We should certainly tell Lieberman to quit the race--but not because his presence on the ticket will deliver the election to the Busheviks. Formerly his ticket-splitting antics could, of course, have just that mischievous effect. Today, however, that is not the major danger posed by such independent or third-party operations.
The Busheviks today routinely steal elections when and where they want to and can pull it off, whether their opponents are, or are not, stuck in three-way races. A three-way race is better for them, not because that makes it likelier for them to win the necessary votes: because the Busheviks don't operate by winning votes. They'd rather have a three-way race because that sort of contest makes it easier for them to represent their "victory" as legimitate. In other words, it gives them excellent cover for their anti-democratic operations, which the Establishment (the press, the national Democrats) would rather not perceive, preferring, lazily, to interpret the official outcome, however dubious, as a simple consequence of what "the spoiler" did.
Take Ralph Nader's infamous participation in the Florida race six years ago--an act of interference noted in the following petition. It's probably the case that Nader took some votes away from Gore; and it is also true that Nader's votes, if all of them had gone to Gore, would have offset Bush/Cheney's winning margin.
But it is not true that Bush/Cheney surely would have been defeated if the controversial Nader hadn't run. If you'll recall, the Bush machine kept coming up with ever more Bush/Cheney votes throughout the stand-off in 2000, and also kept on mounting challenges to ever more pro-Democratic ballots. If you think that the Bush machine did not intend to "win" in Florida under
any circumstances, you weren't paying very close attention. And if you find yourself, in retrospect, detesting Nader more than you distrust the Bush machine, you should look deep within, and ask yourself if you believe more fiercely in the Democratic Party than in US democracy itself.
In any case, "Sore Loserman" should quit the race ASAP, so that the Bush machine will have that much more difficult a time concocting a "defeat" for Ned Lamont. And if the senator stays in, it will amount to one more big wet kiss on Bush's cheek.
Dear Friend,
On Tuesday, the message sent by Connecticut voters was loud and clear. They want change, and they want Ned Lamont to represent them in the U.S. Senate, voting for Ned by a 52%-48% margin over Senator Joe Lieberman in the Democratic primary.
Unfortunately, Joe Lieberman began collecting petition signatures to run as an Independent several weeks ago while concurrently running in the Democratic primary. In short, he wanted to have his cake and eat it too.
In 2000, the presence of a third party candidate, Ralph Nader, no doubt played a role in the defeat of Vice President Gore and Joe Lieberman. Now Joe Lieberman is risking our party's claim on his Senate seat by running as a third party candidate himself. Recent news reports detail the GOP's interest in supporting just such an effort. It's time to draw a line.
As Democrats, Wes Clark and I have committed ourselves to supporting the Democratic nominee for the US Senate in Connecticut and I ask you to do likewise. Because too much is at stake with our troubles abroad and at home, we cannot play games this Election Day.
Please join Wes Clark and me in urging Senator Lieberman to drop his bid for the Senate as an Independent and endorse the duly nominated Democrat.
Forward Joe Lieberman an email here