minutes of fame is over and they’ve moved on to the next kool thing. Which is fine, but don’t call him a hasbeen or a disappointment.
Give this guy a break – he’s gotten further, faster than any of us thought he would. Let’s give him positive thoughts, not bombard him with negativity.
Margot @ 19
I have to say that I agree he was about as whining as a three year old. I only listened to the last half of the debate and I barely could stand it. Jeebus. It would be interesting to see if viewership dropped off steadily when Lieberman was in full whine.
Didn’t see any of the debate, but just watched Ned closing over at C&L…Just night and day between Ned now and his first debate. Don’t know how he did in the rest, but that close was great! Ned has matured tremendously as a politician in a very short time span. I’m even more fired up now! I HAVE “had enough,” go Ned!
http://www.crooksandliars.com/…..-debate-1/
Picking up on a few comments from the earlier thread, is there any thought on whether we should be tossing a few bucks in Schlesinger’s direction? He seems ready, willing and able to stand up on his hind legs and take Joe on… Thoughts, please?
dab from CT @
21
Very good assessment, dab. The ball is moving inexorably foot by foot down the field. It may not be a thrill festival but the people involved are getting the job done under very difficult circumstances. We need to get their backs.
Helluva job, Spazeboy! That took a lot of cojones to pursue Sleepy Joe like that. Congratulations!
Apart from soon to be Senator Lamont or anything else; when I think Lieberman, I can’t help but think ‘tawdry’. Mr. Lieberman is so unprincipled, and nefarious. Lieberman. How did we come to this?
I can’t wait to see Wednesday’s debate when it’s broadcast on Thursday. It’ll be interesting to see what Joe’s minions dig up on Schlesinger in the interim. I wonder if they’ll mention that tired old MSM mainstay, the “Wampum Card scandal”?
I dropped by the Schlesinger HQ tonight around 5PM to congratulate them on Alan’s strong performance. Most of the staffers were over at his law office, but the couple that were there remembered me from the Saturday interview and graciously accepted my remarks.
It’s heartening to see that politics doesn’t HAVE to be nasty and dirty if the candidates have some class. Alan Schlesinger and Ned Lamont may differ significantly on some major issues, but they’re both a pleasure to know and work with.
I don’t feel any of that creepy hatred around them that I sense from the Lieberman staff.
the biggest nightmare would be a 49-49-2 Senate. Talk about your power crazed Joe.
My EPU from the previous thread:
What I meant about the polling is that everybody I know my age 35-50s checks caller ID before we would even lift the receiver. I got a Joe poll last week by accident. Now I am answering every GD marketing call to see if I can get polled again. The Joe poll wanted to know what I thought was positive about Ned (so they can slam him, I’m sure).
So, think of the younger people who don’t have a land-line and the rest of us who are too busy to answer every time the phone rings without some type of screening, and that gives you a very skewed pool for the polling. I think the trending that Tim links to on the Lamont offical blog is probably the most instructive, but the population that answers the phone every time is more likely to be the Lieberman supporters who like Bush.
I thought the tone of local TV coverage changed dramatically today — three person race, and nobody making excuses for Joe the way they have been in recent weeks. AM papers, of course, will say a lot, and three debates in one week can kill or elevate one candidate.
New NYT coverage (Jennifer Medina)
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10…..r=homepage
…” Monday’s debate did little to break substantive ground on issues between Mr. Lamont and Mr. Lieberman, but by providing a platform for Mr. Schlesinger, it did shake up the dynamic somewhat. Strategists for all three candidates have said the debates could be critical, since Mr. Schlesinger must peel off only a relative handful of votes to undercut Mr. Lieberman’s lead in the polls.
Mr. Lieberman’s awkward position as a lifelong Democrat now running as an independent was on display throughout the debate, which came a day after he stunned party leaders here and in Washington by suggesting he did not care which party controls Congress. Asked in an interview with The Harford Courant published on Sunday whether America would be better off with Democrats running the House, Mr. Lieberman responded: “Uh, I haven’t thought about that enough to give an answer.””…
———
oh, yeah. What karen allen said…Spaze iz de MAN!
Joe says “I’ve answered that 1200 times.”
That just means he’s lied 1200 times about the same thing.
GO NED!
lina @
29
Wash your mind out with soap!!! Please… What a horror story, and right before Halloween…
Connecticut Bob @ 28
My dream come true. Lieberman starts running against Schlessinger.
So nice today with the asshole got boucoed for keeping score of the “negative things” Ned said.
Jeebus he is a sanctimonious old fart.
dab from CT @ 21
No one said that.
