Re-McGovernization
You'd think they'd have learned their lesson the first time. Evidently, the Democrats are determined to - as is their want - snatch defeat from the jaws of victory yet again.
By booting Joe Lieberman and lurching leftward on the war, they will again sew the seeds of doubt in the minds of mainstream swing voters about the Dems trustworthiness on the one subject that is the most crucial at this point in our history. The netroots crowd (read Kos denizens) is dislocating their shoulders in their rush to pat themselves on the back and it's hard to argue that they had the critical role in focusing the far left's collective anger at Lieberman.
What they've tried to do here is create yet another litmus test for Democratic Party electability (this from the people who are always the first to complain long and loud that the Republicans are the ones that dip the paper). The first and most famous is, of course, that of abortion. As a practical matter, no one in the party that isn't pro-abortion can be elected to anything above local office.
The question is, did they accomplish this? Is there now a new line in the sand (support for the war) that no Democrat can cross? And I would suggest that, while the party center has certainly moved left, the Kossacks significantly overestimate their own power. Connecticut is a deep blue northeastern state that is in no way representative of the country as a whole. It was the ideal crucible for the nutroots to try to flex their muscles and Lamont had an unlimited personal fortune to spend on the campaign. These perfect conditions won't be duplicated anywhere else in the country.
That's not to say that the Republicans still don't have an excellent chance of losing the House (and probably deserve to). But if electing an empty suit like Lamont, whose only real issue is "bring the troops home tomorrow," does nothing else it will probably put enough of a scare into anyone who cares about the war with Islamofacism that it will make them think twice about putting Democrats in a responsible position. This is simply a fight that we can't aford to lose.
House races tend to turn more on local rather than national issues (let alone international ones), but the war is the kind of issue that can nationalize an election. If so, this should redound to the Republicans' benefit. The prospect of Speaker Pelosi can't give anyone a really comforatble feeling if they care at all about the importance of American military success in the next decade.
By booting Joe Lieberman and lurching leftward on the war, they will again sew the seeds of doubt in the minds of mainstream swing voters about the Dems trustworthiness on the one subject that is the most crucial at this point in our history. The netroots crowd (read Kos denizens) is dislocating their shoulders in their rush to pat themselves on the back and it's hard to argue that they had the critical role in focusing the far left's collective anger at Lieberman.
What they've tried to do here is create yet another litmus test for Democratic Party electability (this from the people who are always the first to complain long and loud that the Republicans are the ones that dip the paper). The first and most famous is, of course, that of abortion. As a practical matter, no one in the party that isn't pro-abortion can be elected to anything above local office.
The question is, did they accomplish this? Is there now a new line in the sand (support for the war) that no Democrat can cross? And I would suggest that, while the party center has certainly moved left, the Kossacks significantly overestimate their own power. Connecticut is a deep blue northeastern state that is in no way representative of the country as a whole. It was the ideal crucible for the nutroots to try to flex their muscles and Lamont had an unlimited personal fortune to spend on the campaign. These perfect conditions won't be duplicated anywhere else in the country.
That's not to say that the Republicans still don't have an excellent chance of losing the House (and probably deserve to). But if electing an empty suit like Lamont, whose only real issue is "bring the troops home tomorrow," does nothing else it will probably put enough of a scare into anyone who cares about the war with Islamofacism that it will make them think twice about putting Democrats in a responsible position. This is simply a fight that we can't aford to lose.
House races tend to turn more on local rather than national issues (let alone international ones), but the war is the kind of issue that can nationalize an election. If so, this should redound to the Republicans' benefit. The prospect of Speaker Pelosi can't give anyone a really comforatble feeling if they care at all about the importance of American military success in the next decade.
posted by 3yellowdogs @ 8/09/2006 12:13:00 PM
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