August 8, 2006
Today is a big day in Connecticut and democratic party politics. Incumbent senator Joe Lieberman is poised to lose to a novice newcomer, Ned Lamont, whose only position is that he’s against the war in Iraq. That this passes for policy today – to be against something – reveals the remarkable condition of contemporary politics.
Lamont has no plan for stabilizing Iraq or winning the war on terrorism. He just wants U.S. troops to come home.
Liberal democratic activists want Lieberman’s head on a plate. They are as fundamentalist in their politics as Hezbollah is at theirs. There is no room for common ground and consensus’ no room for debate. It’s their way, or you’re out.
Lieberman says he may run as an independent if he loses today. He has opposed much of the president’s domestic agenda and is a loyal democrat. But if he loses, the left wing will again have taken over the democratic party, as it has before, most notably with George McGovern in 1972. We know what happened then, but the hatred of this president by the left could not only destroy the party, it could also harm the nation. Watch this election closely.
Cal Thomas is a nationally syndicated columnist based in Washington, D.C.