That and a dollar’ll get you a cuppa coffee. Only the win matters. I don’t care what his problems or challenges are – I sent the guy my hard-earned money, and goddammit, I want him to put up a smarter fight than he has done since August. Sue me.
dab from CT @
21
Dab, you ought to post that over at Kos.
dab from CT @ 21
Absolutely. I already forgot about that! Lamont’s win was a political platonic shift, and for the days and weeks after his WIN, he was either ignored or as you said, vilified, and in a very coordinated way I might add.
BTW, I’ve appreciated your comments and others who are on the ground in CT. It’s very helpful for us many miles away. Thanks and best of luck these next few weeks! Lamont is going to win.
ho-lee shit, did you see the ad when you click through on the Medina link above?
kirby @ 30
Then why is it that Republicans always seem to do *better* than the polls on election day? IIRC, Joe outperformed the polls in the primary.
Ooops.. misread something… never mind…
Marion, thanks. I worried that I came across as being a know-it-all. Being a good liberal, I have doubt sometimes even if I know my stuff, so I looked it up before I replied – hence the scientific names.
Jane, how big is Kolbe? He looks like a good sized dog in the photos I’ve seen. I have a 72 pound parti poodle.
Oh, and On Topic – What was Lieberman thinking? He’s running for re-election and the guy asking questions has a camera!
Jane Hamsher @ 37
Don’t know what that might be. I clicked from GoogleNews…just the story. What have I wrought?
Hope it ain’t real bad…
Senator Lamont will take care of business. He will win. And the Democrats will take the Congress. And then… 2008.
I’m really surprised at the Lamont campaign’s response to people asking to come to CT to help on the campaign. Not phone calls from out-of-state, but people willing to fly there and help out.
Gee, I detected an air of, what. . . surliness from Joe?
Did he not have fun today?
Jane Hamsher @ 33
That isn’t even the worst of it, Jane. On the joe2006 blog, they used a silly little scorecard to keep track of Ned’s “negative attacks” on Joe.
Then, in their recap of the debate, all they talked about was Ned. They didn’t even MENTION Alan Schlesinger!
Of course, Joe doesn’t allow comments on his blog, but my mirror blog does! Feel free to let Joe know how you feel about his “coverage” of the debate.
http://joe2006blog.com
Yeah, it’s gone way beyond surreal…now it’s simply hysterically funny. Lieberman is losing his mind.
Rayne @
7
Rayne: Yeah, it is completely odd that a seasoned politician does not hang around to talk to the press, appear confident, express how good he feels. It’s part of the debate spin. To be captured on film, practically skulking away, and not realize that Spazeboy is now a legitimate and increasingly important part of the media coverage — well it’s just dumb, as well as rude.
Jane Hamsher @ 37
Do you mean “FIREDOG!”
I meant to point that out to you earlier.
Jane Hamsher @ 37
Yeah, Firedog – the company. Never heard of ‘em before. http://www.firedog.com/
Ya know there is something missing from all this commentary and also out in the wider world. For the lack of better name I’ll use it’s commonly known one:
The Democratic Party!
Here is Liarmann saying: ‘I’m gonna keep my seniority’.
And here is Liarmann saying: Well…one gotdamn lie after another after another. Go on over to SirotaBlog he’s being paid to keep a list fer Lamont. Me, I don’t have the time to keep up with Liarmann.
And where, pray tell…if it’s not too much to ask is:
Hillary…
Kerry…
‘Big Dog’…
Schumer…yeah, I know but WTF!
Where is big name Democratic Party support for the guy who happens to be:
The Democratic Nominee!
This stinks jes like Busby in CA-50. No Boxer Short, no DiFi, no gotdamned Pelosi. They could not be bothered to campaign for Busby. Just like those I listed above can’t be bothered to support the party’s nominee against their good buddy Liarmann.
Nothing could be clearer than this. Those listed don’t give a rat’s ass what we want. They are ‘part of the problem.’
Whatever happens this election cycle I’m with Digby. There is a lot of ‘trash’ that needs to be cleaned out of the party before we can move this nation forward.
Any Democrat who voted for the AUMF or the Bankruptcy Bill or failed to oppose Alito has to go.
Along with those Northeast members of the ‘Democrat’ who are implicitly supporting ‘Rape Room’ Joe by failing to campaign for Ned.
They are not Democrats. They belong to the Liebermann for Liebermann party.
They are the enemy.
