A "certain kind of Democrat"
Lots of passionate banter among my co-workers today about the Connecticut primary (among my colleagues are an Iraq war veteran, a libertarian-leaning Republican, and a centrist Democrat Connecticut native). The general consensus of everybody but me: the Dems just committed political suicide by nominating somebody too liberal to win, and the Republicans will steal the seat in November.
Maybe they're right, but I think Leiberman has to be held accountable for his support of the war and his feeble opposition to the rest of the Bush administration's tyrrany. What have the Democrats stood for lately that clearly makes them different from the Republicans (I'll give you the minimum wage as an exception)? To make my point, I opened up the pages of this week's Time magazine and read the following words:
The Congressman who is running to replace retiring Bill Frist as Senator from Tennessee has voted to outlaw gay marriage and to repeal the estate tax, and wants to amend the Constitution to ban flag burning. He supports getting rid of the andgun ban in the nation's capital and says the Ten Commandments should be posted in courtrooms around his state. He favors school prayer, argues that more troops should have been sent to Iraq and wants to seal the border with Mexico.
The Congressman in question is, of course, Harold Ford, Jr., and the article goes on to proclaim that a "certain kind of Democrat" like Ford has a real chance of winning in the Volunteer State this year. But I have to wonder, what exactly do Tennesseans "win" by a Ford election? Maybe, perhaps, they hold the line somewhat against the forces of rabid, reactionary, theocratic conservatism. But that's it. And if that's what we've become, then we've lost so much ground against the forces of the right that we need far more creative thinking than this.
Don't get me wrong: I live in Kentucky, land o' McConnell, and I wish I had a Democrat like Ford to vote for up here (up here where the name "Ford" also once meant a "certain kind of Democrat"--but that guy was a genuine centrist who makes Harold Jr. look like a member of the John Birch Society). What's a Dem to do? I know exactly what I would have done in Connecticut last night....
posted by Cosmic Hobo @ 7:52 PM
3 Comments:
I think Lamont will be elected if his campaign continues to energize the electorate. The turnout in Connecticutt was 50% of registered voters, and there was a huge rush to register at the last minute. Also, Connecticut is a solidly blue state where Democrats want to vote for someone who'll stand up to Bush, not play kissy-face with him.
Amen brother, I would've prefered a much more moderate Senator. It seems almost transparent the way he has tried to run to the right for this Senate seat. I'm kind of worried voters would rather have a candidate who says what he believes, rather than what he thinks voters want him to hear. Luckily, Bob Corker is guilty of the same thing, so in the end I think the two come out evenly in that department.
btw, I was talking about Harold Ford Jr...I just realized my post was a big vague.
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