Democratic schizophrenia
By Lisa Fabrizio
web posted July 31, 2006
Can the Democrats and their liberal wing do us any more favors? In the 2000 presidential race they ran an incumbent vice-president from a southern state and were beaten by the narrowest of margins. In what some viewed as a conservative national tilt in 2002, they lost their Senate majority giving control of two branches of government over to the GOP.
In response they gave us uber-liberal Nancy Pelosi as the House Minority Leader. Failing to adjust their game-plan, they next sent John Kerry to the plate -- ignoring his lifetime American Conservative Union batting average of 5 per cent as opposed to Al Gore's 14.6 per cent -- which led to an even bigger defeat in the 2004 Fall Classic.
After the '04 election, they discovered via exit polls that 'values' issues had carried the day for President Bush. The result? Howard Dean took the reins and he and his netroots pals pulled that donkey hard left. And now the Daily Kos bunch is making a major play for legitimacy within the party despite the fact that the horses they've backed are 0 for 20.
Although there are predictions of doom and gloom for the GOP this November, it is the Democrats who face a fork in the road. And right now that road wends its way through the sometimes bucolic paths of Connecticut. At stake is the incumbency of its junior senator, Joe Lieberman.
Connecticut may be a Democratic state, but like its big blue brothers, New York, Massachusetts and California, it has a Republican governor. The reason for this seems to reflect the desire of some Democrats to be nurtured by the nanny state yet governed by a daddy. This also demonstrates that some of them still have at least an iota of the sense with which they were born.
Once a country-club Republican bastion, the Nutmeg State is now populated largely by what I call diaper Democrats; those born into the party. These mostly blue-collar voters have been extremely supportive of Lieberman, helping him to win re-election twice by two-to-one margins over his opponents. But this time around, the Kos crowd hopes to make him pay for his support for the War on Terror and specifically our involvement in Iraq.
This might seem like a good strategy but it might be a harder sell to the relatively large and politically active Jewish population in Connecticut, already edgy about anti-Semitism charges against many on the left who seem to side with the likes of Hezbollah and Hamas over our ally Israel. American Jews have been a reliable source of votes for them and one that should not be taken lightly, but if the Democrats want to keep on giving, who are we to argue?
Joe Lieberman has not run many TV ads yet, possibly hoping Ned Lamont's own loopy spots will jar some diaper Democrats into reality. But the few that have aired feature the stars and stripes as a background, hoping to stir the patriotic sentiments of a people deluged 24/7 by the liberal media onslaught of propaganda against the war.
But what else have they got? Were it not for the war and the all-encompassing hatred for George W. Bush, Democrat playbooks would be empty. As Leader Pelosi explained, "Why should we put a plan out? Our plan is to stop him. He must be stopped." And since they can no longer stop Bush, Joe Lieberman will do nicely, thank you.
In any event, the primary on August 8 th will be a good day for conservatives. If Lieberman fends off the challenge of the far-lefties, good for him, good for the Democratic Party and good for America. If Lamont wins, good for him, good for Republicans and disastrous for the Democrats. Because if the party allows itself to be consumed by its radicals in a country that's gotten redder in each general election, it will cease to be electorally viable in the near future.
Odds are that Joe Lieberman will return to Washington, either as a loyal Democrat, or as a less dependent Independent. The only negative for Joe is that old friend Bill Clinton is campaigning for him. The miserable record of Kos and company is nearly matched by that of Bill and Hill, whose support for anyone not named Clinton is usually a political death knell.
So we've reached the point where the far left is supporting a former Republican millionaire who owns Halliburton stock, while the party's superstar is stumping for a man who's accused of cozying up to a GOP president. Where can one find irony like this? Only in the Democratic Party, where the hits just keep on coming. 
Lisa Fabrizio is a columnist who hails from Connecticut. You may write her at mailbox@lisafab.com .