Joe, I Guess They Hardly Know Ye

I'm not sure what to think of the Democratic Senate primary in the state of Connecticut. Elected vice president in 2000, incumbant Joe Lieberman is now trailing challenger Ted Lamont in the polls, just three weeks before the election. Lieberman has always scored points as a moderate Democrat, one who's not a Pelosi or a Kennedy or anyone else with a "label". He's appeared such a moderate that he oftens comes across as a conservative with democratic ideals. That hasn't always been bad for him and yet this three-term Senator may just be handed his walking papers. What's interesting is why: the war. Lieberman has stuck to his guns on the issue of remaining in Iraq until "the job is completed", whatever that means. Are people frustrated with the war or are they frustrated with a Democrat being a yes-man to George W. Bush, one who even most conservatives think has failed as chief executive? Is he supposed to be a member of the 'loyal opposition' or one who ideologically challenges everything the GOP attempts to carry out? Interesting situation. I think what may just help lose the election for Joe is his claim to run as an independent if he does not earn the Democratic nod. That itself speaks volumes about the current political climate as well as party affiliation. Who does Joe Lieberman serve and represent in the Senate if he doesn't accept what Democratic voters want? Himself? The president? It sure as heck isn't the soldiers risking their lives as plugging the war won't earn him any more votes as is. Joe, maybe you should have shut your mouth and announced your cowboy candidacy after you lost so you could be seen as a populist and not a self-serving syncophant of the White House. Not to say that Lieberman is a GOP tool but what would he do if elected as an independent? Would he later switch party affiliations? He'd be impeached in Connecticut if he absconded to the GOP. Would he rejoin the Democrats? He would be a pariah as he'd show himself to be one that forced the issue of the war into the mainstream, something that no elected official truly seems to bring into public debate. Ignore the war, save your seat. Touch the third rail of the 2006 election and find yourself fund raising as an independent. Maybe Joe Lieberman and Ralph Reed could start their own party, one that appears to be independent but really has ties to anchors that could possibly kill the chances of the GOP appearing as the party of integrity and vision: Abramoff and Iraq.