For progressives, there comes a point in time when reactive rage morphs into diamond hard, condensed will. From the Hartford Courant:
"I can't predict who's going to win," Schumer said.
Asked if he would discourage Democrats from giving money to Lieberman, or from campaigning for the three-term incumbent, Schumer said, "We are supporting Ned Lamont. I'll be meeting with Ned Lamont to discuss what he needs," a meeting scheduled to occur in Washington next week.
But what if Democrats want to give to Lieberman?
Schumer gave the same answer: "We are supporting Ned Lamont."
Washington political analyst Jennifer Duffy explained why: "You can't afford to alienate Lieberman. Democrats are walking a very fine line."
Duffy, who was at the briefing, called Schumer's comments "a non-answer," explaining, "It just serves to demonstrate how tricky this race is for Democrats."
"I'm surprised Sen. Schumer didn't make stronger comments," Swan said, "considering Lieberman's campaign has so clearly mimicked [White House political guru] Karl Rove's playbook, undermining Democrats in Connecticut and across the country."
He is, famously, the Senate’s greatest fund-raiser and greatest TV hound, important qualifications for his new job. Schumer thought about running for governor this year but instead leveraged the threat of leaving the Senate to secure a spot on the powerful Finance Committee, which writes the nation’s tax laws and, not insignificant, is a perch that puts him in constant contact with the political donor class. “That was my dream,” he says. “I always wanted to be on the Finance Committee.”
Thus we have Chuck describing how he will punk the party to gain personal access to power and money through the "donor class." Cognitive Diss has a bit more review of Schumer's choices, priorities and values.
Let's recap some undisputed facts for the record: 1) Ned Lamont is the voter-chosen nominee of the Democratic Party of the state of Connecticut; 2) Joe Lieberman, primary loser, refuses to respect the will of the Democratic voters of Connecticut and has formed his own vanity party, Connecticut for Lieberman; 3) the Hartford Courant column rather accurately reflects, through a Schumer surrogate, Schumer's strategic calculations; 4) those calculations emphasize the DSCC's consistent overriding goal of taking back the Senate, but do not reflect any principled loyalty to Democratic Party voters; 5) we in the netroots have been quite happy to praise Schumer's good actions , including his (eventual) support for net neutrality; 6) Joe Lieberman is campaigning alongside Republicans and accepting institutional Republican support, including help from consultants and endorsements from national figures in the Republican Party; 7) political analysts and pollsters agree that Joe's only path to victory requires him to maximize turnout among GOP voters in Connecticut; 8) bringing GOP voters to the polls hurts other Democrats running for office in Connecticut, including three key House candidates relied upon to help take back the House in November, 9) Fox News has just today quoted Lieberman as saying, when asked if his candidacy would negatively affect other Democratic campaigns in the state, "Well, I guess I should say that they should have thought of that during the primary, but here we are." There could not be a clearer "Fuck you!" to Democrats than that.