Don’t run as an independent.
Accept the results of your party’s primary.
If you run as an independent, it’s all about you – it’s not about the will of the Connecticut voters or the best thing for Connecticut.
If you run as an independent, you show that your party means nothing to you.
If you run as an independent, I’ll have no more respect for you. Regardless of your voting history – both good and bad – you are finished for me.
To my Connecticut friends: vote Ned Lamont in November.
jank
9 August 2006 — 10:04
As a registered Republican in CT, I didn’t turn out to vote yesterday.
But, I’m actually considering sending my first ever political donation to Leiberman for November. If he runs, it is proof that the party means nothing to him – the State does.
And that’s what we need more of. Lamont doesn’t represent me, and has no interest in what someone on the center-right like me might think.
The one beef I have with Joe is just a general distrust of anyone that spends more than 10 years inside the Beltway. I’d be more comfortable if he were running for a third instead of a fourt.
Grand Poobah
9 August 2006 — 10:49
That’s your prerogative, donating to Lieberman.
You mention his appeal to the center-right, and that’s the big problem: Lieberman abandoned his Democratic base, something the Dems have been doing as a whole for years – the influence of the DLC, assuming that the Dem base will follow, even when the candidates tack to the middle.
As this primary shows, the DLC strategy no longer works. High turnout was supposed to favor Lieberman, yet it didn’t. Connecticut Dems showed up, voted, and made their statement.
And I’m not entirely against having centrist Democrats in office – much like I’m all for having centrist Republicans in office, like Lincoln Chaffee, Olympia Snowe, et al. I’m a big supporter of Rep. Jim Matheson of Utah, and he’s quite center-right in his convictions. But when Lieberman said that it was wrong to challenge and question the president, he crossed the line: Congress is an essential check to executive power, and through his words, Joe played lap-dog to Bush, rather than perform his duty as a member of Congress.
I think that Lieberman lost sight of his obligations. Much as presidential staffers serve at the pleasure of the president, senators and representatives serve at the pleasure of the voters. And yesterday, the voters of Lieberman’s proclaimed party said it was time to move on.
I’d rather that Lieberman not make this race about himself and accept the fact that it’s his time to go. In my eyes, launching an independent run shows that it’s all about Lieberman’s ego and his addiction to his senate seat, and not about the people of Connecticut.