Once again a great candidate loses steam after winning the primary. When they are footloose with great ideas and energy, they go great. But give them a race to lose, and the dems just seem to sit back and wait … for what? I know Ned had been meeting lots of people, but Joe is all over the airwaves. You cannot let that go unanswered. Al momentum was lost after the primary and have doubts it can be gained back.
Here in Minnesota Patty is fighting back in a district guaranteed to go all red. They are running ads non stop against her and she is running counter ads just as fast as they are. She is spending every last dime right now to get quick ads up. Colleen Rawley is facing the same. I watched the debate and Ned is just too cautious. I will bet anything that Clinton talked to him and wanted him to be all ‘moderate’ and soft spoken and such.
Patty has also shown to be too soft pedaling in the past, but she is geared up now. I wish Ned was the same.
We’re $688.78 from $300k at Blue America.
Let’s get over the top tonight, eh?
that logo was all over the Circuit City flyer in the Sunday paper
Having given the middle finger to the DEM
Party in CT and having flirted openly with
the GOP in DC more than a few times the JOE
FOR JOE Party sure does seem in a hurry to
avoid the questioner–yes?
After being in DC for three terms or 18 years
what will the JOE FOR JOE Party now do any
differently?
This guy has some fundamental problems with
being truthful about his politics. About being
truthful about being a DEM. About being able to
tell the truth about his love affair with the
DC GOP Machine.
Does the JOE FOR JOE Party really think he
will just pick up where he left the DEM Party
upon deciding to flip the DEMS the middle digit?
Call it what you will but the JOE FOR JOE
Party is not about CT best interests or those
of America. It is all about JOE.
And JOES time in DC should be up for that
reason. He doesn’t OWN the Senator from CT
seat. Sooner that is made clear to the JOE FOR
JOE Party the better. This guy is way past his
expiration date. He has expired. Gone bad.
Ken Blackwell made an ass of himself in the Ohio gov debate. Click.
Lindy @ 35 – I’m not signed up for Kos, but would be happy if someone else would like to post it.
Renee in Ohio: Ken Blackwell didn’t make an ass out of himself at the debate, it’s just that he’s always been an ass.
His proctologist confirmed today that indeed, Blackwell is the PERFECT ASS.
Gnome de Plume @
40
Well! That may be the PERFECT paradigm for why we struggle so! Just like Gnome de Plume we’re all too worried that our point is not perfect before we, to quote TRex, ATTTAAAAAAACK. (Which is not to say that I don’t greatly appreciate the fact that Gnome de Plume [whose name I love… and wish I had the same facility with puns…] was so extremely gentle with me.)
Is that enough embedded parentheses for everyone?!
Brownandserve @ 48
Yeah, I just heard of Firedog a couple of days ago and meant to bring it up here. The ad location is probably an example of automatic ad alignment, which tries to increase click-through and purchase rates by matching text, location, subject matter of ads with sites.
Jane Hamsher @ 37
not a poodle, Jane,
and we need you here until after the election…
let sleeping d…
firedog, eh? karmic?
Anyway, this armchair strategist says Ned puts that Bush necktie on Joe.
SurveyUSA from a month ago (9/11 bounce) for CT has Bush at 1/3 approve, 2/3 disapprove.
http://www.surveyusa.com/clien…..688ef133f9
Joe=Bush.
Over and over…
One thing that might alter Joe’s plans is the CT Governors race. D DeStefano has picked up 6 points since his debate with Rell. They will have another one Wed. If there is a Dem governor, Joe has one less card to play. He couldn’t take the SecDef job and count on a R appointment for his vacancy.
Just looked at SurveyUSA Senate…
as of 9/26 Joe was 49/47/2…THAT is one vulnerable 3 term incumbent, imho.
Op99 at 34
You’re kidding, right?
Who did you think you were giving your money to – a polished politician? Ned is a first time, grass roots candidate. That’s his appeal, but it also presents some real drawbacks.
I’ve never seen a candidate work harder. I’ve never seen a more bizarre campaign situation.
If you’re interested in getting a return on your investment, I would suggest being constructive not destructive. Perhaps there’s some way you can help the campaign – besides money.
Connecticut Bob @ 45,
In that appeal to people to “make a mark every time you hear my opponent say something negative about me,” who was Lieberman’s intended audience?
Teacher’s pets? Former hall monitors?
And this is a senior sitting senator who has power?!
Margot @ 64
When the truth is negative, you have to demonize it.
Eli @ 65
I hope the next time Lieberman mentions something about Ned’s money he will point out at length where the source of Joe’s never ending stream of cash eminates from. That is an ugly truth that has yet to be brought out in the debate.
