In fact, there very well may be more people outside Connecticut paying attention to this race than inside. Take the two editorials that appeared in the Hartford Courant this morning. The first, a pro-Lieberman piece called "No Conservative: Lieberman's A JFK Democrat" was written by Marshall Wittman, a DLC fellow and creator of the Bull Moose Blog, and Steven J. Nider of the DLC's Progressive Policy Institute. Both are based out of Washington, DC, and do not live in Connecticut.
The other, an anti-Lieberman piece entitled "Who's Lieberman Represent? Not You" was written by David Sirota. On his blog, Sirota rails against those out-of-staters who would tell Connecticut Democrats what to do:
They predictably regurgitate the fallacy that Lieberman is a “centrist” - and then these two well-known right-wingers from Washington, D.C. proceed to try to lecture Connecticut Democratic primary voters about how Joe Lieberman is supposedly the reincarnation of John F. Kennedy.
I swear - sometimes it is really just incredibly amazing how arrogant these out-of-touch, Beltway-insulated Establishment apologists are, how stupid they think the public is... (Sirota)
Which is fine, except that Lieberman doesn't represent Sirota, either. According to his biography (.pdf), Sirota currently lives in Montana.
This primary was never ours. We have to accept it. National and international media, blogs and pundits have taken Connecticut's affair and infused it with symbolism and meaning that transcends the petty concerns of Democrats in Rocky Hill or Groton. Right now, this primary is about the future of the Democratic Party, the growth of the liberal netroots, opposition to the war in Iraq, and President Bush. We've been drawn into the orbit of these huge, national issues--they dwarf us.
On primary day, though, it'll be about one Connecticut Democrat after another, alone in a booth, looking at two rows of levers. On that day, all the self-important national pundits won't matter a single bit, and the political world will revolve around Connecticut instead.
Sources
Sirota, David. "Who's Lieberman Represent? Not You." Hartford Courant 2 July, 2006.
Wittman, Marshall and Steven J. Nidler. "No Conservative: Lieberman's A JFK Democrat." Hartford Courant 2 July, 2006.
6 comments:
This Primary is Totally Home Grown GC.
I MADE AND PAID FOR THOSE KISS BUTTONS.
Just Because you were asleep over the last 18 months and never understood the CT. DUMP JOE MOVEMENT or how big and how Viral it was doesn't mean it wasn't happenig right under your nose.
Maybe if you went to more than 1 Democratic Party event (Convention) over the las 2 yrs. you'd have understood just how big it was but instead you chose to read our 2 Ct. papers like always and think you knew something.
The biggest story in the country happened right under your nose,GC, and because of your arrogance and ignorance you missed it.
Looks to me like GC is trying to say this Primary is being foisted on CT When nothing could be farther from the truth.
This Primary was totally Home Grown and when it's over everyone is going to see just how little support Joe Lieberman has even amongst those at the very top of CTs political Foodchain.
Lieberman EARNED this Primary and his coming retirement.
I have Plenty of Pride,
And was smart enough and in touch enough with the people of this state to know they yearned for a choice other than Lieberman to represent them in the Senate.
The fact that you,Chris McC and GC , weren't in fact in touch proves you make be great Bloggers(whatever the hell that means) but neither of you have any feel for the political tides in this State.
Run along now,you both have to go read the Sunday papers to know what the people of this state are thinking since it's much to much work to ask them yourselves.
Keith,
This whole thing started here. In a very real way, it started with you and DumpJoe.
But what I see is a lot of people coming in from other places and trying to tell Connecticut Democrats what to do. They all have their reasons and agendas, and they're bending and twisting the shape of the race to fit them.
In the end, though, it's going to depend on how Democrats in New London, Torrington, Norwalk, Newington and Branford are feeling on August 8th. If Lamont wins, it won't be because of all the big national issues and causes--it'll be because Democrats in this state actually want change for once. Who can blame them?
Connecticut loves incumbents, but only up to a certain point. Lieberman dethroning Weicker in 1988 proves that if Connecticut voters get grumpy enough, they'll throw their leaders overboard.
More disturbing for some Democrats might be the fact that I have been talking to run-of-the-mill Democrats in Connecticut... and hardly any of them have heard of Lamont. Or DeStefano or Malloy, for that matter.
They have heard of Lieberman and Rell, though.
GC,
Then Draw a big Black line across this Paragraph
This primary was never ours. We have to accept it. National and international media, blogs and pundits have taken Connecticut's affair and infused it with symbolism and meaning that transcends the petty concerns of Democrats in Rocky Hill or Groton. Right now, this primary is about the future of the Democratic Party, the growth of the liberal netroots, opposition to the war in Iraq, and President Bush. We've been drawn into the orbit of these huge, national issues--they dwarf us.
This was started By Nutmeggers and will be finished by Nutmeggers.Contrary to what Sean Smith thinks CT voters ARE NOT LOW INFORMATION VOTERS and although many will read Sirota,Wittman,Kos,the NYT,WSJ and hundreds of other outside of connecticut opinions those who go to the polls are going because they feel strongly that either they were or weren't represented well by Joe Lieberman.
Liebermans pollster has already told him he is losing amongst Most Likely and Likely voters. Outsiders didn't make that happen and will have little effect on the Aug. 8th vote.They're here because the story is here not to create a story.
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