AIN’T NOTHING WRONG, AIN’T NOTHING RIGHT
And so Lieberman concedes defeat and vows to run as an Independent. He probably should have done that in the first place, skipping this primary non-sense altogether. Hindsight, yada yada, and all that.
The thing is this: Lieberman represents an anti-party bent that can only be good for the country. He’s always existed above party politics, and his run as an “Independent Democrat” will demonstrate such. I have no qualms with an independent candidacy––it is well within the electoral rules, as was Lamont’s ultimately successful primary challenge. No one should have been telling Lamont to stand down six months ago, and we should afford Lieberman the same respect in the general. “For the good of the party” is an anti-democratic excuse. If you think you can rock the senate, then by all means run. And then rock it.
My only hope is that out of the ashes of this primary defeat comes the makings of a viable, centrist third party. All we need now is McCain, Hagel, Chaffee, Bloomberg, Bayh and, I dunno, Wes Clark (maybe someone less crazy) to bow out of their respective party ranks, meet up with Liebs in the party-free middle, and stake out a new, centrist, purple-party path. Won’t happen, the party machinations are much too strong. But a boy can dream.
For more along those ideas, check out James Strock over at Unity 08:
“Lieberman stands uniquely able to represent the Nutmeg State’s new reality: increasingly independent of party orthodoxy. He might well become a real-life version of Jimmy Stewart’s great character in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, an outsider uniquely able to speak truth to power, not beholden to any party or interest group.”
Read the whole thing; a lot of good points.