Run, Joe, Run

Wall Street Journal ^ | Monday, May 12, 2003 | By PETER BEINART

[WaveThatFlag]

The oft-repeated liberal charge that Joe Lieberman is Bush-lite is correct in at least one respect: The stronger the president looks in the general election, the better the Connecticut senator's chances in the Democratic primary.

If Howard Dean, the kindly Vermont doctor, is the candidate of Democratic fantasy, Sen. Lieberman is the candidate of Democratic desperation, the centrist of last resort once all other scenarios for regime change have been exhausted. Which is why from Mr. Lieberman's perspective, the South Carolina Democratic debate, held just two days after President Bush triumphantly declared the end of major hostilities in Iraq, couldn't have been better timed. If they could have, the Lieberman team would have held the debate on the USS Abraham Lincoln itself.

[aegiscg47]

At least the country wouldn't have insommia to worry about!

[TUX]

Put Joe in the dead letter box.

[Uncle Miltie]

Will we get the pro-choice (schools) Lieberman? Will we get the Lieberman who is willing to restrict some of the outrageous abortion practices? Will we get the capital gains tax cutting Lieberman?

If that Lieberman can survive trial by fire in the Democratic Primaries, the Dems may have good prospects in the next ten years.

If the Sore/Loserman candidate shows up, they'll slither off into the tall grass again.

[Ronaldus Magnus Reagan]

and called the Supreme Court's Bush v. Gore decision "profoundly unfair."

As if cherry-picking their best Florida counties and only recounting those votes was "fair"? What a laugh.

[alloysteel]

We must remember, that for Joe Lieberman to win the Democrat Presidential nomination, he will have to run far to the left, a contortion that may prove to be fatal in a general election, as his words from primary speeches come back to haunt him. A very small electorate from a number of core constituencies, often at odds with each other, determine the Democrat nominee. Most of them HAVE NO MONEY (or at least, do not shake loose from it). Those that have money, demand an inordinate voice in selection of the nominee. And they have gravitated to the faction that scorns US power, and the US flag, and the patriotism it represents.

30% of our own native-born population do not love this country (plus perhaps 50% of the resident immigrants, legal and "undocumented"), and would prefer to have it subordinated to some other supra-national power, with a decidedly different belief system than we now enjoy.

[lasereye]

It's too bad for Lieberman that Sharpton is running. Otherwise he could have another friendly meeting with him like he did in 2000. If Sharpton drops out, presumably Lieberman would immediately schedule one. Wonder if those intelligent moderate southern Dems would notice.

[WaveThatFlag]

As if cherry-picking their best Florida counties and only recounting those votes was "fair"? What a laugh.

We already had that debate when Jeb ran for re-election. And "outrage" lost.

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

The last few Democratic presidents, and their foreign policy/defense records, illustrate the problem the party faces post 911:

- x42:

accepted SecDef's resignation over Black Hawk Down, cut and ran, and named a Republican as SecDef. Allowed terrorism to fester unpunished.

Carter:

undermined the friendly Shah of Iran, leading to the establishment of a hostile government, thus to the possibility of the Iran/Iraq war.

Johnson:

raised the stakes with 500,000 troops, then made no effort to win in Vietnam.

- Kennedy:

Bay of Pigs and moral commitment to South Vietnam through involvement in the overthrow of its president.

With a foreign policy record like that, it is no marvel that to win the White House the Democrats have had to gradually escalate the conservative facade of its front men: Carter was a southern governor, Clinton was a southern governor and Gore was a southern senator. What will they have to do to win next time?

GWB rides a routine flight to a routine landing on an aircraft carrier, and it illustrates both identification with the troops (expressing the enjoyment of controling an airplane common to the military aviator) and humility (in being flown to the difficult landing by a qualified Navy pilot, but not in the detached luxury of Marine One). Not to mention elan.

The Democrats are reduced to raising fatuous sour-grapes objections; their two most credible candidates are both Northerners--only one of them, a former war protester, being a veteran. The party of concern--but only for those least likely to identify with a naval aviator--has a problem.

[Free the USA]

http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/bump-list

[jedwardtremlett]

Where's the barf alert? ; )

J

[George W. Bush]

Supporting vouchers and joining JPFO and/or making favorable remarks (in the context of homeland defense) about CCW and/or standing against renewing the AWB would place Lieberman well with southern whites and blacks across the country. I wonder if he has the nerve to do it.

[Sonny M]

We must remember, that for Joe Lieberman to win the Democrat Presidential nomination, he will have to run far to the left,

Actually, he doesn't have to run to the far left, any attempt to do so, would be suicide. The left wing is split between dean, kerry and edwards and gephardt. With 4 reliable and solid leftwingers splitting the base apart, Lieberman can do better by just being different. Most of the left wing hates him anyway, but they don't like any single canidate more then him, only combined they do, and in an election with multiple canidates, its not about how many voted against you, its how many voted for you.