Last night, Joe Lieberman lost the Democratic primary in Connecticut to challenger Ned Lamont [48% to 52%]. Almost immediately, Lieberman said he would run as an "independent Democrat" to save the party from extremists. Lieberman doesn't seem to understand that the Democratic Party no longer wants him as a candidate. The Democrat running for senate is Ned Lamont. The minute that Lieberman announced his independent bid for the senate, he ceased to be a Democrat. Democrats do not run in the general election after their party chooses another candidate instead.
Since Lieberman is no longer a Democrat, and never was much of one, he should immediately be removed from the Congressional Democratic Caucus, and have all his committee assignments dissolved. If he does somehow beat the Democratic candidate in the Fall, he should not be accepted back into the Democratic Caucus. His current actions can do nothing but harm the party, and he should not be rewarded for them.
Lieberman would like to believe that it was only some extremist elements in the party that opposed him, and only because he supported the Iraq War. That is just not true. "Extremists" do not control the Connecticut Democratic Party, and a majority of Connecticut Democrats clearly do not want to be represented by Lieberman. His support of the war did impact his electibility, but so did many other issues. It seems like every time an important issue came up, Lieberman voted with the Republicans. The people just got tired of supporting a Democrat who voted like a Republican.
Lieberman needs to stop his war on the Democratic Party. He needs to accept the fact that he lost, and retire gracefully from public service. Otherwise, he will have to be embarrassed again in November.
By the same logic, Carole Strayhorn is not a Republican. But really she is.
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