…in the ol’ “blogosphere” this morning: The courageous triumph of Lamont.
No, not that Lamont.
Not that one either.
And not even this one. (Though the Lamont everyone’s talking about might share this other Lamont’s ability to know what evil lurks in the hears of unreconstructed Reagan Democrats.)
Nope, we’re all talkin’ about Natty Ned Lamont, cable-TV exec and freshly minted Demo U.S. Senate nominee from the tiny but historic state of Connecticut (home of the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, ESPN, World Wrestling Entertainment, and Yale University, and the largely forgotten birth state of George W. Bush). There, voters defied the “national” (NYC/DC) media pundits and the near-Right op-ed columnists, and chose Lamont instead of incumbent Sen. Joseph Lieberman.
You may remember Lieberman. He was Gore’s running mate in the ’00 Presidential race. He ran for President in 2004, in the process winning the endorsement of the Seattle Times prior to the Wash. state caucuses–but dropped out of the race two days later, before the caucuses actually occurred.
Since then, he’d been vilified by progressive Net-writers, who’ve described him with such terms as “the Republicans’ favorite Democrat.” He’s enthusiastically supported the Iraq invasion, the USA Patriot Act, and most of the rest of the destructive Bush platform.
Lieberman showed his stance on party loyalty during his concession speech last night, in which he vowed to run in the general election as an independent.
As you might expect, the atmosphere at the local Drinking Liberally meetup was especially raucous, puncuated with cries of “We Won!” It was just a primary, not a general election; but it was a strategic victory for the “Netroots” (online political organizing).
The real test, of course, comes this November, when the bloggers and the Netwoots activists will help try to win Demo control of the House and Senate. One guy at the previous week’s Drinking Liberally said he thought it’d be better from a long-haul strategy POV if the Dems only win the House this year. He said that would provide a base for Dems to stop the worst GOP legislation while preparing to storm the White House in ’08.
I disagree.
Every day, this nation slides further away from democracy and toward corporate/theocratic dictatorship. The ol’ ship-O-state’s course must be reversed, and as soon as possible. If we wait to change course, the ship might not turn in time to avoid the figurative reefs of socio-economic disaster.