Grandma J @ 50 –
I would suggest you go over to the Lamont web site. He has been slamming Lieberman over and over again – without let up.
I agree with you about ads – I think hard hitting ads are essential. However, the Lamont campaign doesn’t think ads are effective – which is too bad.
Late Nite is up, y’all. It’s the first night of the VIRTUAL USO TOUR!!
I’m up WAY past my bedtime watching the CT debate on C-SPAN. I’m glad that Schlesinger is kicking some butt, but who decided it would be a good idea for him to have purple/black lipstick on? Is he courting the Goth vote???
OMG, I just realized I did the horrible, the unthinkable – I got Kobe’s name wrong!!! I said Kolbe, as in AZ and raft trips. Please forgive me Jane! See Marion? If I am wrong I turn into a toad! Oh please help me . . .
Didn’t know I was missing the party. EPU’d:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10……html?_r=1
Underdog Scraps With Rivals, Hoping to Bolster Long-Shot Senate Bid
By ANNE E. KORNBLUT
Published: October 17, 2006
STAMFORD, Conn., Oct. 16 — The spotlight on the United States Senate race here has never fallen on Alan Schlesinger.
At the debate on Monday, he stole it.
Mr. Schlesinger, unbeknownst to many, is the Republican nominee for the Senate seat being fiercely fought over by the incumbent, Joseph I. Lieberman, and the man who upset him in the Democratic primary, Ned Lamont.
Mr. Schlesinger has virtually no money, barely any campaign apparatus, and, in an unusual feat of unpopularity for a major-party nominee in this state, has barely broken out of the single digits in the polls. But, unbowed by reports of his long-shot candidacy and oblivious to ridicule from Republicans at the national level, Mr. Schlesinger came ablaze during the first debate with feisty attacks on his opponents.
“Joe, you had more moral outrage about Mr. Clinton’s indiscretions than about North Korea’s nuclear proliferation,” he said at one point to Mr. Lieberman.
On the calculations that go into the federal budget, he said to Mr. Lieberman, “You’d never get away with this at Enron, even.”
Gnome de Plume @ 70
Hey, darlin’… We’re ALL human! Besides, poodles are smart enough to recognize a typo…
oh dear, EPU’d again!
Joe is
available to the highest bidder
accepting
bidssupport from Sembler et alvoting for torture without habeas
all for war, anywhere
upset that Ned attacks him
dab from CT @ 63
No, I’m not kidding. Moral victories mean jack shit in politics. I’m devoting 12-15 hours a week on top of my full time job for Eric Massa in NY-29. And I will be fucking pissed if he loses, too.
Thanks everybody.
I was actually sleeping on the job for the last couple of hours, so I’m kind of sad to have missed the discussion.
op99 @ 75
Right on, op99. You’ve been “walking the walk” on the Massa campaign for as far back as I can remember!
spazeboy @ 76
Hey man, I wanted to help you out a little. Would you prefer some tip jar action, or some wish list action, and if so what’s a priority (sorry, can’t help with the hard drive!)?
Thanks shoephone. And are my dogs tired!
bonkers @ 78
I’d prefer the tipjar, because I’m all set on tapes and supplies. I should probably take that portable disk drive off the wishlist…I’m not sure I really need it.
The books and CDs are on there because I’ll buy them anyway eventually, and if someone wants to pick those up, I’m more than happy to let them do it. :)
So to answer your question: the tip jar.
and thanks ever so much for your generosity.
spazeboy @ 80
Thanks to you! I’ll get over there soon.
I think there’s a typo — I think you mean “kool kidz” instead of “kook kidz”. No?
Paul
I think Alan Schlesinger has been spending a little wink & a nod over here at FDL. He certainly sounds like he gets it. Well, part of it anyway. What are the chances?
GrandmaJ at 50, also Al Franken of the DLC has been giving Ned advice. Bleccch.
Yesterday, I asked for your help in writing a speech I never want to hear: Ned Lamont’s concession speech. The response was tremendous; we received all kinds of great ideas, many of which I’ve used in crafting the speech below.
Far too often politicians don’t speak from the heart until it’s too late. Freed from their consultants, they finally summon the passion and purpose that drove them into politics in the first place — ironically turning into the candidates they should have been all along.
We desperately need Ned Lamont to get to that point now, while there is still time — and two more televised debates — left in which to let the people of Connecticut know (exactly and unequivocally) why returning Joe Lieberman to the Senate would be such a disaster.
Maybe having Lamont look in the mirror and deliver this speech will be the political equivalent of that moment in Moonstruck when Cher slaps Nic Cage across the face and says, “Snap out of it!”
