The Cheese Stands Alone

Congratulations to Ned Lamont and all the passionate
supporters that helped him knock Holy Joe off the
Democratic ticket in Connecticut. It was a well run
campaign and hopefully a sign of better days to come
for the Democratic party.

But now is when it really gets interesting.

Mr. Lieberman conceded defeat in the primary
in a phone call to Mr. Lamont shortly before 11
p.m. Tuesday. But then, in a combative speech
to supporters in Hartford that was carried live
on television news broadcasts, the senator
declared that he was not dropping out of the
race.

“As I see it, in this campaign, we’ve just
finished the first half, and the Lamont team is
ahead, but in the second half, our team, Team
Connecticut, is going to surge forward to victory
in November,” Mr. Lieberman told cheering
supporters last night.

This morning, Mr. Lieberman said on NBC’s
“Today” program that no one could persuade
him to drop his bid, saying his mind was “made
up.”

A survey of Democratic primary voters leaving
polling places in Connecticut, conducted by The
New York Times and CBS News, found little
support for the idea. Sixty-one percent of
respondents said Mr. Lieberman should not run
as an independent in November, including 21
percent of Mr. Lieberman’s supporters, while 39
percent of all respondents said he should.

Of course numbers like those don’t matter at all to a
self-righteous egomaniac like Joe Lieberman, who actually
has the nerve to say this with a straight face:

For the sake of our state, our country and my
party, I cannot and will not let that result stand.

See folks, what appears to be a weasel-like attempt to
maintain a position of power and prestige at all costs, is
actually a selfless act of sacrifice -- a bit of tough love
for the poor, deluded voters of Connecticut who were
somehow fooled into voting for the guy who wasn’t
Joe Lieberman.

Now that’s what I call leadership.