Blaming The Victims

by digby

E.J. Dionne ends an otherwise good column with this:

If Lieberman survives this primary, it will be thanks to voters who would gladly have cast a protest ballot against him but never really wanted him to lose. Such voters — and, yes, I identify with them — are frustrated with Lieberman’s accommodationism but like and respect him and hope he might learn something from Lamont’s challenge.

A Lieberman loss next week could also create distracting problems for Democrats. Lieberman has said he would run as an independent if he lost the primary. This would divert national attention from the Democrats’ central goal of making this fall’s elections a referendum on Bush and the Republican Congress.

I suppose it might, but that no reason to succumb to Joe’s blackmail. “Vote for me or I’ll take the party down with me” hardly seems like an honest way to win an election.

Dionne says he personally knows and likes Lieberman. Perhaps he and all the other DC insiders who are so worried that this Lamont challenge will end up hurting Democrats in the fall should have a talk with Joe. After all, whether or not there is a “distraction” is entirely in his hands.

It’s possible that people felt at the beginning that they wanted to push Lieberman back from the brink (or at least get him to shut his piehole about how swimmingly the war is going) but instead of listening he got defensive and angry and attacked his own party. Contrary to what Dionne says, I think most people who are going to vote for Lamont in the primary have now seen a side of Lieberman that is not so freindly and congenial — and they are quite happy to have him lose for real. He has acted like a bit of an ass, after all.

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