From Lowell Weicker, the guy who lost his seat to Lieberman in 1988. I’m sure he’ll draw charges of sour grapes because of that, but he does disdain so very, very well.
The majority of Democrats say they support Sen. Joe Lieberman in spite of his backing the war, since Iraq, after all, is only one of many issues facing voters.
Hello! To characterize the most monumental screw-up of our times as “only one of many issues” is like admiring the theater marquees on Broadway with King Kong on the loose.
Iraq is a war based on falsehood for which thousands of young Americans have been killed and wounded. It is a policy mistake that has drained the life’s blood of financial resources from all our endeavors here at home. It is the issue that shapes all other issues.
Weicker goes on to point out that Lieberman hasn’t exactly been paying attention to “all other issues,” particularly those that affect Connecticut’s poorest residents. (I’m a little disappointed that Weicker doesn’t mention Holy Joe’s insensitivity to rape victims needing EC, but baby steps).
[Democratic primary challenger Ned Lamont] speaks to the issues of Connecticut’s cities, health care and education – all issues that are on hold for lack of adequate funding because of the Iraq war. My sources inform me that most of the delegates from the big cities are voting for Sen. Lieberman. How is that possible when the senator has prioritized Iraq and not Hartford, New Haven, Bridgeport, New London, etc.? Ned Lamont understands the obscenity of the amount of money going to Iraq – by some estimates, more than a trillion dollars – when juxtaposed against the needs of Connecticut’s poor and middle-income citizens.
What hurt Weicker back in 1988 was the charge that he, too, had lost interest in dealing with the state’s issues and was too Washington-focused. Weicker here is subtly cranking it up a little, charging Lieberman not just with neglect and indifference, but with actively supporting policies which are harmful to Connecticut, particularly its urban cores. And it doesn’t hurt that he can hang George Bush around Lieberman’s neck in an effort to rally those who want to see reform:
I want to see brave men and women stand up with Ned Lamont in the days ahead and say: Enough! We don’t want to be cast in the image of President George W. Bush, of whom Sen. Lieberman is so enamored. America is better than the portrait painted by this Republican administration.
I speak as an independent who has seen the two-party system corrupt itself to the point of irrelevance during a dangerous time in our history. Ned Lamont can start the reform process by providing opposition to a Republican Party too long in power. What is needed is Ned Lamont’s voice for health care for all, funding for our cities, and public education from kindergarten through college that works for our children.
He might be an underdog, but that only points to being outside a Democratic establishment that at the state and federal levels has failed miserably to uphold its end of the two-party system.
And because it’s Connecticut, you gotta throw in a Twain quote. Fortunately, Mr. Clemens was right on the ball most of the time, and this quote gives Weicker a chance to beat back those who throw around words like “traitor” and “unpatriotic” too easily:
In 1889 at Hartford, Mark Twain wrote “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court.” In it, he said:
“The citizen who thinks he sees that the commonwealth’s political clothes are worn out, and yet holds his peace and does not agitate for a new suit, is disloyal; he is a traitor. That he may be the only one who thinks he sees this decay, does not excuse him; it is his duty to agitate anyway, and it is the duty of the others to vote him down if they do not see the matter as he does.”
Go, Ned! Give voice to what all of us feel so deeply: a return to an America of high ideals, reverence to the Constitution and concern for the frail. That is a patriotism sorely needed.
Via Atrios.
Weicker was awarded the Profiles in Courage award a few years ago, basically for not being afraid to speak out, even if it hurt him politically.
(he used to be a republican and became an independent and i remember that it was a big deal at the time)
I’ve loved Lowell Weicker ever since I watched him take part in the Watergate hearings, way back then – I remember him as one of the coolest people on Sam Ervin’s committee. That was back when he was a Republican, but he wasn’t afraid to speak up against other Republicans when it came to, well, the whole mess that was Watergate.
He showed a lot of courage when he was governor as well, getting a state income tax passed. Because he was an independent, he provided cover for legislators and was shielded from party pressure to repeal the tax (as had happened during the 70s — the legislature actually passed a tax in a midnight session then repealed it the next day). He was rewarded with being spit on at huge, vitriolic anti-tax rallies, then with a balanced budget.
He also outmaneuvered the legislature on casinos. He fought Foxwoods’ opening, but once it did, he wanted to keep it the only casino within state lines (well, except for Mohegan Sun, but he couldn’t do anything about that). The legislature was being courted by Steve Wynn to put a casino complete with white tigers and working volcano in the middle of Hartford(!), but Weicker shut that down by cutting a deal with the Pequots that allowed them to have slot machines (not allowed under the Indian Gaming Act because there hadn’t been slots before), and guaranteed the state a cut of the profits, but only if gambling were limited to Indian casinos.
I remember when he was a senator he got arrested outside the South African embassy as part of an apartheid protest.