Lieberman, D-Conn., who spent Wednesday and Thursday in Iraq, saw strong evidence that a workable American plan is in place.
"We do have a strategy," he said. "We do have a plan. I saw a strategy that's being implemented." (Lightman)
Lieberman's comments are in direct opposition to those made by Sen. Dodd just one month ago:
Sen. Christopher J. Dodd, D-Conn., visited Iraq last month, and came away saying "we need a major course correction" in American policy - notably "we need to let Iraqis know we're not there forever." (Lightman)
Lieberman is one of the biggest supporters of a war that has never been popular in Connecticut, yet he is still one of the state's most popular politicians. His approval ratings have consistently been in the high 60s, and he seems assured of re-election. It's noteworthy that the only Republican who has so far stepped forward to challenge Lieberman next year is, well, a little mentally unbalanced:
Right now, Manchester resident Herschal Collins is the only Republican to have filed for the Senate race. Collins has sued the state of Connecticut and the United States government for various things.
He insists that Lieberman's term — along with most other members of Congress — is invalid because they violated the law by permitting the Department of Interior to deal with the state's two casinos, Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun. (Lucas)
He doesn't have a website yet, but I can't wait.
It's sometimes hard to explain Lieberman's popularity. Most Democrats say that they can't stand him. Whenever he makes a move, the left-leaning blogosphere excoriates him. Republicans, on the other hand, love Joe, even though he actually votes against most of their positions in the Senate. His campaign for president in 2004 flopped terribly as he completely missed the mood of Democrats nationwide (his withdrawal saved him from losing the primary in his own state), but Connecticut voters seem willing to return him to the Senate anyway.
Lieberman has made a career out of playing to the middle, and perhaps that appeals to the huge number of independents in Connecticut. Many people find him dour, boring and a bit too liberal/conservative/moderate for their tastes, but not so much so that they won't vote for him. It helps that Republicans haven't put up strong candidates against him since he defeated Lowell Weicker in 1988.
So Lieberman, despite lukewarm support from his own party and a seeming inability to sense the national mood, will win in another walk next year. That's something we can all feel, well, moderate about.
Sources
Lightman, David. "`We Do Have A Plan'." Hartford Courant 29 November, 2005.
Lucas, Fred. "Ho-hum '06 state political races looming." Danbury News-Times 27 November, 2005.
25 comments:
I don't fell moderate about it, but as a progressive democrat, what is the option?
No one is running against him in the primary, and the odds of me voting for a Republican (especially one who is slightly nutty) is low.
I'd personally like to see a Lieberman/Weicker rematch, but that isn't happening.
From what I hear, a lot of the DTCs aren't happy with Joe, either. A reasonably competent primary opponent could expect some decent convention support.
Lets take up a collection to keep Joe in Iraq....he is one of the main folks responsible for over 2,000 needless deaths and over 200 billion used in Iraq that could have been used here.
"Most Democrats say that they can't stand him."
Not true.. Look at the April Q poll that shows him running a 66% approval rating among Dems this past April. I'd say most Democrats approve of the job he's doing:
http://www.quinnipiac.edu/x11362.xml?ReleaseID=670
Genghis also reported on the numbers here:
http://connecticutlocalpolitics.blogspot.com/2005/04/new-quinnipiac-poll-80-approve-of-rell.html
Lieberman visits are a marked contrast to the Iraq described by Anne Garrels interview in Northeast this week.
Lieberman's support of the war comes at a very high costs for our nation and if this current stratagy/plan in Iraq continues to fail, a credible challenge may appear
http://www.courant.com/news/local/northeast/hc-negarrels1127.artnov27,0,6768921.story?coll=hc-headlines-northeast
I heard a rumor that Aldon was fired from the DeStefano campaign and is now doing advance work for Lieberman
I find myself in a difficult position. As a blogger, I am committed to promoting as much openness and transparency as possible. However, I have responsibilities to my family, the DeStefano campaign and to others that need to be kept private. So, I will try to give as much information as I can.
My agreement to work with the DeStefano campaign is through November 30th. I have been contacted by several other campaigns, both within and beyond Connecticut to help them with their online strategy. I have also been approached on other online ventures, as well as some ventures in my other career as a Wall Street technology executive.
I need to work out what will be best for myself, my family, my friends, the DeStefano campaign and several other campaigns that I am committed to.
Several months ago, Senator Lieberman came over to my house to speak with Kim and I about Democracy for America. I attended the funeral for Senator Lieberman’s mother and am friends with his brother-in-law. However, at no point have there been discussions about me working for him. I would like to see him have a vibrant blog, just as I would like to see all politicians have vibrant blogs, but I do not foresee working on making this happen.
I can’t go into much more detail than this at this point. Perhaps tomorrow, I will have more information to present.
DeanFan84, thanks for the support. My current agreement is through the 30th. I don’t know if we will work out an agreement beyond that. If we don’t reach an agreement, I hope that the campaign does not shut down the blog. I believe that blogs are an important dynamic in campaigns.
I believe that an important part of blogs is a sense of community, which is part of the reason I rail against people that simply use Anonymous as a name instead of creating a consistent pseudonym. It is also part of the reason I am so opposed to deleting comments. As a side note, Genghis contacted me about the rumor asking if I thought the comment should be deleted. Due to my strong aversion to deleting comments, I said that the comment should stay up. Deleting comments are another thing that damages community.