Here then is Ned Lamont’s concession speech. Let it be a wake-up call for him — and an object lesson for all future Democratic candidates in how not to run a campaign. If pre-election Ned listens to post-election-day Ned, this speech will never have to be delivered.
I stand before you tonight with a very heavy heart. Not because I lost, but because of the way I lost. And because I realize that I didn’t have to.
First and foremost, I want to apologize to all of you who gave your heart and soul — and your hopes for a better America — to this campaign. Instead of honoring that commitment, I ran a milquetoast race, and I am deeply sorry. You wanted reform, and I gave you warmed-over political platitudes. You wanted righteous indignation, and I gave you calculated criticism.
Like Al Gore and John Kerry before me, I forgot how high the stakes were. And I played it safe. I played not to lose rather than to change the country. I forgot that I had to give people a reason to vote for me — or a reason to vote against my opponent — every single day, every single hour. I forgot –and how could I forget? — how dirty the other side would play to win. I forgot that in building a successful business of my own, I had relied on my own gut instincts, not on advice from some M.B.A. textbook. I should have stuck with my gut; instead I let consultants tell me what to do and what to say.
I turned my campaign over to hired guns who think that running to the middle is a winning strategy — even though it’s proven to be a loser time and time and time again. These Beltway professionals, some on loan from Democratic leaders who do not share my passionate opposition to the war — the core issue of my campaign — came in, having learned nothing from their electoral defeats, and ran the same cookie cutter campaign.
Hopefully, my self-inflicted defeat will help break this endless and tragic cycle and be a first step on the road to reclaiming the Democratic Party.
Joe Lieberman didn’t win this election; I lost it. I lost because I forgot what Ned Lamont stood for. I lost because I lost faith in myself and forgot what had led me to victory in the primary. And in doing so, I let you — and myself — down.
You thought you were getting somebody different, somebody unafraid to speak his mind. You thought you were getting someone who would continue to place principle over politics, someone who would not treat caution as an ally. It was this way at first, but then I got scared. I should have been willing to risk losing the election by continuing to stand firm for what I believe is right. Public office — especially at this moment of crisis in our country — is far too important to leave in the hands of those who are afraid. I’m sorry I forgot that. You deserved better.
I especially regret having allowed myself to be cowed into believing that the way to win was to appeal to the indecisive middle by adopting a tone of fake Senatorial civility — like the time I said of Sen. Lieberman: “I know the man. I respect the man. He is a man of integrity.” The words should have burned my tongue as soon as I said them. That’s not what was in my heart; indeed, I spent millions of ad dollars trying to convince voters of exactly the opposite. But it was suggested by some of my Greenwich friends that I should scale back the outrage — and the truth. As if watching the mounting death toll in Iraq shouldn’t fill us with rage and cause us to direct it at those who sent our young people off to die in an immoral war — and who are stubbornly keeping them there. When you deal with the unscrupulous, it’s best to roll up your sleeves, put all thoughts of comity aside, and stop praising them for their integrity. Indeed, I sacrificed mine by pretending that my opponent had an ounce of it. And for that I am more than sorry; I am ashamed.
But I don’t want this moment to just be about self-recrimination and Monday morning quarterbacking. There’ll be plenty of time for that in the weeks and months ahead — especially as my opponent decides who he really plans to caucus with, and finally makes up his mind whether the country is better off with Democrats controlling the House (thank god we won that one!).
I’d like something positive to come out of my loss — the flowering of a remade Democratic Party nourished by the fertilizer of my shitty campaign. To my fellow Democrats I want to say: Let my mistakes not be your mistakes. Let me become a cautionary tale — an object lesson for all future Democratic candidates in how not to run a campaign.
Don’t become a pawn for high-priced consultants who have their own agendas. Don’t water down your message. Don’t run to the middle. Don’t worry about stepping on the toes of your friends (like mine back in Greenwich). Being a leader means doing the right thing, even if it sometimes makes your longtime buddies nervous.
Do speak from the heart. Do fight fire with fire. Do remain true to your core values. Do remember that it is better to be divisive in service of the right cause than to be a smiling enabler of an immoral political culture and of the destruction of our Constitution.
And most of all, do continue to fight for what you know — what we all know — is right. Don’t give up. Learn from my mistakes. If we refuse to concede our core beliefs, in 2008 there will be no need for concession speeches.
Thank you and goodnight.
I cannot imagine that Democrats would allow Lieberman to assume a position of leadership in the Congress if he wins as an Independent. This is ludicrous! It is time for Democrats, off all colors and subelties to cut ties with this bag of air!