Booman Tribune ~ A Progressive Community

Essentially, Lieberman heard that Dean and Weiner and a lot of the blogosphere were happy about a Medicare Buy-In proposal, which was something he himself has supported, and that was enough for him to spike the idea.

Booman's referring to reports put out by The New York Times and which Steven Bennen discussed at WEINER SCARED LIEBERMAN AWAY?

I cannot repeat enough how going forward, this "Joe Lieberman" moment has to be remembered for eons to come. Because it doesn't matter if you extricate Joe Lieberman from the senate, or as I suspect will happen, it will not matter a bit the day he walks away on his own accord by "retiring" from politics. You will always have another asshole who will point to a bill or a cause and say, "if that's what those radicals want, am voting against it".
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It's been a fascinating weekend. On Saturday news broke out that The Boston Globe endorses Barack Obama and John McCain while the Des Moines Register endorses Hillary Clinton and John McCain.

During that same time, Newsweek published "The Sleeper" (on the cover, that is, because inside the atory is called, "The Road Warrior"), an eye-popping quasi-endorsement of the "I'm not dead yet" campaign-machine called John Edwards.

To one-up everybody in sight Joe "I am the heir of Zell Miller" Lieberman exclamates his passion for John McCain.

All this is happening during a weekend littered by the exchange of blogospheric emails and posts on the subject of Chris Dodd's coming filibuster of Harry Reid's FISA. The alleged leader of the Senate Majority announced last Friday he was going to introduce the Judiciary Committee's version of the "Foreign Intelligence and Surveillance Act" which would grant, among many other wrongs, immunity to the telecoms for aiding and abetting George Bush and Alberto Gonzales in their illegal spying schemes.
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The (presumably small) Republican Jewish Coalition is apparantly suggesting that Jews, particularly Orthodox Jews, join the Repub party in protest of Lieberman's defeat.

The National Jewish Democratic Council has this to say regarding orthodox Jews defecting to the Republican Party because of Lieberman's defeat:

"I'm absolutely astonished by the RJC ad campaign. American Jews need to know that the Republican Jewish Coalition is no friend of Joe Lieberman, and it certainly isn't an advocate for the issues of importance to the mainstream of the Jewish community.

"For years, the RJC has criticized Joe Lieberman. Now they want to use his good name for their own political purposes. These guys have no shame.

"The Connecticut Senate primary was not about Israel or the Jewish community. Joe Lieberman's record on Israel is impeccable. Ned Lamont's pro-Israel position is commendable. Connecticut will have a pro-Israel senator if either Democrat is elected. Any suggestion otherwise is a distortion of the truth."
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First off, a hearty congratulations to Ned Lamont. I didn't think he would pull it off. But he did. Congratulations as well to the many people on and off line who made Lamont's win possible.

But I honestly think many people have been unfair to Joe Lieberman. He is not and never has been like Zell Miller. Zell Miller's entire voting record was right in line with the most rabidly right wing Republican. He was in every way a nut case.

Lieberman's political career may now be dead. Perhaps even more so if he runs as an Ind and the Democratic Party does the right thing and turns its back on him. Maybe his career will survive, but I don't think so. But I think we should be fair to Lieberman.

Lieberman, more than many Democrats, was a man of conviction and strong beliefs. This affected how he viewed politics. He viewed politics as a conservative, religious man, yet managed to maintain (in sharp contrast to Zell) a reasonable voting record on choice, the environment and labor, at least according to LCV, NARAL and AFL-CIO. He was on our side in many fights throughout his career. And when he wasn't on our side it wasn't because he was triangulating. It was because he believed that what he was doing was the correct thing to do. I admit that I admire that about Lieberman. He did what he thought was right.
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More than 71% of the precints are in and Lamont is squeaking a win by less than 4% --not good to be within the margin of error.

[via courant.com | Lamont Leads Senate Race In Early Returns]:

Ten minutes before the polls closed Tuesday, primary Lamont's supporters were predicting a "landslide" victory.

"You know how you feel something in your gut?" said Laura Gallo, the former deputy mayor of Meriden as she wrapped up phone calls at Lamont headquarters Tuesday night. "We're going to win."

Others, like former state Democratic party chairman George Jepsen, were relying on something slightly more reliable than gut instinct - he had word from people in the field that returns were coming in overwhelmingly for Lamont.

As the party began at the Sheraton, the Rev. Jesse Jackson made his rounds in the press room talking up Lamont's commitment to urban schools, universal health care and other progressive issues.

"I hope he can win. The nation needs a new direction, new priorities and the values that Lamont represents," Jackson said. "He's taking on a bigger Goliath than just Lieberman."

Methinks a blowout is on the way; follow The Daily Gotham for more intense coverage.