You are right. It takes time to build community and I hope that if an agreement between the DeStefano campaign and me isn’t reached, that there will be continued efforts to build a vibrant community around the campaign.
One other thought. This whole thing feels rather awkward to me. My job for the DeStefano campaign has been to try and draw attention to the Mayor’s Gubernatorial bid. I would prefer not to be the focus of attention.
I agree with DeanFan, Aldon. You've done a great job with the DeStefano blog, and you've represented the campaign extremely well on the web.
Aldon, perhaps your skills will obtain better results in the private sector. Everybody loves Jodi
http://www.surveyusa.com/50State2005/50StateGovApproval0511ByApproval.htm
She''s been over 75% for over a year. That's not a short term honeymoon, it's a long term romance.
Good luck rallying your 18% . Let's see how much more money Johnny II raises once he's tapped out all the city vendors in New Haven
yes, and New Haven is about as safe these days as Baghdad. Four shootings last night. No arrests.
Wonderful reason to give the guy a promotion
Actually, according to this article from the AP wire, the anonymous commenter is at least partially correct.
I've said it before: suburban fear of New Haven is going to be trouble for DeStefano.
The article does mention three shootings, just to be clear. It also doesn't mention any arrests, although you may have seen a different article that does.
This sort of thing has a great deal to do with politics. Moderate voters in the suburbs have an absolute terror of cities like Hartford, Bridgeport and New Haven. Some of their fear is caused by fear of people of different racial and ethnic backgrounds, fair enough. But some of it is caused by comparatively high crime rates and what seem like constant news stories about shootings. People get scared.
Perception matters. White suburban voters see the city as filled with high crime and drugs. This may negatively impact their perception of DeStefano, and lead them to vote against him. Part of what his campaign is doing is selling not only the mayor but also the city to just these sorts of people. High-profile crimes like what happened last night hurt that effort.
Lieberman is a liability to CT Democrats.
We need to find a Democrat that will primary him and take him out.
http://www.dumpjoe.com
http://www.wtnh.com/Global/story.asp?S=4182909
"This latest shooting is the 5th in New Haven since Monday night. There has been one murder and four shootings in the Elm City in the past five days."
TBC
My info was from NBC30 at 11pm. Unlike the DeStefano campaign, they have an interest in providing accurate information about what is really happening in New Haven.
Talk to your cops! New Haven doesn't report it's crime figures.
How is a headline "New Haven crime up for second year" either supportive of DeStefano or evidence of any alleged race card?
If this is the reasoning DeStefano's own people use to support his campaign Jodi ought to plan for a long stay at the mansion
The issue of crime in our cities is a serious one that should be looked at carefully. There are many different issues involved in it. For example, how can we make our police forces more effective?
About a month ago, a neighbor of mine in North Stamford was murdered. As Paul Bass points out in New Haven Independent, New Haven police helped solve the murder. As a resident of North Stamford, I am grateful to the help that the New Haven police provided. It illustrates the importance of working together.
It is also worth noting that suspects had recently been released from jail and had substance abuse problems. One of the suspects was on parole when he moved here from New Jersey.
Mayor DeStefano has talked about how corrections is the fastest growing part of the Connecticut budget and that all murders in New Haven were committed by people who had been released by the Department of Corrections within a year or so. (I don’t have the exact statistics).
We need better programs to assist people as they transition from prison life back to life in our communities. We need better programs to help people with substance abuse. Without any of these programs, no matter how good the police are, they will always be fighting an uphill battle.
Here's how NHPD reports it's findings, it's not to the FBI standards and allows for "unfounded" claims to be removed.
http://www.cityofnewhaven.com/police/html/stats/crime/crimestats.htm
Other Cities: Crime data for a number of other cities with populations larger than 75,000 are not reported in this 10th edition of City Crime Rankings. Crime statistics for these cities are not included for a number of reasons, ranging from general reporting difficulties and computer issues to changes in reporting systems. Below is a list of cities that the Census Bureau showed as having populations greater than 75,000 but for which no information was available through the 2002 F.B.I.’s Uniform Crime Report:
Albany, NY
Las Cruces, NM
Arlington Heights, IL
Longmont, CO
Augusta, GA
Nashua, NH
Canton, OH
New Bedford, MA
Centennial CA
New Haven, CT
Cicero IL
Newport Beach, CA
Citrus Heights, CA
Newton, MA
Decatur, IL
Roanoke, VA
Elgin, IL
Santa Maria, CA
Elk Grove, CA
Waukegan, IL
Hillsboro, OR
Westminster, CO
Kansas City, KS
Worcester, MA
That says very little, improvement here is a subjective measure.
http://www.yaledailynews.com/article.asp?AID=8687
OK, here's what just kills me ...
Let's take this phrase from truebluect's post and play word substitution:
"You are just trying to inject fear and race into the dialogue. But then again, you're a Republican!"
Now, substitute "sex and emotion" for "fear and race" and "silly woman" for "Republican" ... or pick some hot-button issue like welfare and your least favorite racial epithet.
Fun!
Now, of course, as sensitive progressives none of you would ever stoop to such a despicable remark ... about a woman or a minority.
Just about a Republican. (A theoretical Republican, no less - as if it were some violation of human decency for Republicans to post on this board, anonymously or otherwise.)
Nice.
It is tempting to believe that the remark was made with tongue fully in cheek ... but that's hard to believe when it's accompanied by words like "troll" and whiny demands for an end to anonymous posting.
A whole new anon -
What are you talking about? Coherence - catch the fever!
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